Abstract
There is considerable debate about whether the early processing of sounds depends on whether they form part of speech. Proponents of such speech specificity postulate the existence of language-dependent memory traces, which are activated in the processing of speech1–3 but not when equally complex, acoustic non-speech stimuli are processed. Here we report the existence of these traces in the human brain. We presented to Finnish subjects the Finnish phoneme prototype /e/ as the frequent stimulus, and other Finnish phoneme prototypes or a non-prototype (the Estonian prototype /õ/) as the infrequent stimulus. We found that the brain's automatic change-detection response, reflected electrically as the mismatch negativity (MMN)4–10, was enhanced when the infrequent, deviant stimulus was a prototype (the Finnish /ö/) relative to when it was a non-prototype (the Estonian /õ/). These phonemic traces, revealed by MMN, are language-specific, as /õ/ caused enhancement of MMN in Estonians. Whole-head magnetic recordings11,12 located the source of this native-language, phoneme-related response enhancement, and thus the language-specific memory traces, in the auditory cortex of the left hemisphere.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Kuhl, P. K. Percept. Psychophys. 50, 93–107 (1991).
Liberman, A. M., Harris, K. S., Hoffman, H. S. & Griffith, B. C. J. Exp. Psychol. 54, 358–368 (1957).
Kuhl, P. K. J. Phonet. 21, 125–139 (1993).
Näätänen, R., Gaillard, A. W. K. & Mäntysalo, S. Acta Psychol. 42, 313–329 (1978).
Näätänen, R. Ear Hear. 16, 6–18 (1995).
Näätänen, R. Attention and Brain Function (Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ, 1992).
Tiitinen, H., May, P., Reinikainen, K. & Näätänen, R. Nature 372, 90–92 (1994).
Aaltonen, O., Eerola, O., Hellström, Å., Unispaikka, E., & Lang, A. H. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. (in the press).
Aulanko, R., Hari, R., Lounasmaa, O., Näätänen, R., & Sams, M. NeuroReport 2, 1356–1358 (1993).
Kraus, N. et al. Science 273, 971–973 (1996).
Hari, R. in Auditory Evoked Magnetic Fields and Electric Potentials. Advances in Audiology Vol. 6 (eds Grandori, F., Hoke, M. & Romani, G. L.) 222–282 (Karger, Basel, 1990).
Hämäläinen, M., Hari, R., Ilmoniemi, R. J., Knuutila, J. & Lounasmaa, O. V. Rev. Mod. Phys. 65, 413–497 (1993).
Wiik, K. Ann. Univ. Turku. 94, 1–192 (1965).
Iivonen, A. Phonetica 52, 221–224 (1995).
Liiv, G. & Remmel, M. Sov. Fenno-Ugric Studies VI 1, 7–23 (1970).
Näätänen, R., Ilmoniemi, R. J. & Alho, K. Trends Neurosci. 7, 389–395 (1994).
Näätänen, R. & Alho, K. Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol. (suppl.) 44, 179–185 (1995).
Kuhl, P. K., Williams, K. A. & Lacerda, F. Science 255, 606–608 (1992).
Giard, M. H. et al. J. Cogn. Neurosci. 7, 133–143 (1995).
Alho, K. et al. Psychophysiology 33, 369–375 (1996).
Levänen, S., Ahonen, A., Hari, R., McEvoy, L. & Sams, M. Cereb. Cortex 6, 288–296 (1996).
Fant, G. The Acoustic Theory of Speech Production (Mouton, Hague, 1960).
Alku, P. Speech Commun. 11, 109–118 (1992).
Knuutila, J. E. T. et al. IEEE Trans. Magnet. 29, 3315–3320 (1992).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Näätänen, R., Lehtokoski, A., Lennes, M. et al. Language-specific phoneme representations revealed by electric and magnetic brain responses. Nature 385, 432–434 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/385432a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/385432a0
This article is cited by
-
Emergence of the cortical encoding of phonetic features in the first year of life
Nature Communications (2023)
-
Acoustic-level and language-specific processing of native and non-native phonological sequence onsets in the low gamma and theta-frequency bands
Scientific Reports (2022)
-
Rapid learning of a phonemic discrimination in the first hours of life
Nature Human Behaviour (2022)
-
Listen-and-repeat training in the learning of non-native consonant duration contrasts: influence of consonant type as reflected by MMN and behavioral methods
Journal of Psycholinguistic Research (2022)
-
Lifelong Tone Language Experience does not Eliminate Deficits in Neural Encoding of Pitch in Autism Spectrum Disorder
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (2021)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.