On-line statistical segmentation of a non-speech auditory stream in neonates as demonstrated by event-related brain potentials

Abstract

The ability to statistically segment a continuous auditory stream is one of the most important preparations for initiating language learning. Such ability is available to human infants at 8 months of age, as shown by a behavioral measurement. However, behavioral study alone cannot determine how early this ability is available. A recent study using measurements of event-related potential (ERP) revealed that neonates are able to detect statistical boundaries within auditory streams of speech syllables. Extending this line of research will allow us to better understand the cognitive preparation for language acquisition that is available to neonates. The aim of the present study was to examine the domain-generality of such statistical segmentation. Neonates were presented with nonlinguistic tone sequences composed of four tritone units, each consisting of three semitones extracted from one octave, for two 5-minute sessions. Only the first tone of each unit evoked a significant positivity in the frontal area during the second session, but not in the first session. This result suggests that the general ability to distinguish units in an auditory stream by statistical information is activated at birth and is probably innately prepared in humans.

Language Development and the Ontogeny of the Dorsal Pathway

“…At least, the data from Perani et al (2011) indicate that in newborns, only the dorsal pathway that connects to the premotor cortex is myelinized. This connection may not only support tuning processes during babbling, but, moreover, the observed early learning of rule-based dependencies from auditory input in human infants (Gervain et al, 2008; Friederici et al, 2011; Kudo et al, 2011). …”

Prior Experience Biases Subcortical Sensitivity to Sound Patterns

“…By tracking the probabilities of different sounds co-occurring within the environment, statistical learning can lead to the discovery of word boundaries and other structure (Saffran, Aslin, & Newport, 1996). Although described most often within the context of speech segmentation (Saffran et al, 1996), statistical learning is not unique to language Kudo, Nonaka, Mizuno, Mizuno, & Okanoya, 2011;Saffran, Johnson, Aslin, & Newport, 1999) or even the auditory domain (Turk-Browne, Scholl, Chun, & Johnson, 2009;Baldwin, Andersson, Saffran, & Meyer, 2008), suggesting that it is a domain-general process (Saffran et al, 1999). In fact, statistical learning is considered to be an outgrowth of how the nervous system is wired (Tallal & Gaab, 2006;Kvale & Schreiner, 2004;Tallal, 2004).…”

Statistical learning of an auditory sequence and reorganization of acquired knowledge: A time course of word segmentation and ordering

“…Several earlier studies have suggested that learners can extract statistical regularities embedded in speech sequences, a phenomenon called statistical learning (Saffran et al, 1996;Saffran, 2003). Even awake and sleeping neonates and infants can extract words from speech sequences using the statistical learning strategy of word segmentation after only two minutes of listening experience, implying that the general ability of statistical learning may be innate in humans (Saffran et al, 1996;Teinonen et al, 2009;Kudo et al, 2011). Statistical learning used for locating word boundaries can also be used to acquire syntax (Saffran, 2001(Saffran, , 2002Thompson and Newport, 2007).…”

“…A young infant (birth from 37 weeks to 8 months) uses a statistical learning strategy to recognize boundaries between words in speech sequences (Saffran et al, 1996;Teinonen et al, 2009;Kudo et al, 2011). As they grow, they begin to show a narrowing in their language perception by at least by 12 months of age.…”