A bilingual advantage in infant pitch processing

Liquan Liu; Varghese Peter; Gabrielle Weidemann

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A bilingual advantage in infant pitch processing

Conference paper

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A bilingual advantage in infant pitch processing

Liquan Liu, Varghese Peter and Gabrielle Weidemann

Proceedings of the 19th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, pp.1397-1401

International Congress of Phonetic Science, 19th (Melbourne, Australia, 05-Aug-2019–09-Aug-2019)

Australian Speech Science and Technology Association Inc.

2019

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Abstract

Psychology

Cognitive Sciences

lexical tone

electroencephalography

positive match response

perceptual narrowing

Behavioural studies report differences in monolingual and bilingual infants’ non-native lexical tone perception [1]. The current study explored the degree to which infants’ linguistic experiences alter their pitch processing along the developmental trajectory using electroencephalogram (EEG). Forty 5-6- and 11-12- month monolingual and bilingual Australian infants with no prior tone language exposure underwent a passive oddball EEG task involving a contracted Mandarin tone contrast. At 5-6 months, all infants exhibited positive mismatch responses (MMR) to the contrast. At 11-12 months, however, MMRs were observed for bilingual infants only. Results indicate early neural discrimination of lexical tones even when the feature is absent from infants’ native phonemic inventory, although such sensitivity was immature [2]. Furthermore, while 11-12-month-old monolingual infants lose sensitivity at perceptual narrowing offset, bilingual infants’ displayed immature neural responses. Implications of differences in the neural signature between infants from different language backgrounds are discussed.

Details

Title: A bilingual advantage in infant pitch processing
Authors: Liquan Liu (Author) - Western Sydney University
Varghese Peter (Author) - Western Sydney University
Gabrielle Weidemann (Author) - Western Sydney University
Publication details: Proceedings of the 19th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, pp.1397-1401
Conference details: International Congress of Phonetic Science, 19th (Melbourne, Australia, 05-Aug-2019–09-Aug-2019)
Publisher: Australian Speech Science and Technology Association Inc.
Date published: 2019
Organisation Unit: School of Social Sciences - Legacy; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Health - Psychology; School of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Legacy
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99534308002621
Output Type: Conference paper

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