The Influence of Hearing Impairment on Preverbal Emotional Vocalizations of Infants

Scheiner, Elisabeth; Hammerschmidt, Kurt; Jürgens, Uwe; Zwirner, Petra

doi:10.1159/000075326

Cited by 29 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Elements of this circuitry likely are shared among multiple postinspiratory behaviors, such as swallowing, coughing, and sneezing, that rely on glottis closure (31). In addition, innate vocalizations have been related to nonverbal utterances in humans like laughing, crying, sighing, and moaning, which represent postinspiratory behaviors (37,38).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic identification of a hindbrain nucleus essential for innate vocalization

Hernández-Miranda

Ruffault

Bouvier

et al. 2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Vocalization in young mice is an innate response to isolation or mechanical stimulation. Neuronal circuits that control vocalization and breathing overlap and rely on motor neurons that innervate laryngeal and expiratory muscles, but the brain center that coordinates these motor neurons has not been identified. Here, we show that the hindbrain nucleus tractus solitarius (NTS) is essential for vocalization in mice. By generating genetically modified newborn mice that specifically lack excitatory NTS neurons, we show that they are both mute and unable to produce the expiratory drive required for vocalization. Furthermore, the muteness of these newborns results in maternal neglect. We also show that neurons of the NTS directly connect to and entrain the activity of spinal (L1) and nucleus ambiguus motor pools located at positions where expiratory and laryngeal motor neurons reside. These motor neurons control expiratory pressure and laryngeal tension, respectively, thereby establishing the essential biomechanical parameters used for vocalization. In summary, our work demonstrates that the NTS is an obligatory component of the neuronal circuitry that transforms breaths into calls.V ocalization is the primary mechanism used by many vertebrate species for communication (1). Whereas adult mice call during courtship, mating, and territorial disputes, newborn mice use vocalization to communicate with their mothers (2, 3). Newborn mice, when isolated, produce ultrasonic calls (USCs) that elicit search and retrieval behavior by their mothers. Thus, vocalizations of newborn mice represent an innate behavior that is thought to rely on a genetically determined circuit. Such innate vocalizations are reminiscent of nonverbal utterances of humans like laughing, crying, sighing, and moaning.The central circuits that control vocalization have been widely studied in adult vertebrates, where they overlap in their executive components with respiratory circuits (4). Forebrain pathways that control the frequency and sequence of ultrasounds in mice are not essential for innate vocalization (5, 6); rather, it is the periaqueductal gray in the midbrain that modulates the activity of motor neurons in the hindbrain and spinal cord to implement calls and modulate breathing (7,8). Calls are shaped through a biomechanical process that involves variations in subglottal air pressure and laryngeal muscle tension (9, 10). Expiration is an important determinant of subglottal air pressure (11), suggesting that expiratory muscle activity and laryngeal tension are highly coordinated during vocalization. However, because expiratory and laryngeal motor neurons are located at markedly different axial levels of the nervous system, in the spinal cord (T11-L1 levels, expiratory) and hindbrain (nucleus ambiguus, laryngeal), how the activities of these motor pools are coordinated is unclear (12, 13). More importantly, the identity and location of functionally important premotor neurons for vocalization are little known.Using mouse genetics to investigate the ...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic identification of a hindbrain nucleus essential for innate vocalization

Hernández-Miranda

Ruffault

Bouvier

et al. 2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…Studies on deaf-born human infants have shown that such nonverbal emotional utterances can be produced by infants that had no opportunity to hear and imitate, that is, to learn such utterances. 27 Obviously, nonverbal emotional vocal utterances represent innate vocal patterns, that is, genetically preprogrammed motor patterns. The fact that patients with bilateral lesions in the inferior motor cortex are no more able to speak and sing, but are still able to moan, cry, and laugh, suggests that the motor cortex is indispensable for the production of learned vocal patterns, but is dispensable for the production of innate vocal patterns.…”

Section: U Jü Rgensmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Neural Control of Vocalization in Mammals: A Review

2009

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“…Unlike the words that make up the segmental aspect of speech, affective vocalizations can be recognized across languages (Laukka et al, 2013), between cultures that have had only minimal historical contact (Sauter et al, 2010)-although with some cultural variation (Scherer and Wallbott, 1994)-and across species (Faragó et al, 2014). Indeed, infants who are hearing-impaired produce affective vocalizations that are acoustically similar to those of normal-hearing infants (Scheiner et al, 2004(Scheiner et al, , 2006. While affective prosody usually unfolds across the course of an utterance, it can also be uttered in the form of short bursts.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pitch underlies activation of the vocal system during affective vocalization

Belyk

Brown

2015

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience

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Affective prosody is that aspect of speech that conveys a speaker's emotional state through modulations in various vocal parameters, most prominently pitch. While a large body of research implicates the cingulate vocalization area in controlling affective vocalizations in monkeys, no systematic test of functional homology for this area has yet been reported in humans. In this study, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to compare brain activations when subjects produced affective vocalizations in the form of exclamations vs non-affective vocalizations with similar pitch contours. We also examined the perception of affective vocalizations by having participants make judgments about either the emotions being conveyed by recorded affective vocalizations or the pitch contours of the same vocalizations. Production of affective vocalizations and matched pitch contours activated a highly overlapping set of brain areas, including the larynx-phonation area of the primary motor cortex and a region of the anterior cingulate cortex that is consistent with the macro-anatomical position of the cingulate vocalization area. This overlap contradicts the dominant view that these areas form two distinct vocal pathways with dissociable functions. Instead, we propose that these brain areas are nodes in a single vocal network, with an emphasis on pitch modulation as a vehicle for affective expression.

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The Influence of Hearing Impairment on Preverbal Emotional Vocalizations of Infants

Cited by 29 publications

References 13 publications

Genetic identification of a hindbrain nucleus essential for innate vocalization

Genetic identification of a hindbrain nucleus essential for innate vocalization

The Neural Control of Vocalization in Mammals: A Review

Pitch underlies activation of the vocal system during affective vocalization

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