Frontal cerebral blood flow change associated with infant-directed speech.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the auditory perception of maternal utterances by neonates using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS).


METHODS
Twenty full-term, healthy neonates were included in this study. The neonates were tested in their cribs while they slept in a silent room. First, two probe holders were placed on the left and right sides of the forehead over the eyebrows using double-sided adhesive tape. The neonates were then exposed to auditory stimuli in the form of infant-directed speech (IDS) or adult-directed speech (ADS), sampled from each of the mothers, through an external auditory speaker.


RESULTS
A 2 (stimulus: IDS and ADS) x 2 (recording site: channel 1 (right side) and channel 2 (left side)) analysis of variance for these relative oxygenated haemoglobin values showed that IDS (Mean = 0.25) increased brain function significantly (F = 3.51) more than ADS (Mean = -0.26).


CONCLUSIONS
IDS significantly increased brain function compared with ADS. These results suggest that the emotional tone of maternal utterances could have a role in activating the brains of neonates to attend to the utterances, even while sleeping.
Saito
Y
Y
Department of Psychology, Hiroshima University, Kagamiyama 1-1-1, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima 739-8524, Japan. yuri@sep.email.ne.jp
Aoyama
S
S
Kondo
T
T
Fukumoto
R
R
Konishi
N
N
Nakamura
K
K
Kobayashi
M
M
Toshima
T
T
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation; D003142:Communication; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000098:blood supply*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D010108:Oxyhemoglobins / Q000378:metabolism; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014705:Verbal Behavior
D010108:Oxyhemoglobins