title: Enhanced passive and active processing of syllables in musician children.
abstract: The aim of this study was to examine the influence of musical expertise in 9-year-old children on passive (as reflected by MMN) and active (as reflected by discrimination accuracy) processing of speech sounds. Musician and nonmusician children were presented with a sequence of syllables that included standards and deviants in vowel frequency, vowel duration, and VOT. Both the passive and the active processing of duration and VOT deviants were enhanced in musician compared with nonmusician children. Moreover, although no effect was found on the passive processing of frequency, active frequency discrimination was enhanced in musician children. These findings are discussed in terms of common processing of acoustic features in music and speech and of positive transfer of training from music to the more abstract phonological representations of speech units (syllables).
authors: Language Music and Motricity Team, INCM-CNRS, 31 chemin Joseph Aiguier, 13402 Marseille Cedex 20, France. chobert@incm.cnrs-mrs.fr
authors: Julie
authors: J
authors: Chobert
authors: Céline
authors: C
authors: Marie
authors: Clément
authors: C
authors: François
authors: Daniele
authors: D
authors: Schön
authors: Mireille
authors: M
authors: Besson
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009146:Music; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology