1
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Cohn M, Barreda S, Graf Estes K, Yu Z, Zellou G. Children and adults produce distinct technology- and human-directed speech. Sci Rep 2024; 14:15611. [PMID: 38971806 PMCID: PMC11227501 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-66313-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/02/2024] [Accepted: 07/01/2024] [Indexed: 07/08/2024] Open
Abstract
This study compares how English-speaking adults and children from the United States adapt their speech when talking to a real person and a smart speaker (Amazon Alexa) in a psycholinguistic experiment. Overall, participants produced more effortful speech when talking to a device (longer duration and higher pitch). These differences also varied by age: children produced even higher pitch in device-directed speech, suggesting a stronger expectation to be misunderstood by the system. In support of this, we see that after a staged recognition error by the device, children increased pitch even more. Furthermore, both adults and children displayed the same degree of variation in their responses for whether "Alexa seems like a real person or not", further indicating that children's conceptualization of the system's competence shaped their register adjustments, rather than an increased anthropomorphism response. This work speaks to models on the mechanisms underlying speech production, and human-computer interaction frameworks, providing support for routinized theories of spoken interaction with technology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michelle Cohn
- Phonetics Laboratory, Department of Linguistics, University of California, Davis, Davis, USA.
| | - Santiago Barreda
- Phonetics Laboratory, Department of Linguistics, University of California, Davis, Davis, USA
| | - Katharine Graf Estes
- Language Learning Lab, Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, Davis, USA
| | - Zhou Yu
- Natural Language Processing (NLP) Lab, Department of Computer Science, Columbia University, New York, USA
| | - Georgia Zellou
- Phonetics Laboratory, Department of Linguistics, University of California, Davis, Davis, USA
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2
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Monaci MG, Caruzzo CM, Raso R, Spagnuolo C, Benedetti MC, Grandjean D, Filippa M. Maternal singing reduced pain indexes in 2-month-old infants and increased proximity during vaccinations. Acta Paediatr 2024; 113:1664-1671. [PMID: 38264948 DOI: 10.1111/apa.17121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2023] [Revised: 01/08/2024] [Accepted: 01/12/2024] [Indexed: 01/25/2024]
Abstract
AIM Immunisation is a global health priority, but methods of non-pharmacological pain relief are not widely used in routine clinical practice. In this study, we set out to investigate the effects of maternal singing during the routine vaccination of infants. METHODS We recruited 67 mother-infant pairs at Health Centres in the Aosta Region of Italy. Infants aged 2-4 months were randomly allocated to a singing intervention group or to a control group whose injections were administered following standard practice. Pre- and post-immunisation pain was blindly assessed using the Modified Behavioural Pain Scale, and mother-infant proximity indexes were assigned based on muted video-tracks. RESULTS When assessed for pain, the infants in the maternal singing group were assigned significantly lower movement indexes (p = 0.032) and marginally significantly lower cry indexes (p = 0.076). A higher frequency of mother-to-infant gaze (p < 0.005) was observed in the singing group dyads. Finally, the intervention group mothers' self-perceived ease in singing was correlated with their previous singing experience and with lower anxiety following the vaccination procedure (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION Maternal singing during immunisation procedures benefits both mothers and babies. The practice of singing is a biologically rooted and adaptive form of intuitive parental communication that should be encouraged, especially in at-risk populations.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Romina Raso
- Department of Social Sciences, University of Valle D'Aosta, Aosta, Italy
| | | | | | - Didier Grandjean
- Swiss Center of Affective Sciences, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Manuela Filippa
- Swiss Center of Affective Sciences, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
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3
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Shilton D, Savage PE. Conflicting predictions in the cross-cultural study of music and sociality - Comment on "Musical engagement as a duet of tight synchrony and loose Interpretability" by Tal-Chen Rabinowitch. Phys Life Rev 2024; 49:7-9. [PMID: 38442459 DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2024.02.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2024] [Accepted: 02/27/2024] [Indexed: 03/07/2024]
Affiliation(s)
- Dor Shilton
- Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas, Tel Aviv University, Israel; Edelstein Center for the History and Philosophy of Science, Technology, and Medicine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.
| | - Patrick E Savage
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand; Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University, Fujisawa, Japan
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4
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Albouy P, Mehr SA, Hoyer RS, Ginzburg J, Du Y, Zatorre RJ. Spectro-temporal acoustical markers differentiate speech from song across cultures. Nat Commun 2024; 15:4835. [PMID: 38844457 PMCID: PMC11156671 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-49040-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2023] [Accepted: 05/21/2024] [Indexed: 06/09/2024] Open
Abstract
Humans produce two forms of cognitively complex vocalizations: speech and song. It is debated whether these differ based primarily on culturally specific, learned features, or if acoustical features can reliably distinguish them. We study the spectro-temporal modulation patterns of vocalizations produced by 369 people living in 21 urban, rural, and small-scale societies across six continents. Specific ranges of spectral and temporal modulations, overlapping within categories and across societies, significantly differentiate speech from song. Machine-learning classification shows that this effect is cross-culturally robust, vocalizations being reliably classified solely from their spectro-temporal features across all 21 societies. Listeners unfamiliar with the cultures classify these vocalizations using similar spectro-temporal cues as the machine learning algorithm. Finally, spectro-temporal features are better able to discriminate song from speech than a broad range of other acoustical variables, suggesting that spectro-temporal modulation-a key feature of auditory neuronal tuning-accounts for a fundamental difference between these categories.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philippe Albouy
- CERVO Brain Research Centre, School of Psychology, Laval University, Québec City, QC, Canada.
- International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research (BRAMS), Montreal, QC, Canada.
- Centre for Research in Brain, Language and Music and Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music, Media, and Technology, Montréal, QC, Canada.
| | - Samuel A Mehr
- International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research (BRAMS), Montreal, QC, Canada
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, 1010, New Zealand
- Child Study Center, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA
| | - Roxane S Hoyer
- CERVO Brain Research Centre, School of Psychology, Laval University, Québec City, QC, Canada
| | - Jérémie Ginzburg
- CERVO Brain Research Centre, School of Psychology, Laval University, Québec City, QC, Canada
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, CNRS, UMR5292, INSERM, U1028 - Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, F-69000, Lyon, France
- Cognitive Neuroscience Unit, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Yi Du
- Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Robert J Zatorre
- International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research (BRAMS), Montreal, QC, Canada.
- Centre for Research in Brain, Language and Music and Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music, Media, and Technology, Montréal, QC, Canada.
- Cognitive Neuroscience Unit, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
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5
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Sammler D. Signatures of speech and song: "Universal" links despite cultural diversity. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2024; 10:eadp9620. [PMID: 38748801 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adp9620] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2024] [Accepted: 04/30/2024] [Indexed: 07/13/2024]
Abstract
Equitable collaboration between culturally diverse scientists reveals that acoustic fingerprints of human speech and song share parallel relationships across the globe.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniela Sammler
- Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Research Group Neurocognition of Music and Language, Grüneburgweg 14, D-60322 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Department of Neuropsychology, Stephanstr. 1a, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany
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6
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Ozaki Y, Tierney A, Pfordresher PQ, McBride JM, Benetos E, Proutskova P, Chiba G, Liu F, Jacoby N, Purdy SC, Opondo P, Fitch WT, Hegde S, Rocamora M, Thorne R, Nweke F, Sadaphal DP, Sadaphal PM, Hadavi S, Fujii S, Choo S, Naruse M, Ehara U, Sy L, Parselelo ML, Anglada-Tort M, Hansen NC, Haiduk F, Færøvik U, Magalhães V, Krzyżanowski W, Shcherbakova O, Hereld D, Barbosa BS, Varella MAC, van Tongeren M, Dessiatnitchenko P, Zar SZ, El Kahla I, Muslu O, Troy J, Lomsadze T, Kurdova D, Tsope C, Fredriksson D, Arabadjiev A, Sarbah JP, Arhine A, Meachair TÓ, Silva-Zurita J, Soto-Silva I, Millalonco NEM, Ambrazevičius R, Loui P, Ravignani A, Jadoul Y, Larrouy-Maestri P, Bruder C, Teyxokawa TP, Kuikuro U, Natsitsabui R, Sagarzazu NB, Raviv L, Zeng M, Varnosfaderani SD, Gómez-Cañón JS, Kolff K, der Nederlanden CVB, Chhatwal M, David RM, Setiawan IPG, Lekakul G, Borsan VN, Nguqu N, Savage PE. Globally, songs and instrumental melodies are slower and higher and use more stable pitches than speech: A Registered Report. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2024; 10:eadm9797. [PMID: 38748798 PMCID: PMC11095461 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adm9797] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2023] [Accepted: 04/19/2024] [Indexed: 05/19/2024]
Abstract
Both music and language are found in all known human societies, yet no studies have compared similarities and differences between song, speech, and instrumental music on a global scale. In this Registered Report, we analyzed two global datasets: (i) 300 annotated audio recordings representing matched sets of traditional songs, recited lyrics, conversational speech, and instrumental melodies from our 75 coauthors speaking 55 languages; and (ii) 418 previously published adult-directed song and speech recordings from 209 individuals speaking 16 languages. Of our six preregistered predictions, five were strongly supported: Relative to speech, songs use (i) higher pitch, (ii) slower temporal rate, and (iii) more stable pitches, while both songs and speech used similar (iv) pitch interval size and (v) timbral brightness. Exploratory analyses suggest that features vary along a "musi-linguistic" continuum when including instrumental melodies and recited lyrics. Our study provides strong empirical evidence of cross-cultural regularities in music and speech.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuto Ozaki
- Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, Japan
| | - Adam Tierney
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK
| | - Peter Q. Pfordresher
- Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY, USA
| | - John M. McBride
- Center for Algorithmic and Robotized Synthesis, Institute for Basic Science, Ulsan, South Korea
| | - Emmanouil Benetos
- School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
| | - Polina Proutskova
- School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
| | - Gakuto Chiba
- Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, Japan
| | - Fang Liu
- School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, UK
| | - Nori Jacoby
- Computational Auditory Perception Group, Max-Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Suzanne C. Purdy
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
- Centre for Brain Research and Eisdell Moore Centre for Hearing and Balance Research, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Patricia Opondo
- School of Arts, Music Discipline, University of KwaZulu Natal, Durban, South Africa
| | - W. Tecumseh Fitch
- Department of Behavioral and Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Shantala Hegde
- Music Cognition Lab, Department of Clinical Psychology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
| | - Martín Rocamora
- Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay
- Music Technology Group, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Rob Thorne
- School of Music, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
| | - Florence Nweke
- Department of Creative Arts, University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria
- Department of Music, Mountain Top University, Ogun, Nigeria
| | - Dhwani P. Sadaphal
- Department of Behavioral and Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | | | - Shafagh Hadavi
- Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, Japan
| | - Shinya Fujii
- Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, Japan
| | - Sangbuem Choo
- Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, Japan
| | - Marin Naruse
- Faculty of Policy Management, Keio University, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, Japan
| | | | - Latyr Sy
- Independent researcher, Tokyo, Japan
- Independent researcher, Dakar, Sénégal
| | - Mark Lenini Parselelo
- Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL, Canada
- Department of Music and Dance, Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya
| | | | - Niels Chr. Hansen
- Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- Centre of Excellence in Music, Mind, Body and Brain, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
- Interacting Minds Centre, School of Culture and Society, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- Royal Academy of Music Aarhus/Aalborg, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Felix Haiduk
- Department of Behavioral and Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
| | - Ulvhild Færøvik
- Institute of Biological and Medical Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | - Violeta Magalhães
- Centre of Linguistics of the University of Porto (CLUP), Porto, Portugal
- Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Porto (FLUP), Porto, Portugal
- School of Education of the Polytechnic of Porto (ESE IPP), Porto, Portugal
| | - Wojciech Krzyżanowski
- Adam Mickiewicz University, Faculty of Art Studies, Musicology Institute, Poznań, Poland
| | | | - Diana Hereld
- Department of Psychiatry, UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | | | | | | | | | - Su Zar Zar
- Headmistress, The Royal Music Academy, Yangon, Myanmar
| | - Iyadh El Kahla
- Department of Cultural Policy, University of Hildesheim, Hildesheim, Germany
| | - Olcay Muslu
- Centre for the Study of Higher Education, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK
- MIRAS, Centre for Cultural Sustainability, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Jakelin Troy
- Director, Indigenous Research, Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research); Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW, Australia
| | - Teona Lomsadze
- International Research Center for Traditional Polyphony of the Tbilisi State Conservatoire, Tbilisi, Georgia
- Georgian Studies Fellow, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Dilyana Kurdova
- South-West University Neofit Rilski, Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria
- Phoenix Perpeticum Foundation, Sofia, Bulgaria
| | | | | | - Aleksandar Arabadjiev
- Department of Folk Music Research and Ethnomusicology, University of Music and Performing Arts–MDW, Wien, Austria
| | | | - Adwoa Arhine
- Department of Music, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana
| | - Tadhg Ó Meachair
- Department of Ethnomusicology and Folklore, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA
| | - Javier Silva-Zurita
- Department of Humanities and Arts, University of Los Lagos, Osorno, Chile
- Millennium Nucleus on Musical and Sound Cultures (CMUS NCS 2022-16), Santiago, Chile
| | - Ignacio Soto-Silva
- Department of Humanities and Arts, University of Los Lagos, Osorno, Chile
- Millennium Nucleus on Musical and Sound Cultures (CMUS NCS 2022-16), Santiago, Chile
| | | | | | - Psyche Loui
- Music, Imaging and Neural Dynamics Lab, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Andrea Ravignani
- Department of Human Neurosciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
- Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, Netherlands
- Center for Music in the Brain, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark & The Royal Academy of Music Aarhus/Aalborg, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Yannick Jadoul
- Department of Human Neurosciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
- Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Pauline Larrouy-Maestri
- Music Department, Max-Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Max Planck—NYU Center for Language, Music, and Emotion (CLaME), New York, NY, USA
| | - Camila Bruder
- Music Department, Max-Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Tutushamum Puri Teyxokawa
- Txemim Puri Project–Puri Language Research, Vitalization and Teaching/Recording and Preservation of Puri History and Culture, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
| | | | | | | | - Limor Raviv
- Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, Netherlands
- cSCAN, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
| | - Minyu Zeng
- Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, Japan
- Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI, USA
| | - Shahaboddin Dabaghi Varnosfaderani
- Institute for English and American Studies (IEAS), Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Cognitive and Developmental Psychology Unit, Centre, for Cognitive Science, University of Kaiserslautern-Landau (RPTU), Kaiserslautern, Germany
| | | | - Kayla Kolff
- Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany
| | | | - Meyha Chhatwal
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, ON, Canada
| | - Ryan Mark David
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, ON, Canada
| | | | - Great Lekakul
- Faculty of Fine Arts, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand
| | - Vanessa Nina Borsan
- Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, Japan
- Université de Lille, CNRS, Centrale Lille, UMR 9189 CRIStAL, F-59000 Lille, France
| | - Nozuko Nguqu
- School of Arts, Music Discipline, University of KwaZulu Natal, Durban, South Africa
| | - Patrick E. Savage
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
- Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, Japan
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7
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Passmore S, Wood ALC, Barbieri C, Shilton D, Daikoku H, Atkinson QD, Savage PE. Global musical diversity is largely independent of linguistic and genetic histories. Nat Commun 2024; 15:3964. [PMID: 38729968 PMCID: PMC11087526 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-48113-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2023] [Accepted: 04/19/2024] [Indexed: 05/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Music is a universal yet diverse cultural trait transmitted between generations. The extent to which global musical diversity traces cultural and demographic history, however, is unresolved. Using a global musical dataset of 5242 songs from 719 societies, we identify five axes of musical diversity and show that music contains geographical and historical structures analogous to linguistic and genetic diversity. After creating a matched dataset of musical, genetic, and linguistic data spanning 121 societies containing 981 songs, 1296 individual genetic profiles, and 121 languages, we show that global musical similarities are only weakly and inconsistently related to linguistic or genetic histories, with some regional exceptions such as within Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Our results suggest that global musical traditions are largely distinct from some non-musical aspects of human history.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sam Passmore
- Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, Fujisawa, Japan.
- Evolution of Cultural Diversity Initiative (ECDI), Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
| | | | - Chiara Barbieri
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, 8057, Switzerland
- Centre for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution (ISLE), University of Zurich, Zurich, 8050, Switzerland
- Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Cagliari, 09126, Cagliari, Italy
| | - Dor Shilton
- Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
- Edelstein Centre for the History and Philosophy of Science, Technology, and Medicine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Hideo Daikoku
- Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, Fujisawa, Japan
| | | | - Patrick E Savage
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
- Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University, Fujisawa, Japan.
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8
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Kachlicka M, Patel AD, Liu F, Tierney A. Weighting of cues to categorization of song versus speech in tone-language and non-tone-language speakers. Cognition 2024; 246:105757. [PMID: 38442588 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2024.105757] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2023] [Revised: 02/09/2024] [Accepted: 02/20/2024] [Indexed: 03/07/2024]
Abstract
One of the most important auditory categorization tasks a listener faces is determining a sound's domain, a process which is a prerequisite for successful within-domain categorization tasks such as recognizing different speech sounds or musical tones. Speech and song are universal in human cultures: how do listeners categorize a sequence of words as belonging to one or the other of these domains? There is growing interest in the acoustic cues that distinguish speech and song, but it remains unclear whether there are cross-cultural differences in the evidence upon which listeners rely when making this fundamental perceptual categorization. Here we use the speech-to-song illusion, in which some spoken phrases perceptually transform into song when repeated, to investigate cues to this domain-level categorization in native speakers of tone languages (Mandarin and Cantonese speakers residing in the United Kingdom and China) and in native speakers of a non-tone language (English). We find that native tone-language and non-tone-language listeners largely agree on which spoken phrases sound like song after repetition, and we also find that the strength of this transformation is not significantly different across language backgrounds or countries of residence. Furthermore, we find a striking similarity in the cues upon which listeners rely when perceiving word sequences as singing versus speech, including small pitch intervals, flat within-syllable pitch contours, and steady beats. These findings support the view that there are certain widespread cross-cultural similarities in the mechanisms by which listeners judge if a word sequence is spoken or sung.
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Affiliation(s)
- Magdalena Kachlicka
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, Malet Street, London, United Kingdom
| | - Aniruddh D Patel
- Department of Psychology, Tufts University, 419 Boston Ave, Medford, USA; Program in Brain, Mind, and Consciousness, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, 661 University Avenue, Toronto, Canada
| | - Fang Liu
- School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading, United Kingdom
| | - Adam Tierney
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, Malet Street, London, United Kingdom.
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9
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Jacoby N, Polak R, Grahn JA, Cameron DJ, Lee KM, Godoy R, Undurraga EA, Huanca T, Thalwitzer T, Doumbia N, Goldberg D, Margulis EH, Wong PCM, Jure L, Rocamora M, Fujii S, Savage PE, Ajimi J, Konno R, Oishi S, Jakubowski K, Holzapfel A, Mungan E, Kaya E, Rao P, Rohit MA, Alladi S, Tarr B, Anglada-Tort M, Harrison PMC, McPherson MJ, Dolan S, Durango A, McDermott JH. Commonality and variation in mental representations of music revealed by a cross-cultural comparison of rhythm priors in 15 countries. Nat Hum Behav 2024; 8:846-877. [PMID: 38438653 PMCID: PMC11132990 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-023-01800-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2021] [Accepted: 12/07/2023] [Indexed: 03/06/2024]
Abstract
Music is present in every known society but varies from place to place. What, if anything, is universal to music cognition? We measured a signature of mental representations of rhythm in 39 participant groups in 15 countries, spanning urban societies and Indigenous populations. Listeners reproduced random 'seed' rhythms; their reproductions were fed back as the stimulus (as in the game of 'telephone'), such that their biases (the prior) could be estimated from the distribution of reproductions. Every tested group showed a sparse prior with peaks at integer-ratio rhythms. However, the importance of different integer ratios varied across groups, often reflecting local musical practices. Our results suggest a common feature of music cognition: discrete rhythm 'categories' at small-integer ratios. These discrete representations plausibly stabilize musical systems in the face of cultural transmission but interact with culture-specific traditions to yield the diversity that is evident when mental representations are probed across many cultures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nori Jacoby
- Computational Auditory Perception Group, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
- Presidential Scholars in Society and Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
| | - Rainer Polak
- RITMO Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Rhythm, Time and Motion, University of Oslo, Blindern, Oslo, Norway
| | - Jessica A Grahn
- Brain and Mind Institute and Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
| | - Daniel J Cameron
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
| | - Kyung Myun Lee
- School of Digital Humanities and Social Sciences, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, Republic of Korea
- Graduate School of Culture Technology, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, Republic of Korea
| | - Ricardo Godoy
- Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, USA
| | - Eduardo A Undurraga
- Escuela de Gobierno, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
- CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars programme, CIFAR, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Tomás Huanca
- Centro Boliviano de Investigación y Desarrollo Socio Integral, San Borja, Bolivia
| | | | - Noumouké Doumbia
- Sciences de l'Education, Université Catholique d'Afrique de l'Ouest, Bamako, Mali
| | - Daniel Goldberg
- Department of Music, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA
| | | | - Patrick C M Wong
- Department of Linguistics & Modern Languages and Brain and Mind Institute, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Luis Jure
- School of Music, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - Martín Rocamora
- Signal Processing Department, School of Engineering, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay
- Music Technology Group, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Shinya Fujii
- Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University, Fujisawa, Japan
| | - Patrick E Savage
- Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University, Fujisawa, Japan
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Jun Ajimi
- Department of Traditional Japanese Music, Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Rei Konno
- Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University, Fujisawa, Japan
| | - Sho Oishi
- Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University, Fujisawa, Japan
| | | | - Andre Holzapfel
- Division of Media Technology and Interaction Design, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Esra Mungan
- Department of Psychology, Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Ece Kaya
- Max Planck Research Group 'Neural and Environmental Rhythms', Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Cognitive Science Master Program, Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Preeti Rao
- Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India
| | - Mattur A Rohit
- Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India
| | | | - Bronwyn Tarr
- Department of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Manuel Anglada-Tort
- Computational Auditory Perception Group, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London, London, UK
| | - Peter M C Harrison
- Computational Auditory Perception Group, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Faculty of Music, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Malinda J McPherson
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Program in Speech and Hearing Biosciences and Technology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Sophie Dolan
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA, USA
| | - Alex Durango
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Neurosciences Graduate Program, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Josh H McDermott
- Faculty of Music, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
- Program in Speech and Hearing Biosciences and Technology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
- Center for Brains, Minds & Machines, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
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10
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Zettersten M, Cox C, Bergmann C, Tsui ASM, Soderstrom M, Mayor J, Lundwall RA, Lewis M, Kosie JE, Kartushina N, Fusaroli R, Frank MC, Byers-Heinlein K, Black AK, Mathur MB. Evidence for Infant-directed Speech Preference Is Consistent Across Large-scale, Multi-site Replication and Meta-analysis. Open Mind (Camb) 2024; 8:439-461. [PMID: 38665547 PMCID: PMC11045035 DOI: 10.1162/opmi_a_00134] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2023] [Accepted: 02/19/2024] [Indexed: 04/28/2024] Open
Abstract
There is substantial evidence that infants prefer infant-directed speech (IDS) to adult-directed speech (ADS). The strongest evidence for this claim has come from two large-scale investigations: i) a community-augmented meta-analysis of published behavioral studies and ii) a large-scale multi-lab replication study. In this paper, we aim to improve our understanding of the IDS preference and its boundary conditions by combining and comparing these two data sources across key population and design characteristics of the underlying studies. Our analyses reveal that both the meta-analysis and multi-lab replication show moderate effect sizes (d ≈ 0.35 for each estimate) and that both of these effects persist when relevant study-level moderators are added to the models (i.e., experimental methods, infant ages, and native languages). However, while the overall effect size estimates were similar, the two sources diverged in the effects of key moderators: both infant age and experimental method predicted IDS preference in the multi-lab replication study, but showed no effect in the meta-analysis. These results demonstrate that the IDS preference generalizes across a variety of experimental conditions and sampling characteristics, while simultaneously identifying key differences in the empirical picture offered by each source individually and pinpointing areas where substantial uncertainty remains about the influence of theoretically central moderators on IDS preference. Overall, our results show how meta-analyses and multi-lab replications can be used in tandem to understand the robustness and generalizability of developmental phenomena.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Christopher Cox
- Department of Linguistics, Cognitive Science and Semiotics, School of Communication and Culture, Aarhus University; Interacting Minds Center, School of Culture and Society, Aarhus University
| | | | | | | | - Julien Mayor
- Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies, University of Oslo
| | | | - Molly Lewis
- Department of Psychology/Social and Decision Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University
| | | | | | - Riccardo Fusaroli
- Department of Linguistics, Cognitive Science and Semiotics, School of Communication and Culture, Aarhus University; Interacting Minds Center, School of Culture and Society, Aarhus University
| | | | | | - Alexis K. Black
- School of Audiology and Speech Sciences, University of British Columbia
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11
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Hye-Knudsen M, Kjeldgaard-Christiansen J, Boutwell BB, Clasen M. First They Scream, Then They Laugh: The Cognitive Intersections of Humor and Fear. EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY 2024; 22:14747049241258355. [PMID: 38840335 PMCID: PMC11155347 DOI: 10.1177/14747049241258355] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2024] [Revised: 05/07/2024] [Accepted: 05/15/2024] [Indexed: 06/07/2024] Open
Abstract
On the surface, fear and humor seem like polar opposite states of mind, yet throughout our lives they continually interact. In this paper, we synthesize neurobiological, psychological, and evolutionary research on fear and humor, arguing that the two are deeply connected. The evolutionary origins of humor reside in play, a medium through which animals benignly explore situations and practice strategies, such as fight or flight, which would normally be accompanied by fear. Cognitively, humor retains the structure of play. Adopting a view of humor as requiring two appraisals, a violation appraisal and a benign appraisal, we describe how fear-inducing stimuli can be rendered benignly humorous through contextual cues, psychological distance, reframing, and cognitive reappraisal. The antagonistic relationship between humor and fear in terms of their neurochemistry and physiological effects in turn makes humor ideal for managing fear in many circumstances. We review five real-world examples of humor and fear intersecting, presenting new data in support of our account along the way. Finally, we discuss the possible therapeutic relevance of the deep connection between humor and fear.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marc Hye-Knudsen
- Cognition and Behavior Lab, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- Recreational Fear Lab, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Jens Kjeldgaard-Christiansen
- Recreational Fear Lab, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- Department of English, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Brian B. Boutwell
- Department of Criminal Justice and Legal Studies, University of Mississippi, University, MS, USA
- John D. Bower School of Population Health, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, USA
| | - Mathias Clasen
- Recreational Fear Lab, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- Department of English, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
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12
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Punamäki RL, Diab SY, Drosos K, Qouta SR, Vänskä M. The role of acoustic features of maternal infant-directed singing in enhancing infant sensorimotor, language and socioemotional development. Infant Behav Dev 2024; 74:101908. [PMID: 37992456 DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2023.101908] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2023] [Revised: 10/30/2023] [Accepted: 11/10/2023] [Indexed: 11/24/2023]
Abstract
The quality of infant-directed speech (IDS) and infant-directed singing (IDSi) are considered vital to children, but empirical studies on protomusical qualities of the IDSi influencing infant development are rare. The current prospective study examines the role of IDSi acoustic features, such as pitch variability, shape and movement, and vocal amplitude vibration, timbre, and resonance, in associating with infant sensorimotor, language, and socioemotional development at six and 18 months. The sample consists of 236 Palestinian mothers from Gaza Strip singing to their six-month-olds a song by their own choice. Maternal IDSi was recorded and analyzed by the OpenSMILE- tool to depict main acoustic features of pitch frequencies, variations, and contours, vocal intensity, resonance formants, and power. The results are based on completed 219 maternal IDSi. Mothers reported about their infants' sensorimotor, language-vocalization, and socioemotional skills at six months, and psychologists tested these skills by Bayley Scales for Infant Development at 18 months. Results show that maternal IDSi characterized by wide pitch variability and rich and high vocal amplitude and vibration were associated with infants' optimal sensorimotor, language vocalization, and socioemotional skills at six months, and rich and high vocal amplitude and vibration predicted these optimal developmental skills also at 18 months. High resonance and rhythmicity formants were associated with optimal language and vocalization skills at six months. To conclude, the IDSi is considered important in enhancing newborn and risk infants' wellbeing, and the current findings argue that favorable acoustic singing qualities are crucial for optimal multidomain development across infancy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Raija-Leena Punamäki
- Tampere University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, Finland.
| | - Safwat Y Diab
- Tampere University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, Finland
| | - Konstantinos Drosos
- Tampere University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, Finland; Nokia Research Center, Espoo, Finland
| | - Samir R Qouta
- Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Qatar
| | - Mervi Vänskä
- Tampere University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, Finland
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13
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Menninghaus W, Wagner V, Schindler I, Knoop CA, Blohm S, Frieler K, Scharinger M. Parallelisms and deviations: two fundamentals of an aesthetics of poetic diction. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2024; 379:20220424. [PMID: 38104607 PMCID: PMC10725771 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0424] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2023] [Accepted: 11/05/2023] [Indexed: 12/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Poetic diction routinely involves two complementary classes of features: (i) parallelisms, i.e. repetitive patterns (rhyme, metre, alliteration, etc.) that enhance the predictability of upcoming words, and (ii) poetic deviations that challenge standard expectations/predictions regarding regular word form and order. The present study investigated how these two prediction-modulating fundamentals of poetic diction affect the cognitive processing and aesthetic evaluation of poems, humoristic couplets and proverbs. We developed quantitative measures of these two groups of text features. Across the three text genres, higher deviation scores reduced both comprehensibility and aesthetic liking whereas higher parallelism scores enhanced these. The positive effects of parallelism are significantly stronger than the concurrent negative effects of the features of deviation. These results are in accord with the hypothesis that art reception involves an interplay of prediction errors and prediction error minimization, with the latter paving the way for processing fluency and aesthetic liking. This article is part of the theme issue 'Art, aesthetics and predictive processing: theoretical and empirical perspectives'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Winfried Menninghaus
- Language and Literature, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, 60322 Frankfurt am Main, Hessen, Germany
| | - Valentin Wagner
- Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Helmut-Schmidt-University/University of the Armed Forces Hamburg, 22043 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Ines Schindler
- Seminar of Media Education, Europa-Universität Flensburg, 24943 Flensburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
| | - Christine A. Knoop
- Language and Literature, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, 60322 Frankfurt am Main, Hessen, Germany
| | - Stefan Blohm
- Pragmatics, Leibniz Institute for the German Language, 68161 Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
| | - Klaus Frieler
- Scientific Services, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, 60322 Frankfurt am Main, Hessen, Germany
| | - Mathias Scharinger
- German Studies and Arts, Philipps-Universität Marburg, 35032 Marburg, Germany
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14
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Smith NA, Hammans CA, Vallier TJ, McMurray B. Child-Directed Speech in Noise: Testing Signal- and Code-Based Phonetic Enhancement. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2024; 67:72-91. [PMID: 38039984 DOI: 10.1044/2023_jslhr-23-00033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/03/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE Talkers adapt their speech according to the demands of their listeners and the communicative context, enhancing the properties of the signal (pitch, intensity) and/or properties of the code (enhancement of phonemic contrasts). This study asked how mothers adapt their child-directed speech (CDS) in ways that might serve the immediate goals of increasing intelligibility, as well as long-term goals of supporting speech and language development in their children. METHOD Mothers (N = 28) participated in a real-time interactive speech production/perception paradigm, in which mothers instructed their young (3- to 5-year-old) children, or an adult listener, to select the picture corresponding to a target word. The task was performed at low and high levels (56 vs. 75 dB SPL) of background noise to examine the Lombard effects of decreased audibility on speech production. RESULTS Acoustic-phonetic analyses of CDS and adult-directed speech (ADS) productions of target words and carrier phrase (e.g., "Find pig") revealed that mothers significantly enhanced the mean pitch, pitch variability, and intensity of target words in CDS, particularly at higher background noise levels and for younger children. Mothers produce CDS with a higher signal-to-noise ratio than ADS. However, limited evidence was found for phonetic enhancement of the segmental properties of speech. Although increased category separation was found in the voice onset time of stop consonants, decreased vowel category separation (an anti-enhancement effect) was observed in CDS. CONCLUSIONS Mothers readily enhance the suprasegmental signal properties of their speech in CDS, but not the acoustic-phonetic properties of phonemes. This study fails to provide evidence of phonetic enhancement in preschool children in a dyadic communication task under noisy listening conditions. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.24645423.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicholas A Smith
- Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, University of Missouri-Columbia
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri-Columbia
| | | | | | - Bob McMurray
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Iowa, Iowa City
- Department of Linguistics, University of Iowa, Iowa City
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15
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Menn KH, Männel C, Meyer L. Does Electrophysiological Maturation Shape Language Acquisition? PERSPECTIVES ON PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2023; 18:1271-1281. [PMID: 36753616 PMCID: PMC10623610 DOI: 10.1177/17456916231151584] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/10/2023]
Abstract
Infants master temporal patterns of their native language at a developmental trajectory from slow to fast: Shortly after birth, they recognize the slow acoustic modulations specific to their native language before tuning into faster language-specific patterns between 6 and 12 months of age. We propose here that this trajectory is constrained by neuronal maturation-in particular, the gradual emergence of high-frequency neural oscillations in the infant electroencephalogram. Infants' initial focus on slow prosodic modulations is consistent with the prenatal availability of slow electrophysiological activity (i.e., theta- and delta-band oscillations). Our proposal is consistent with the temporal patterns of infant-directed speech, which initially amplifies slow modulations, approaching the faster modulation range of adult-directed speech only as infants' language has advanced sufficiently. Moreover, our proposal agrees with evidence from premature infants showing maturational age is a stronger predictor of language development than ex utero exposure to speech, indicating that premature infants cannot exploit their earlier availability of speech because of electrophysiological constraints. In sum, we provide a new perspective on language acquisition emphasizing neuronal development as a critical driving force of infants' language development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katharina H. Menn
- Research Group Language Cycles, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- International Max Planck Research School on Neuroscience of Communication: Function, Structure, and Plasticity, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Claudia Männel
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Audiology and Phoniatrics, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Lars Meyer
- Research Group Language Cycles, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- Clinic for Phoniatrics and Pedaudiology, University Hospital Münster, Münster, Germany
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16
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Chittar CR, Jang H, Samuni L, Lewis J, Honing H, van Loon EE, Janmaat KRL. Music production and its role in coalition signaling during foraging contexts in a hunter-gatherer society. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1218394. [PMID: 38022909 PMCID: PMC10646562 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1218394] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2023] [Accepted: 09/06/2023] [Indexed: 12/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Music is a cultural activity universally present in all human societies. Several hypotheses have been formulated to understand the possible origins of music and the reasons for its emergence. Here, we test two hypotheses: (1) the coalition signaling hypothesis which posits that music could have emerged as a tool to signal cooperative intent and signal strength of alliances and (2) music as a strategy to deter potential predators. In addition, we further explore the link between tactile cues and the propensity of mothers to sing toward infants. For this, we investigated the singing behaviors of hunter-gatherer mothers during daily foraging trips among the Mbendjele BaYaka in the Republic of the Congo. Although singing is a significant component of their daily activities, such as when walking in the forest or collecting food sources, studies on human music production in hunter-gatherer societies are mostly conducted during their ritual ceremonies. In this study, we collected foraging and singing behavioral data of mothers by using focal follows of five BaYaka women during their foraging trips in the forest. In accordance with our predictions for the coalition signaling hypothesis, women were more likely to sing when present in large groups, especially when group members were less familiar. However, predictions of the predation deterrence hypothesis were not supported as the interaction between group size and distance from the village did not have a significant effect on the likelihood of singing. The latter may be due to limited variation in predation risk in the foraging areas, because of the intense bush meat trade, and hence, future studies should include foraging areas with higher densities of wild animals. Lastly, we found that mothers were more likely to sing when they were carrying infants compared to when infants were close, but carried by others, supporting the prediction that touch plays an important prerequisite role in musical interaction between the mother and child. Our study provides important insight into the role of music as a tool in displaying the intent between or within groups to strengthen potentially conflict-free alliances during joint foraging activities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chirag Rajendra Chittar
- Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Haneul Jang
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Liran Samuni
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States
- Cooperative Evolution Lab, German Primate Center, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Jerome Lewis
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Henkjan Honing
- Music Cognition Group, Institute for Logic, Language and Computation, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - E. Emiel van Loon
- Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Karline R. L. Janmaat
- Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Department of Cognitive Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands
- ARTIS Amsterdam Royal Zoo, Amsterdam, Netherlands
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17
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Huber E, Ferjan Ramírez N, Corrigan NM, Kuhl PK. Parent coaching from 6 to 18 months improves child language outcomes through 30 months of age. Dev Sci 2023; 26:e13391. [PMID: 36999222 DOI: 10.1111/desc.13391] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2022] [Revised: 01/26/2023] [Accepted: 02/18/2023] [Indexed: 04/01/2023]
Abstract
Interventions focused on the home language environment have been shown to improve a number of child language outcomes in the first years of life. However, data on the longer-term effects of the intervention are still somewhat limited. The current study examines child vocabulary and complex speech outcomes (N = 59) during the year following completion of a parent-coaching intervention, which was previously found to increase the quantity of parent-child conversational turns and to improve child language outcomes through 18 months of age. Measures of parental language input, child speech output, and parent-child conversational turn-taking were manually coded from naturalistic home recordings (Language Environment Analysis System, LENA) at regular 4-month intervals when children were 6- to 24-months old. Child language skills were assessed using the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI) at four time-points following the final intervention session (at 18, 24, 27, and 30 months). Vocabulary size and growth from 18 to 30 months was greater in the intervention group, even after accounting for differences in child language ability during the intervention period. The intervention group also scored higher on measures of speech length and grammatical complexity, and these effects were mediated by 18-month vocabulary. Intervention was associated with increased parent-child conversational turn-taking in home recordings at 14 months, and mediation analysis suggested that 14-month conversational turn-taking accounted for intervention-related differences in subsequent vocabulary. Together, the results suggest enduring, positive effects of parental language intervention and underscore the importance of interactive, conversational language experience during the first 2 years of life. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Parent coaching was provided as part of a home language intervention when children were 6-18 months of age. Naturalistic home language recordings showed increased parent-child conversational turn-taking in the intervention group at 14 months of age. Measures of productive vocabulary and complex speech indicated more advanced expressive language skills in the intervention group through 30 months of age, a full year after the final intervention session. Conversational turn-taking at 14 months predicted subsequent child vocabulary and accounted for differences in vocabulary size across the intervention and control groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth Huber
- Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
- Department of Speech & Hearing Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Naja Ferjan Ramírez
- Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
- Department of Linguistics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Neva M Corrigan
- Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
- Department of Speech & Hearing Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Patricia K Kuhl
- Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
- Department of Speech & Hearing Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
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18
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Daikoku H, Shimozono T, Fujii S, Hegde S, Savage PE. Cross-cultural Perception of Musical Similarity Within and Between India and Japan. MUSIC & SCIENCE 2023; 2023:6. [PMID: 38798704 PMCID: PMC7615992 DOI: 10.1177/20592043231207998] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/29/2024]
Abstract
Cross-cultural perception of musical similarity is important for understanding musical diversity and universality. In this study we analyzed cross-cultural music similarity ratings on a global song sample from 110 participants (62 previously published from Japan, 48 newly collected from musicians and non-musicians from north and south India). Our pre-registered hypothesis that average Indian and Japanese ratings would be correlated was strongly supported (r = .80, p <.001). Exploratory analyses showed that ratings from experts in Hindustani music from the north and Carnatic music from the south showed the lowest correlations (r= .25). These analyses suggest that the correlations we found are likely due more to shared musical exposure than to innate universals of music perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hideo Daikoku
- Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, Fujisawa, Japan
| | | | - Shinya Fujii
- Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University, Fujisawa, Japan
| | - Shantala Hegde
- Music Cognition Lab, & Clinical Neuropsychology and Cognitive Neuroscience Center, Department of Clinical Psychology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bengaluru, India
| | - Patrick E. Savage
- Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University, Fujisawa, Japan
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
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19
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Nguyen T, Flaten E, Trainor LJ, Novembre G. Early social communication through music: State of the art and future perspectives. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2023; 63:101279. [PMID: 37515832 PMCID: PMC10407289 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2023.101279] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2023] [Revised: 07/03/2023] [Accepted: 07/14/2023] [Indexed: 07/31/2023] Open
Abstract
A growing body of research shows that the universal capacity for music perception and production emerges early in development. Possibly building on this predisposition, caregivers around the world often communicate with infants using songs or speech entailing song-like characteristics. This suggests that music might be one of the earliest developing and most accessible forms of interpersonal communication, providing a platform for studying early communicative behavior. However, little research has examined music in truly communicative contexts. The current work aims to facilitate the development of experimental approaches that rely on dynamic and naturalistic social interactions. We first review two longstanding lines of research that examine musical interactions by focusing either on the caregiver or the infant. These include defining the acoustic and non-acoustic features that characterize infant-directed (ID) music, as well as behavioral and neurophysiological research examining infants' processing of musical timing and pitch. Next, we review recent studies looking at early musical interactions holistically. This research focuses on how caregivers and infants interact using music to achieve co-regulation, mutual engagement, and increase affiliation and prosocial behavior. We conclude by discussing methodological, technological, and analytical advances that might empower a comprehensive study of musical communication in early childhood.
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Affiliation(s)
- Trinh Nguyen
- Neuroscience of Perception and Action Lab, Italian Institute of Technology, Rome, Italy.
| | - Erica Flaten
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behavior, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada
| | - Laurel J Trainor
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behavior, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada; McMaster Institute for Music and the Mind, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada; Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Hospital, Toronto, Canada
| | - Giacomo Novembre
- Neuroscience of Perception and Action Lab, Italian Institute of Technology, Rome, Italy
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20
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Yurdum L, Singh M, Glowacki L, Vardy T, Atkinson QD, Hilton CB, Sauter D, Krasnow MM, Mehr SA. Universal interpretations of vocal music. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2218593120. [PMID: 37676911 PMCID: PMC10500275 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2218593120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2022] [Accepted: 06/21/2023] [Indexed: 09/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Despite the variability of music across cultures, some types of human songs share acoustic characteristics. For example, dance songs tend to be loud and rhythmic, and lullabies tend to be quiet and melodious. Human perceptual sensitivity to the behavioral contexts of songs, based on these musical features, suggests that basic properties of music are mutually intelligible, independent of linguistic or cultural content. Whether these effects reflect universal interpretations of vocal music, however, is unclear because prior studies focus almost exclusively on English-speaking participants, a group that is not representative of humans. Here, we report shared intuitions concerning the behavioral contexts of unfamiliar songs produced in unfamiliar languages, in participants living in Internet-connected industrialized societies (n = 5,516 native speakers of 28 languages) or smaller-scale societies with limited access to global media (n = 116 native speakers of three non-English languages). Participants listened to songs randomly selected from a representative sample of human vocal music, originally used in four behavioral contexts, and rated the degree to which they believed the song was used for each context. Listeners in both industrialized and smaller-scale societies inferred the contexts of dance songs, lullabies, and healing songs, but not love songs. Within and across cohorts, inferences were mutually consistent. Further, increased linguistic or geographical proximity between listeners and singers only minimally increased the accuracy of the inferences. These results demonstrate that the behavioral contexts of three common forms of music are mutually intelligible cross-culturally and imply that musical diversity, shaped by cultural evolution, is nonetheless grounded in some universal perceptual phenomena.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lidya Yurdum
- Child Study Center, Yale University, New Haven, CT06520
- Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam1018WT, Netherlands
| | - Manvir Singh
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Davis, DavisCA95616
| | - Luke Glowacki
- Department of Anthropology, Boston University, Boston, MA02215
| | - Thomas Vardy
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland1010, New Zealand
| | | | | | - Disa Sauter
- Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam1018WT, Netherlands
| | - Max M. Krasnow
- Division of Continuing Education, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA02138
| | - Samuel A. Mehr
- Child Study Center, Yale University, New Haven, CT06520
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland1010, New Zealand
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21
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Liu T, Martinez-Torres K, Mazzone J, Camarata S, Lense M. Brief Report: Telehealth Music-Enhanced Reciprocal Imitation Training in Autism: A Single-Subject Feasibility Study of a Virtual Parent Coaching Intervention. J Autism Dev Disord 2023:10.1007/s10803-023-06053-z. [PMID: 37530912 PMCID: PMC10834845 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-023-06053-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/22/2023] [Indexed: 08/03/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE Telehealth delivery increases accessibility of parent-mediated interventions that teach parents skills and support autistic children's social communication. Reciprocal Imitation Training (RIT), an evidence-based Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Intervention (NDBI) focused on imitation skills, a common difficulty in autism, holds promise for telehealth-based parent training. Imitation is also a core component of musical play during childhood and the affordances of musical play/song naturally shape parent-child interactions. We evaluate the feasibility of a music-based, telehealth adaptation of RIT-music-enhanced RIT (tele-meRIT)-as a novel format for coaching parents in NDBI strategies. METHODS This single-subject, multiple baseline design study included 4 autistic children (32-53 months old) and their mothers. Parent-child dyads were recorded during 10-min free play probes at baseline, weekly tele-meRIT sessions, and one-week and one-month follow-up. Probes were coded for parents' RIT implementation fidelity, parent vocal musicality, and children's rate of spontaneous imitation. RESULTS No parent demonstrated implementation fidelity during baseline. All parents increased their use of RIT strategies, met fidelity by the end of treatment, and maintained fidelity at follow-up. Parent vocal musicality also increased from baseline. Intervention did not consistently increase children's imitation skills. A post-intervention evaluation survey indicated high parent satisfaction with tele-meRIT and perceived benefits to their children's social and play skills more broadly. CONCLUSION Implementing tele-meRIT is feasible. Although tele-meRIT additionally involved coaching in incorporating rhythmicity and song into play interactions, parents achieved fidelity in the RIT principles, suggesting one avenue by which music can be integrated within evidence-based parent-mediated NDBIs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Talia Liu
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
- Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA.
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA.
| | - Keysha Martinez-Torres
- Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Julie Mazzone
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Stephen Camarata
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
- Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Miriam Lense
- Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA.
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA.
- Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA.
- The Curb Center for Art, Enterprise, and Public Policy, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
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22
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Sayigh LS, El Haddad N, Tyack PL, Janik VM, Wells RS, Jensen FH. Bottlenose dolphin mothers modify signature whistles in the presence of their own calves. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2300262120. [PMID: 37364108 PMCID: PMC10318978 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2300262120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2023] [Accepted: 05/09/2023] [Indexed: 06/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Human caregivers interacting with children typically modify their speech in ways that promote attention, bonding, and language acquisition. Although this "motherese," or child-directed communication (CDC), occurs in a variety of human cultures, evidence among nonhuman species is very rare. We looked for its occurrence in a nonhuman mammalian species with long-term mother-offspring bonds that is capable of vocal production learning, the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus). Dolphin signature whistles provide a unique opportunity to test for CDC in nonhuman animals, because we are able to quantify changes in the same vocalizations produced in the presence or absence of calves. We analyzed recordings made during brief catch-and-release events of wild bottlenose dolphins in waters near Sarasota Bay, Florida, United States, and found that females produced signature whistles with significantly higher maximum frequencies and wider frequency ranges when they were recorded with their own dependent calves vs. not with them. These differences align with the higher fundamental frequencies and wider pitch ranges seen in human CDC. Our results provide evidence in a nonhuman mammal for changes in the same vocalizations when produced in the presence vs. absence of offspring, and thus strongly support convergent evolution of motherese, or CDC, in bottlenose dolphins. CDC may function to enhance attention, bonding, and vocal learning in dolphin calves, as it does in human children. Our data add to the growing body of evidence that dolphins provide a powerful animal model for studying the evolution of vocal learning and language.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laela S. Sayigh
- Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Falmouth, MA02543
- Hampshire College, Amherst, MA01002
| | - Nicole El Haddad
- Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Falmouth, MA02543
- Earth and Environmental Sciences Department, University of Milano Bicocca, Milano20126, Italy
| | - Peter L. Tyack
- Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Falmouth, MA02543
- Sea Mammal Research Unit, Scottish Oceans Institute, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, KY16 8LB, United Kingdom
| | - Vincent M. Janik
- Sea Mammal Research Unit, Scottish Oceans Institute, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, KY16 8LB, United Kingdom
| | - Randall S. Wells
- Chicago Zoological Society’s Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, c/o Mote Marine Laboratory, Sarasota, FL34236
| | - Frants H. Jensen
- Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Falmouth, MA02543
- Marine Mammal Research, Department of Ecoscience, Aarhus University, Roskilde4000, Denmark
- Biology Department, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY13244
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23
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Cruz Blandón MA, Cristia A, Räsänen O. Introducing Meta-analysis in the Evaluation of Computational Models of Infant Language Development. Cogn Sci 2023; 47:e13307. [PMID: 37395673 DOI: 10.1111/cogs.13307] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2022] [Revised: 05/31/2023] [Accepted: 06/05/2023] [Indexed: 07/04/2023]
Abstract
Computational models of child language development can help us understand the cognitive underpinnings of the language learning process, which occurs along several linguistic levels at once (e.g., prosodic and phonological). However, in light of the replication crisis, modelers face the challenge of selecting representative and consolidated infant data. Thus, it is desirable to have evaluation methodologies that could account for robust empirical reference data, across multiple infant capabilities. Moreover, there is a need for practices that can compare developmental trajectories of infants to those of models as a function of language experience and development. The present study aims to take concrete steps to address these needs by introducing the concept of comparing models with large-scale cumulative empirical data from infants, as quantified by meta-analyses conducted across a large number of individual behavioral studies. We formalize the connection between measurable model and human behavior, and then present a conceptual framework for meta-analytic evaluation of computational models. We exemplify the meta-analytic model evaluation approach with two modeling experiments on infant-directed speech preference and native/non-native vowel discrimination.
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Affiliation(s)
- María Andrea Cruz Blandón
- Unit of Computing Sciences, Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences, Tampere University
| | | | - Okko Räsänen
- Unit of Computing Sciences, Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences, Tampere University
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24
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Bundgaard-Nielsen RL, O'Shannessy C, Wang Y, Nelson A, Bartlett J, Davis V. Two-part vowel modifications in Child Directed Speech in Warlpiri may enhance child attention to speech and scaffold noun acquisition. PHONETICA 2023; 0:phon-2022-0039. [PMID: 37314963 DOI: 10.1515/phon-2022-0039] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2022] [Accepted: 05/08/2023] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Study 1 compared vowels in Child Directed Speech (CDS; child ages 25-46 months) to vowels in Adult Directed Speech (ADS) in natural conversation in the Australian Indigenous language Warlpiri, which has three vowels (/i/, /a/, /u). Study 2 compared the vowels of the child interlocutors from Study 1 to caregiver ADS and CDS. Study 1 indicates that Warlpiri CDS vowels are characterised by fronting, /a/-lowering, f o -raising, and increased duration, but not vowel space expansion. Vowels in CDS nouns, however, show increased between-contrast differentiation and reduced within-contrast variation, similar to what has been reported for other languages. We argue that this two-part CDS modification process serves a dual purpose: Vowel space shifting induces IDS/CDS that sounds more child-like, which may enhance child attention to speech, while increased between-contrast differentiation and reduced within-contrast variation in nouns may serve didactic purposes by providing high-quality information about lexical specifications. Study 2 indicates that Warlpiri CDS vowels are more like child vowels, providing indirect evidence that aspects of CDS may serve non-linguistic purposes simultaneously with other aspects serving linguistic-didactic purposes. The studies have novel implications for the way CDS vowel modifications are considered and highlight the necessity of naturalistic data collection, novel analyses, and typological diversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rikke L Bundgaard-Nielsen
- MARCS Institute of Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University, Westmead, NSW, Australia
- School of Literature, Languages and Linguistics, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Carmel O'Shannessy
- School of Literature, Languages and Linguistics, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Yizhou Wang
- School of Literature, Languages and Linguistics, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Alice Nelson
- Red Dust Role Models, Alice Springs, NT, Australia
| | | | - Vanessa Davis
- School of Literature, Languages and Linguistics, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
- Tangentyere Council Research Hub, Alice Springs, NT, Australia
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25
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Venditti JA, Murrugarra E, McLean CR, Goldstein MH. Curiosity constructs communicative competence through social feedback loops. ADVANCES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND BEHAVIOR 2023; 65:99-134. [PMID: 37481302 DOI: 10.1016/bs.acdb.2023.05.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/24/2023]
Abstract
One of the most important challenges for a developing infant is learning how best to allocate their attention and forage for information in the midst of a great deal of novel stimulation. We propose that infants of altricial species solve this challenge by learning selectively from events that are contingent on their immature behavior, such as babbling. Such a contingency filter would focus attention and learning on the behavior of social partners, because social behavior reliably fits infants' sensitivity to contingency. In this way a contingent response by a caregiver to an immature behavior becomes a source of learnable information - feedback - to the infant. Social interactions with responsive caregivers afford infants opportunities to explore the impacts of their immature behavior on their environment, which facilitates the development of socially guided learning. Furthermore, contingent interactions are opportunities to make and test predictions about the efficacy of their social behaviors and those of others. In this chapter, we will use prelinguistic vocal learning to exemplify how infants use their developing vocal abilities to elicit learnable information about language from their social partners. Specifically, we review how caregivers' contingent responses to babbling create information that facilitates infant vocal learning and drives the development of communication. Infants play an active role in this process, as their developing predictions about the consequences of their actions serve to further refine their allocation of attention and drive increases in the maturity of their vocal behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia A Venditti
- Department of Psychology, Cornell University, 270 Uris Hall, Ithaca, NY, United States
| | - Emma Murrugarra
- Department of Psychology, Cornell University, 270 Uris Hall, Ithaca, NY, United States
| | - Celia R McLean
- Department of Psychology, Cornell University, 270 Uris Hall, Ithaca, NY, United States
| | - Michael H Goldstein
- Department of Psychology, Cornell University, 270 Uris Hall, Ithaca, NY, United States.
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26
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Singh M, Mehr SA. Universality, domain-specificity, and development of psychological responses to music. NATURE REVIEWS PSYCHOLOGY 2023; 2:333-346. [PMID: 38143935 PMCID: PMC10745197 DOI: 10.1038/s44159-023-00182-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/30/2023] [Indexed: 12/26/2023]
Abstract
Humans can find music happy, sad, fearful, or spiritual. They can be soothed by it or urged to dance. Whether these psychological responses reflect cognitive adaptations that evolved expressly for responding to music is an ongoing topic of study. In this Review, we examine three features of music-related psychological responses that help to elucidate whether the underlying cognitive systems are specialized adaptations: universality, domain-specificity, and early expression. Focusing on emotional and behavioural responses, we find evidence that the relevant psychological mechanisms are universal and arise early in development. However, the existing evidence cannot establish that these mechanisms are domain-specific. To the contrary, many findings suggest that universal psychological responses to music reflect more general properties of emotion, auditory perception, and other human cognitive capacities that evolved for non-musical purposes. Cultural evolution, driven by the tinkering of musical performers, evidently crafts music to compellingly appeal to shared psychological mechanisms, resulting in both universal patterns (such as form-function associations) and culturally idiosyncratic styles.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manvir Singh
- Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, University of
Toulouse 1 Capitole, Toulouse, France
| | - Samuel A. Mehr
- Yale Child Study Center, Yale University, New Haven, CT,
USA
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland,
New Zealand
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27
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Yu CY, Cabildo A, Grahn JA, Vanden Bosch der Nederlanden CM. Perceived rhythmic regularity is greater for song than speech: examining acoustic correlates of rhythmic regularity in speech and song. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1167003. [PMID: 37303916 PMCID: PMC10250601 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1167003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2023] [Accepted: 05/09/2023] [Indexed: 06/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Rhythm is a key feature of music and language, but the way rhythm unfolds within each domain differs. Music induces perception of a beat, a regular repeating pulse spaced by roughly equal durations, whereas speech does not have the same isochronous framework. Although rhythmic regularity is a defining feature of music and language, it is difficult to derive acoustic indices of the differences in rhythmic regularity between domains. The current study examined whether participants could provide subjective ratings of rhythmic regularity for acoustically matched (syllable-, tempo-, and contour-matched) and acoustically unmatched (varying in tempo, syllable number, semantics, and contour) exemplars of speech and song. We used subjective ratings to index the presence or absence of an underlying beat and correlated ratings with stimulus features to identify acoustic metrics of regularity. Experiment 1 highlighted that ratings based on the term "rhythmic regularity" did not result in consistent definitions of regularity across participants, with opposite ratings for participants who adopted a beat-based definition (song greater than speech), a normal-prosody definition (speech greater than song), or an unclear definition (no difference). Experiment 2 defined rhythmic regularity as how easy it would be to tap or clap to the utterances. Participants rated song as easier to clap or tap to than speech for both acoustically matched and unmatched datasets. Subjective regularity ratings from Experiment 2 illustrated that stimuli with longer syllable durations and with less spectral flux were rated as more rhythmically regular across domains. Our findings demonstrate that rhythmic regularity distinguishes speech from song and several key acoustic features can be used to predict listeners' perception of rhythmic regularity within and across domains as well.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chu Yi Yu
- The Brain and Mind Institute, Western University, London, ON, Canada
- Department of Psychology, Western University, London, ON, Canada
| | - Anne Cabildo
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Mississauga, ON, Canada
| | - Jessica A. Grahn
- The Brain and Mind Institute, Western University, London, ON, Canada
- Department of Psychology, Western University, London, ON, Canada
| | - Christina M. Vanden Bosch der Nederlanden
- The Brain and Mind Institute, Western University, London, ON, Canada
- Department of Psychology, Western University, London, ON, Canada
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Mississauga, ON, Canada
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28
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Liu J, Hilton CB, Bergelson E, Mehr SA. Language experience predicts music processing in a half-million speakers of fifty-four languages. Curr Biol 2023; 33:1916-1925.e4. [PMID: 37105166 PMCID: PMC10306420 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.03.067] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2021] [Revised: 02/08/2023] [Accepted: 03/23/2023] [Indexed: 04/29/2023]
Abstract
Tonal languages differ from other languages in their use of pitch (tones) to distinguish words. Lifelong experience speaking and hearing tonal languages has been argued to shape auditory processing in ways that generalize beyond the perception of linguistic pitch to the perception of pitch in other domains like music. We conducted a meta-analysis of prior studies testing this idea, finding moderate evidence supporting it. But prior studies were limited by mostly small sample sizes representing a small number of languages and countries, making it challenging to disentangle the effects of linguistic experience from variability in music training, cultural differences, and other potential confounds. To address these issues, we used web-based citizen science to assess music perception skill on a global scale in 34,034 native speakers of 19 tonal languages (e.g., Mandarin, Yoruba). We compared their performance to 459,066 native speakers of other languages, including 6 pitch-accented (e.g., Japanese) and 29 non-tonal languages (e.g., Hungarian). Whether or not participants had taken music lessons, native speakers of all 19 tonal languages had an improved ability to discriminate musical melodies on average, relative to speakers of non-tonal languages. But this improvement came with a trade-off: tonal language speakers were also worse at processing the musical beat. The results, which held across native speakers of many diverse languages and were robust to geographic and demographic variation, demonstrate that linguistic experience shapes music perception, with implications for relations between music, language, and culture in the human mind.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jingxuan Liu
- Columbia Business School, Columbia University, 665 W 130th Street, New York, NY 10027, USA; Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Duke University, 417 Chapel Drive, Durham, NC 27708, USA.
| | - Courtney B Hilton
- Yale Child Study Center, Yale University, 300 George Street #900, New Haven, CT 06511, USA; School of Psychology, University of Auckland, 23 Symonds Street, Auckland 1010, New Zealand.
| | - Elika Bergelson
- Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Duke University, 417 Chapel Drive, Durham, NC 27708, USA
| | - Samuel A Mehr
- Yale Child Study Center, Yale University, 300 George Street #900, New Haven, CT 06511, USA; School of Psychology, University of Auckland, 23 Symonds Street, Auckland 1010, New Zealand.
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29
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Reece A, Cooney G, Bull P, Chung C, Dawson B, Fitzpatrick C, Glazer T, Knox D, Liebscher A, Marin S. The CANDOR corpus: Insights from a large multimodal dataset of naturalistic conversation. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2023; 9:eadf3197. [PMID: 37000886 PMCID: PMC10065445 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adf3197] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2022] [Accepted: 03/02/2023] [Indexed: 06/19/2023]
Abstract
People spend a substantial portion of their lives engaged in conversation, and yet, our scientific understanding of conversation is still in its infancy. Here, we introduce a large, novel, and multimodal corpus of 1656 conversations recorded in spoken English. This 7+ million word, 850-hour corpus totals more than 1 terabyte of audio, video, and transcripts, with moment-to-moment measures of vocal, facial, and semantic expression, together with an extensive survey of speakers' postconversation reflections. By taking advantage of the considerable scope of the corpus, we explore many examples of how this large-scale public dataset may catalyze future research, particularly across disciplinary boundaries, as scholars from a variety of fields appear increasingly interested in the study of conversation.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Gus Cooney
- University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Peter Bull
- DrivenData Inc., Berkeley, CA, 94709, USA
| | | | | | | | | | - Dean Knox
- University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
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30
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Anglada-Tort M, Harrison PMC, Lee H, Jacoby N. Large-scale iterated singing experiments reveal oral transmission mechanisms underlying music evolution. Curr Biol 2023; 33:1472-1486.e12. [PMID: 36958332 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.02.070] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2022] [Revised: 12/24/2022] [Accepted: 02/23/2023] [Indexed: 03/25/2023]
Abstract
Speech and song have been transmitted orally for countless human generations, changing over time under the influence of biological, cognitive, and cultural pressures. Cross-cultural regularities and diversities in human song are thought to emerge from this transmission process, but testing how underlying mechanisms contribute to musical structures remains a key challenge. Here, we introduce an automatic online pipeline that streamlines large-scale cultural transmission experiments using a sophisticated and naturalistic modality: singing. We quantify the evolution of 3,424 melodies orally transmitted across 1,797 participants in the United States and India. This approach produces a high-resolution characterization of how oral transmission shapes melody, revealing the emergence of structures that are consistent with widespread musical features observed cross-culturally (small pitch sets, small pitch intervals, and arch-shaped melodic contours). We show how the emergence of these structures is constrained by individual biases in our participants-vocal constraints, working memory, and cultural exposure-which determine the size, shape, and complexity of evolving melodies. However, their ultimate effect on population-level structures depends on social dynamics taking place during cultural transmission. When participants recursively imitate their own productions (individual transmission), musical structures evolve slowly and heterogeneously, reflecting idiosyncratic musical biases. When participants instead imitate others' productions (social transmission), melodies rapidly shift toward homogeneous structures, reflecting shared structural biases that may underpin cross-cultural variation. These results provide the first quantitative characterization of the rich collection of biases that oral transmission imposes on music evolution, giving us a new understanding of how human song structures emerge via cultural transmission.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manuel Anglada-Tort
- Computational Auditory Perception Group, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Grüneburgweg 14, Frankfurt am Main 60322, Germany; Faculty of Music, University of Oxford, St Aldate's, Oxford OX1 1DB, UK.
| | - Peter M C Harrison
- Computational Auditory Perception Group, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Grüneburgweg 14, Frankfurt am Main 60322, Germany; Faculty of Music, University of Cambridge, 11 West Road, Cambridge CB3 9DP, UK
| | - Harin Lee
- Computational Auditory Perception Group, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Grüneburgweg 14, Frankfurt am Main 60322, Germany; Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Stephanstraße 1a, Leipzig 04103, Germany
| | - Nori Jacoby
- Computational Auditory Perception Group, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Grüneburgweg 14, Frankfurt am Main 60322, Germany
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31
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Pierce K, Wen TH, Zahiri J, Andreason C, Courchesne E, Barnes CC, Lopez L, Arias SJ, Esquivel A, Cheng A. Level of Attention to Motherese Speech as an Early Marker of Autism Spectrum Disorder. JAMA Netw Open 2023; 6:e2255125. [PMID: 36753277 PMCID: PMC9909502 DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.55125] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2022] [Accepted: 12/19/2022] [Indexed: 02/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Importance Caregivers have long captured the attention of their infants by speaking in motherese, a playful speech style characterized by heightened affect. Reduced attention to motherese in toddlers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may be a contributor to downstream language and social challenges and could be diagnostically revealing. Objective To investigate whether attention toward motherese speech can be used as a diagnostic classifier of ASD and is associated with language and social ability. Design, Setting, and Participants This diagnostic study included toddlers aged 12 to 48 months, spanning ASD and non-ASD diagnostic groups, at a research center. Data were collected from February 2018 to April 2021 and analyzed from April 2021 to March 2022. Exposures Gaze-contingent eye-tracking test. Main Outcomes and Measures Using gaze-contingent eye tracking wherein the location of a toddler's fixation triggered a specific movie file, toddlers participated in 1 or more 1-minute eye-tracking tests designed to quantify attention to motherese speech, including motherese vs traffic (ie, noisy vehicles on a highway) and motherese vs techno (ie, abstract shapes with music). Toddlers were also diagnostically and psychometrically evaluated by psychologists. Levels of fixation within motherese and nonmotherese movies and mean number of saccades per second were calculated. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to evaluate optimal fixation cutoff values and associated sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value. Within the ASD group, toddlers were stratified based on low, middle, or high levels of interest in motherese speech, and associations with social and language abilities were examined. Results A total of 653 toddlers were included (mean [SD] age, 26.45 [8.37] months; 480 males [73.51%]). Unlike toddlers without ASD, who almost uniformly attended to motherese speech with a median level of 82.25% and 80.75% across the 2 tests, among toddlers with ASD, there was a wide range, spanning 0% to 100%. Both the traffic and techno paradigms were effective diagnostic classifiers, with large between-group effect sizes (eg, ASD vs typical development: Cohen d, 1.0 in the techno paradigm). Across both paradigms, a cutoff value of 30% or less fixation on motherese resulted in an area under the ROC curve (AUC) of 0.733 (95% CI, 0.693-0.773) and 0.761 (95% CI, 0.717-0.804), respectively; specificity of 98% (95% CI, 95%-99%) and 96% (95% CI, 92%-98%), respectively; and PPV of 94% (95% CI, 86%-98%). Reflective of heterogeneity and expected subtypes in ASD, sensitivity was lower at 18% (95% CI, 14%-22%) and 29% (95% CI, 24%-34%), respectively. Combining metrics increased the AUC to 0.841 (95% CI, 0.805-0.877). Toddlers with ASD who showed the lowest levels of attention to motherese speech had weaker social and language abilities. Conclusions and Relevance In this diagnostic study, a subset of toddlers showed low levels of attention toward motherese speech. When a cutoff level of 30% or less fixation on motherese speech was used, toddlers in this range were diagnostically classified as having ASD with high accuracy. Insight into which toddlers show unusually low levels of attention to motherese may be beneficial not only for early ASD diagnosis and prognosis but also as a possible therapeutic target.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karen Pierce
- Autism Center of Excellence, Department of Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla
| | - Teresa H. Wen
- Autism Center of Excellence, Department of Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla
| | - Javad Zahiri
- Autism Center of Excellence, Department of Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla
| | - Charlene Andreason
- Autism Center of Excellence, Department of Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla
| | - Eric Courchesne
- Autism Center of Excellence, Department of Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla
| | - Cynthia C. Barnes
- Autism Center of Excellence, Department of Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla
| | - Linda Lopez
- Autism Center of Excellence, Department of Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla
| | - Steven J. Arias
- Autism Center of Excellence, Department of Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla
| | - Ahtziry Esquivel
- Autism Center of Excellence, Department of Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla
| | - Amanda Cheng
- Autism Center of Excellence, Department of Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla
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Long B, Simson J, Buxó-Lugo A, Watson DG, Mehr SA. How games can make behavioural science better. Nature 2023; 613:433-436. [PMID: 36650244 DOI: 10.1038/d41586-023-00065-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/19/2023]
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Ridder HM, Krøier JK, Anderson-Ingstrup J, McDermott O. Person-attuned musical interactions (PAMI) in dementia care. Complex intervention research for constructing a training manual. Front Med (Lausanne) 2023; 10:1160588. [PMID: 37200965 PMCID: PMC10185798 DOI: 10.3389/fmed.2023.1160588] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2023] [Accepted: 04/10/2023] [Indexed: 05/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction Music is of vital importance for cognition, human care, and the formation of social communities throughout life. Dementia is a neurocognitive disorder that affects cognitive domains, and in late-stage dementia, care is needed in all aspects of daily living. Within residential care home contexts, carers play a significant role for the "caring culture" but often lack professional training in verbal and non-verbal communication skills. Thus, there is a need for training carers to respond to the multidimensional needs of persons with dementia. Music therapists use musical interactions but are not trained to train carers. Therefore, our aim was to explore person-attuned musical interactions (PAMI), and additionally, to develop and evaluate a training manual to be used by music therapists when supporting and training carers in non-verbal communication with persons with late-stage dementia in residential care home contexts. Research process With a realist perspective and systems thinking and within the framework for complex intervention research, the research group integrated several overlapping subprojects by applying a non-linear and iterative research process. Core elements related to person-centered dementia care as well as learning objectives were considered through the following four phases; Developing, Feasibility, Evaluation, and Implementation. Results The result was a training manual for qualified music therapists to use when teaching and collaborating with carers about how to implement PAMI in dementia care. The manual included comprehensive resources, a clear structure for training, defined learning objectives, and integration of theory. Discussion With increased knowledge about caring values and non-verbal communication, residential care home cultures may develop carer competencies and provide professional attuned care for persons with dementia. Further piloting and testing to examine the general effect on caring cultures is needed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hanne Mette Ridder
- Centre for Documentation and Research in Music Therapy, Department of Communication and Psychology, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
- *Correspondence: Hanne Mette Ridder
| | - Julie Kolbe Krøier
- Centre for Documentation and Research in Music Therapy, Department of Communication and Psychology, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
| | - Jens Anderson-Ingstrup
- Centre for Documentation and Research in Music Therapy, Department of Communication and Psychology, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
| | - Orii McDermott
- Centre for Documentation and Research in Music Therapy, Department of Communication and Psychology, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
- Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom
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Weinstein N, Baldwin D. Reification of infant-directed speech? Exploring assumptions shaping infant-directed speech research. CULTURE & PSYCHOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1177/1354067x221147683] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
The seemingly ubiquitous tendency of caregivers to speak to infants in special ways has captivated the interest of scholars across diverse disciplines for over a century. As a result, this phenomenon has been characterized in quite different ways. Here, we highlight the shift from early definitions of “baby-talk” which implied that the nature of speech directed towards infants would vary in different sociolinguistic contexts, to later terms such as “motherese” or “infant-directed speech” (IDS) which came to refer to a specific set of features, some of which were argued to represent a universal, optimal and culturally invariant form of speech. These divergent conceptualizations of IDS thus reflect broader disciplinary tensions pertaining to the role allotted to cultural processes in psychological research. We hope to contribute to this literature by pointing to the complexity associated with identifying discrete categories of speech (i.e., baby-talk and motherese/IDS) within a complex multi-dimensional sociolinguistic landscape. We also highlight ways in which a lack of attention to the cultural context of infant-caregiver interactions may have led to biased characterizations of IDS. Furthermore, these biases may implicitly penetrate the nature of empirical work on IDS as well. We end with a series of suggestions for future directions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Netanel Weinstein
- Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Oregon, Eugene, USA
| | - Dare Baldwin
- Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Oregon, Eugene, USA
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