from acoustic to language processing

Abstract

The comprehension of spoken language requires the segmentation of the continuous acoustic speech stream into smaller units (e.g., words). Segmental and suprasegmental linguistic information guide the segmentation process. Investigating the underlying neuronal mechanisms is crucial for understanding the general nature of language perception, and language acquisition in infancy. This dissertation aimed to determine neuronal mechanisms underlying the perception of basic auditory cues relevant for the segmentation of speech in adults and infants using concurrent recordings of near-infrared spectroscopy and electroencephalography. Study I assessed temporal and topographic characteristics of phonotactic processing in adults, thus forming the basis for future studies in infants. The results show that phonotactic processing recruits a left hemispheric network. Whether these asymmetries are a function of linguistic attributes or of basic temporal signal properties is under debate. Studies in adults link hemispheric specialization for speech perception to an asymmetry in cortical tuning and reveal that the auditory cortices are differentially sensitive to temporal features of speech. Whether this asymmetry is already established in infancy is addressed by study II and III. These studies used acoustic non-linguistic sounds that vary in their temporal structure, thus sharing critical temporal features with language. Study II reveals that newborns process temporally varying stimuli in a differential and lateralized fashion. Study III indicates that this lateralization pattern remains constant over the first months of life. The findings support the notion that the lateralization of language functions might result from a specialization for different acoustic properties. The data provide further evidence that language acquisition is linked to basic capacities in auditory processing, and reveal that from birth the brain is tuned to critical temporal properties of linguistic signals.