PDF(Pubmed)
Abstract：
Rhythm is known to play an important role in infant language acquisition, but few infant language development studies have considered that rhythm is multimodal and shows strong connections between speech and the body. Based on the observation that infants sometimes show rhythmic motor responses when listening to auditory rhythms, the present study asked whether specific rhythm cues (pitch, intensity, or duration) would systematically increase infants\' spontaneous rhythmic body movement, and whether their rhythmic movements would be associated with their speech processing abilities. We used pre-existing experimental and video data of 148 German-learning 7.5- and 9.5-month-old infants tested on their use of rhythm as a cue for speech segmentation. The infants were familiarized with an artificial language featuring syllables alternating in pitch, intensity, duration, or none of these cues. Subsequently, they were tested on their recognition of bisyllables based on perceived rhythm. We annotated infants\' rhythmic movements in the videos, analyzed whether the rhythmic moving durations depended on the perceived rhythmic cue, and correlated them with the speech segmentation performance. The result was that infants\' motor engagement was highest when they heard a duration-based speech rhythm. Moreover, we found an association of the quantity of infants\' rhythmic motor responses and speech segmentation. However, contrary to the predictions, infants who exhibited fewer rhythmic movements showed a more mature performance in speech segmentation. In sum, the present study provides initial exploratory evidence that infants\' spontaneous rhythmic body movements while listening to rhythmic speech are systematic, and may be linked with their language processing. Moreover, the results highlight the need for considering infants\' spontaneous rhythmic body movements as a source of individual differences in infant auditory and speech perception.
摘要：
众所周知，节奏在婴儿语言习得中起着重要作用，但是很少有婴儿语言发展研究认为节奏是多模态的，并且显示出言语与身体之间的强烈联系。根据观察，婴儿在听听觉节奏时有时会表现出有节奏的运动反应，本研究询问特定的节奏线索(音高，强度,或持续时间)会系统地增加婴儿自发的有节奏的身体运动，以及他们的节奏动作是否与他们的语音处理能力有关。我们使用了148名德语学习7.5和9.5个月大的婴儿的现有实验和视频数据，测试了他们使用节奏作为语音分割的线索。婴儿熟悉一种人工语言，其音节在音高上交替，强度,持续时间,或者没有这些线索。随后，他们根据感知的节奏对双音节进行了识别测试。我们在视频中注释了婴儿的节奏动作，分析了有节奏的运动持续时间是否取决于感知的节奏提示，并将它们与语音分割性能相关联。结果是，当婴儿听到基于持续时间的语音节奏时，他们的运动参与度最高。此外，我们发现婴儿有节奏的运动反应数量与语音分割之间存在关联。然而,与预测相反，表现出较少节奏动作的婴儿在语音分割方面表现出更成熟的表现。总之,本研究提供了初步的探索性证据，表明婴儿听有节奏的语音时自发的有节奏的身体运动是系统的，并可能与他们的语言处理有关。此外，结果强调需要考虑婴儿自发的有节奏的身体运动作为婴儿听觉和言语感知的个体差异的来源。
