Clinic for Cognitive Neurology, Medical Faculty, University Leipzig, Liebigstr. 16, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
Clinic for Cognitive Neurology, Medical Faculty, University Leipzig, Liebigstr. 16, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; Department of Audiology and Phoniatrics, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353 Berlin, Germany; Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Stephanstr. 1a, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2022 Aug;56:101127. doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2022.101127. Epub 2022 Jun 22.
Infants rapidly advance in their speech perception, electrophysiologically reflected in the transition from an immature, positive-going to an adult-like, negative-going mismatch response (MMR) to auditory deviancy. Although the MMR is a common tool to study speech perception development, it is not yet completely understood how different speech contrasts affect the MMR's characteristics across development. Thus, a systematic longitudinal investigation of the MMR's maturation depending on speech contrast is necessary. We here longitudinally explored the maturation of the infant MMR to four critical speech contrasts: consonant, vowel, vowel-length, and pitch. MMRs were obtained when infants (n = 58) were 2, 6 and 10 months old. To evaluate the maturational trajectory of MMRs, we applied second-order latent growth curve models. Results showed positive-going MMR amplitudes to all speech contrasts across all assessment points that decreased over time towards an adult-like negativity. Notably, the developmental trajectories of speech contrasts differed, implying that infant speech perception matures with different rates and trajectories throughout the first year, depending on the studied auditory feature. Our results suggest that stimulus-dependent maturational trajectories need to be considered when drawing conclusions about infant speech perception development reflected by the infant MMR.
婴儿在言语感知方面迅速进步，这在从不成熟的正相到成人负相的听觉偏离失配反应（MMR）的转变中得到了电生理反映。虽然 MMR 是研究言语感知发展的常用工具，但目前尚不完全清楚不同的言语对比如何影响 MMR 在整个发展过程中的特征。因此，有必要对依赖言语对比的 MMR 成熟进行系统的纵向研究。我们在这里纵向探讨了婴儿 MMR 对四个关键言语对比（辅音、元音、元音长度和音高）的成熟情况。当婴儿（n=58）分别为 2、6 和 10 个月大时，获得了 MMR。为了评估 MMR 的成熟轨迹，我们应用了二阶潜在增长曲线模型。结果表明，所有评估点的所有言语对比的正向 MMR 振幅随着时间的推移逐渐降低，向成人负性发展。值得注意的是，言语对比的发展轨迹不同，这意味着婴儿言语感知在整个第一年中以不同的速度和轨迹成熟，具体取决于所研究的听觉特征。我们的研究结果表明，在根据婴儿 MMR 反映的婴儿言语感知发展得出结论时，需要考虑基于刺激的成熟轨迹。
