Infant speech perception activates Broca's area: a developmental magnetoencephalography study.
Discriminative responses to tones, harmonics, and syllables in the left hemisphere were measured with magnetoencephalography in neonates, 6-month-old infants, and 12-month-old infants using the oddball paradigm. Real-time head position tracking, signal space separation, and head position standardization were applied to secure quality data for source localization. Minimum current estimates were calculated to characterize infants' cortical activities for detecting sound changes. The activation patterns observed in the superior temporal and inferior frontal regions provide initial evidence for the developmental emergence early in life of a perceptual-motor link for speech perception that may depend on experience.
Imada
Toshiaki
T
Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA.
Zhang
Yang
Y
Cheour
Marie
M
Taulu
Samu
S
Ahonen
Antti
A
Kuhl
Patricia K
PK
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D000367:Age Factors; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D015225:Magnetoencephalography; D008297:Male; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors