Mismatch negativity shows that 3-6-year-old children can learn to discriminate non-native speech sounds within two months.
Using 3-6-year-old children as subjects, we describe the neural plasticity accompanying the concurrent learning of a foreign language in a natural environment. Children were monitored for 6 months as they either enrolled in schools or daycare centers where only Finnish was spoken (Control group) or as they joined a French school or a daycare center where French was spoken 50-90% of the time (Experimental group). Whereas mismatch negativity (MMN)--a brain's electrical change-detection response--for a French speech contrast was initially absent or very small in both groups, it was conspicuous 2 months after Finnish children had joined a French kindergarten. Consequently, the data suggest that youngsters can learn to distinguish non-native speech sounds in natural language environment without any special training in just a couple of months. Accordingly, these data herald the vast potential MMN may entail for studying language learning, especially in situations where behavioral responses cannot be readily elicited.
Cheour
Marie
M
Language and the Developing Brain Laboratory, Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Turku, Turku, Finland. marie.cheour@utu.fi
Shestakova
Anna
A
Alku
Paavo
P
Ceponiene
Rita
R
Näätänen
Risto
R
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000502:physiology; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D005602:France; D006801:Humans; D007804:Language Development; D008297:Male; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology; D013997:Time Factors