0
0
Recent research conducted at the Institute of Neurosciences of the University of Barcelona sheds light on how prenatal exposure to bilingual versus monolingual speech influences newborns’ early neural responses to speech sounds. The study, published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, reveals distinct patterns in how infants from different language environments process auditory stimuli at birth.
Dr. Natàlia Gorina-Careta, along with colleagues, explored how fetuses acquire speech information when exposed to varying linguistic environments during pregnancy. “We show that exposure to monolingual or bilingual speech has different effects at birth on ‘neural encoding’ of voice pitch and vowel sounds,” explained Gorina-Careta, a joint first author of the study.
The research, conducted in Catalonia—a region known for its bilingual population speaking Catalan and Spanish—focused on 131 newborns. Mothers participating in the study were categorized based on their language use during pregnancy, either exclusively speaking Catalan or Spanish, or using a combination of these languages along with others such as Arabic, English, Romanian, or Portuguese.
“Languages differ in aspects such as rhythm, accentuation, pitch, and phonetic information,” noted Dr. Carles Escera, a corresponding author of the study. “Fetuses from bilingual mothers are exposed to a more complex acoustic environment compared to those from monolingual mothers.”
Using electrodes to measure neural responses, specifically the frequency-following response (FFR), researchers assessed how newborns processed a standardized sound stimulus containing the vowels /o/ and /a/, common to both Catalan and Spanish phonetics. They found that infants from monolingual mothers exhibited a more defined FFR, indicating heightened sensitivity to specific pitch characteristics relevant to their native language.
In contrast, infants from bilingual mothers demonstrated a broader neural response, suggesting sensitivity to a wider range of pitch variations but without the same level of specificity observed in monolingual infants. “This indicates a potential trade-off between efficiency and selectivity in early language acquisition,” explained Dr. Sonia Arenillas-Alcón, another joint first author.
The findings highlight the critical role of prenatal language exposure in shaping newborns’ initial neural responses to speech sounds. “Our data underscore the significance of prenatal language exposure in the early stages of speech sound processing,” emphasized Escera.
However, the study authors caution against drawing immediate conclusions for bilingual parents. “The sensitive period for language acquisition extends beyond birth, and postnatal experiences may influence early developmental patterns observed in the womb,” cautioned Dr. Jordi Costa Faidella, an associate professor involved in the study.
Future research aims to explore how bilingual language environments continue to influence infants’ speech processing abilities in the months and years following birth. This ongoing investigation promises to provide further insights into the complex interplay between prenatal experiences and postnatal development in multilingual contexts.
The study, titled “Exposure to bilingual or monolingual maternal speech during pregnancy affects the neurophysiological encoding of speech sounds in neonates differently,” underscores the evolving understanding of early language acquisition and its neurological underpinnings from a prenatal perspective.
For more information on the study, please refer to the original article published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience (2024).
