title: Discrimination of fearful and angry emotional voices in sleeping human neonates: a study of the mismatch brain responses.
abstract: Appropriate processing of human voices with different threat-related emotions is of evolutionarily adaptive value for the survival of individuals. Nevertheless, it is still not clear whether the sensitivity to threat-related information is present at birth. Using an odd-ball paradigm, the current study investigated the neural correlates underlying automatic processing of emotional voices of fear and anger in sleeping neonates. Event-related potential data showed that the fronto-central scalp distribution of the neonatal brain could discriminate fearful voices from angry voices; the mismatch response (MMR) was larger in response to the deviant stimuli of anger, compared with the standard stimuli of fear. Furthermore, this fear-anger MMR discrimination was observed only when neonates were in active sleep state. Although the neonates' sensitivity to threat-related voices is not likely associated with a conceptual understanding of fearful and angry emotions, this special discrimination in early life may provide a foundation for later emotion and social cognition development.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Affective and Social Neuroscience, Shenzhen University Shenzhen, China ; State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Dandan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Affective and Social Neuroscience, Shenzhen University Shenzhen, China ; State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yunzhe
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Peking University First Hospital Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Xinlin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Peking University First Hospital Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Guoyu
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neuroscience, Yang-Ming University Taipei, Taiwan ; Department of Rehabilitation, Yang-Ming University Hospital Ilan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yawei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Institute of Affective and Social Neuroscience, Shenzhen University Shenzhen, China.
authors.forename: Yuejia
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Luo
keywords: anger; emotional voice; fear; mismatch response; neonate; threat-related