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Neural correlates of infant accent discrimination: an fNIRS study
Author(s) -
Cristia Alejandrina,
MinagawaKawai Yasuyo,
Egorova Natalia,
Gervain Judit,
Filippin Luca,
Cabrol Dominique,
Dupoux Emmanuel
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
developmental science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.801
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 1467-7687
pISSN - 1363-755X
DOI - 10.1111/desc.12160
Subject(s) - psychology , neuroimaging , neural correlates of consciousness , typically developing , stress (linguistics) , functional neuroimaging , developmental psychology , functional near infrared spectroscopy , neuroscience of multilingualism , audiology , cognitive psychology , neuroscience , cognition , linguistics , autism , prefrontal cortex , medicine , philosophy
The present study investigated the neural correlates of infant discrimination of very similar linguistic varieties (Quebecois and Parisian French) using functional Near InfraRed Spectroscopy. In line with previous behavioral and electrophysiological data, there was no evidence that 3‐month‐olds discriminated the two regional accents, whereas 5‐month‐olds did, with the locus of discrimination in left anterior perisylvian regions. These neuroimaging results suggest that a developing language network relying crucially on left perisylvian cortices sustains infants’ discrimination of similar linguistic varieties within this early period of infancy.