scholarly journals Lexical learning shapes the development of speech perception until late adolescence

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew H. Davis ◽  
Samuel Evans ◽  
Kathleen McCarthy ◽  
Lindsey Evans ◽  
Anastasia Giannakopoulou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
Late Adolescence ◽  
Perceptual Task ◽  
Critical Periods ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Cartoon Characters ◽  
Perceptual Acuity

The role of neurobiologically-constrained critical periods for language learning remains controversial. We provide new evidence for critical periods by examining speech sound processing across the lifespan. We tested perceptual acuity for minimal word-word (e.g. bear-pear), and word-pseudoword (e.g. bag-pag) pairs using trial-unique audio-morphed speech tokens. Participants (N=1537) performed a 3-interval, 2-alternative forced-choice perceptual task indicating which of two cartoon characters said a referent word correctly. We adaptively reduced the contrastive acoustic cues in speech tokens to measure the Proportion of Acoustic Difference Required for Identification (PADRI) at 79.4% correct. Results showed effects of age, lexical context, and language experience on perceptual acuity. However, for native-listeners responding to word-word trials, age-related improvements stopped at 16.7 years. This finding suggests a role for continued lexical experience in shaping perceptual acuity for spoken words until late adolescence consistent with interactive models of speech perception and critical periods.

From Ear to Cortex

2002 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 237-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Nittrouer
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Young Child ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Intervention Strategies ◽  
Developmental Changes ◽  
Learning Problems ◽  
Basic Unit ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Acoustic Speech Signal ◽  
Perceptual Changes

Phoneme-sized phonetic segments are often defined as the most basic unit of language organization. Two common inferences made from this description are that there are clear correlates to phonetic segments in the acoustic speech stream, and that humans have access to these segments from birth. In fact, well-replicated studies have shown that the acoustic signal of speech lacks invariant physical correlates to phonetic segments, and that the ability to recognize segmental structure is not present from the start of language learning. Instead, the young child must learn how to process the complex, generally continuous acoustic speech signal so that phonetic structure can be derived. This paper describes and reviews experiments that have revealed developmental changes in speech perception that accompany improvements in access to phonetic structure. In addition, this paper explains how these perceptual changes appear to be related to other aspects of language development, such as syntactic abilities and reading. Finally, evidence is provided that these critical developmental changes result from adequate language experience in naturalistic contexts, and accordingly suggests that intervention strategies for children with language learning problems should focus on enhancing language experience in natural contexts.

scholarly journals Speech perception at birth: The brain encodes fast and slow temporal information

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (30) ◽  
pp. eaba7830
Author(s):  
Laurianne Cabrera ◽  
Judit Gervain
Keyword(s):  
Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Speech Perception ◽  
Human Brain ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Auditory Processing ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Acoustic Cues ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Brain Responses ◽  
The Brain

Speech perception is constrained by auditory processing. Although at birth infants have an immature auditory system and limited language experience, they show remarkable speech perception skills. To assess neonates’ ability to process the complex acoustic cues of speech, we combined near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and electroencephalography (EEG) to measure brain responses to syllables differing in consonants. The syllables were presented in three conditions preserving (i) original temporal modulations of speech [both amplitude modulation (AM) and frequency modulation (FM)], (ii) both fast and slow AM, but not FM, or (iii) only the slowest AM (<8 Hz). EEG responses indicate that neonates can encode consonants in all conditions, even without the fast temporal modulations, similarly to adults. Yet, the fast and slow AM activate different neural areas, as shown by NIRS. Thus, the immature human brain is already able to decompose the acoustic components of speech, laying the foundations of language learning.

Discrimination and Identification of a Third Formant Frequency Cue to Place of Articulation by Young Children and Adults

2016 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelly Richardson ◽  
Joan E Sussman
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Speech Sound Disorders ◽  
Formant Frequency ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
The Third ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Phonetic Categorization ◽  
Insight Into

Typically-developing children, 4 to 6 years of age, and adults participated in discrimination and identification speech perception tasks using a synthetic consonant–vowel continuum ranging from /da/ to /ga/. The seven-step synthetic /da/–/ga/ continuum was created by adjusting the first 40 ms of the third formant frequency transition. For the discrimination task, listeners participated in a Change/No–Change paradigm with four different stimuli compared to the endpoint-1 /da/ token. For the identification task, listeners labeled each token along the /da/–/ga/ continuum as either “DA” or “GA.” Results of the discrimination experiment showed that sensitivity to the third-formant transition cue improved for the adult listeners as the stimulus contrast increased, whereas the performance of the children remained poor across all stimulus comparisons. Results of the identification experiment support previous hypotheses of age-related differences in phonetic categorization. Results have implications for normative data on identification and discrimination tasks. These norms provide a metric against which children with auditory-based speech sound disorders can be compared. Furthermore, the results provide some insight into the developmental nature of categorical and non-categorical speech perception.

scholarly journals Associations Between Speech Perception, Vocabulary, and Phonological Awareness Skill in School-Aged Children With Speech Sound Disorders

2021 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 452-463
Author(s):  
Nina R. Benway ◽  
Kelly Garcia ◽  
Elaine Hitchcock ◽  
Tara McAllister ◽  
Megan C. Leece ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Phonological Awareness ◽  
Sample Size ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
Path Model ◽  
Direct Path ◽  
School Aged Children ◽  
Current Sample ◽  
Perceptual Acuity ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose Prior studies report conflicting descriptions of the relationships between phonological awareness (PA), vocabulary, and speech perception in preschoolers with speech disorders. This study sought to determine the nature of these relationships in a sample of school-aged children with residual speech sound errors affecting /ɹ/. Method Participants included 110 children aged 7;0–17;4 (years;months) with residual errors impacting /ɹ/. Data on perceptual acuity and perceptual bias in an /ɹ/ identification task, receptive vocabulary, and PA were obtained. A theoretically and empirically motivated path model was constructed with vocabulary mediating the relationship between two measures of speech perception and PA. Model parameters were determined through maximum likelihood estimation with standard errors that were robust to nonnormality. Monte Carlo simulation was used to examine achieved power at the current sample size. Results The saturated path model explained 19% of the variance in PA. The direct path between age-adjusted perceptual acuity and PA was significant, as was the direct path between vocabulary and PA. Contrary to our hypothesis, there was no evidence in the current sample that vocabulary skill mediated the relationship between speech perception and PA. Each individual path was adequately powered at the current sample size. Conclusions The overall model provided evidence for a continued relationship between speech perception, measured by perceptual acuity of the sound in error, and PA in school-aged children with residual speech errors. Thus, measures of speech perception remain relevant to the assessment of school-aged children and adolescents in this population. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.13641275

scholarly journals Speech perception at birth: the brain encodes fast and slow temporal information

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurianne Cabrera ◽  
Judit Gervain
Keyword(s):  
Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Speech Perception ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Auditory Processing ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Acoustic Cues ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Brain Responses ◽  
Frequency Modulations ◽  
The Brain

Speech perception is constrained by auditory processing. Although at birth, infants have an immature auditory system and limited language experience, they show remarkable speech perception skills. To assess neonates’ ability to process the complex acoustic cues of speech, we combined near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and electroencephalography (EEG) to measure brain responses to syllables differing in consonants. The syllables were presented in three conditions preserving (i) original temporal modulations of speech (both amplitude and frequency modulations, AM/FM), (ii) both fast and slow AM, but not FM, or (iii) only the slowest AM (&lt; 8 Hz). EEG responses indicate that neonates are able to encode consonants in all conditions, even without the fast temporal modulations, similarly to adults. Yet, the fast and slow AM activate different neural areas, as shown by NIRS. Thus, the immature human brain is already able to decompose the acoustic components of speech, laying the foundations of language learning.

Sleeping to Dream, Develop, and Resist Decline

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharine Hughes ◽  
Payal Khosla ◽  
Lauren Pisani ◽  
Goffredina Spanò ◽  
Jamie O. Edgin
Keyword(s):  
Down Syndrome ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Neural Development ◽  
Poor Sleep ◽  
Critical Periods ◽  
Age Related ◽  
The Family ◽  
Potential Factor ◽  
Age Related Cognitive Decline ◽  
The Impact

Sleep quality is increasingly recognized as a potential factor influencing healthy cognitive and neural development across the lifespan. It is becoming more recognized as an important factor for persons with Down syndrome, and this chapter describes the most recent literature regarding sleep disturbance, its correlates, and findings from animal models in this population. The authors discuss the relation of poor sleep to behavioral, brain, and cognitive dysfunction and highlight the family consequences for altered sleep in children with Down syndrome. These pervasive sleep deficits have the potential to derail cognitive development during critical periods for language learning and could also exacerbate age-related cognitive decline. The authors hope that this compilation of evidence regarding sleep deficits in persons with Down syndrome will help facilitate more treatment studies for sleep disorders in this population, including treatments aimed at poor sleep in infants, as well as mid-adulthood, which may lessen or delay the impact of the pathological progression of Alzheimer’s disease. Methodological challenges to sleep research are discussed, and future directions for this field are highlighted.

scholarly journals Age-related mapping of intracortical myelin from late adolescence to middle adulthood using T1-weighted MRI

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher D. Rowley ◽  
Manpreet Sehmbi ◽  
Pierre-Louis Bazin ◽  
Christine L. Tardif ◽  
Luciano Minuzzi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Late Adolescence ◽  
Middle Adulthood ◽  
Age Related

What colour is the car? Implicit memory for colour information in children

2001 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 1069-1086 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Mecklenbräuker ◽  
Almut Hupbach ◽  
Werner Wippich
Keyword(s):  
Elementary School ◽  
Developmental Change ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Choice Task ◽  
Preschool Age ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
Perceptual Task ◽  
Line Drawings ◽  
Elementary School Age ◽  
Age Related

Three experiments were conducted to examine age-related differences in colour memory. In Experiment 1, preschool age and elementary school age children were given a conceptual test of implicit colour memory (a colour-choice task). They were presented with the names or achromatic versions of previously studied coloured line drawings and asked to select an appropriate colour. Significant priming could be demonstrated: The children chose the previously seen colours more often than was expected by chance. Equivalent priming was found for both versions (pictorial and verbal) suggesting that colour priming may be conceptually mediated. Moreover, colour priming proved to be age invariant. Experiment 2 replicated and extended this finding by using a wider age group (preschool, elementary school, and young adults) and by giving a perceptual implicit task (picture identification) in addition to a verbal colour-choice task. Colour did not affect priming in the perceptual task. Whereas priming showed no developmental change, age related improvements were observed on an explicit colour memory task that differed only in the test instructions from the implicit colour-choice task (Experiments 2 and 3). Taken together, the results suggest that implicit colour memory may be mediated by conceptual processes that are age invariant.

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