TY - JOUR A1 - Krasotkina, Anna A1 - Götz, Antonia A1 - Höhle, Barbara A1 - Schwarzer, Gudrun T1 - Perceptual narrowing in face- and speech-perception domains in infancy BT - a longitudinal approach JF - Infant behavior & development : an international and interdisciplinary journal N2 - During the first year of life, infants undergo a process known as perceptual narrowing, which reduces their sensitivity to classes of stimuli which the infants do not encounter in their environment. It has been proposed that perceptual narrowing for faces and speech may be driven by shared domain-general processes. To investigate this theory, our study longitudinally tested 50 German Caucasian infants with respect to these domains first at 6 months of age followed by a second testing at 9 months of age. We used an infant-controlled habituation-dishabituation paradigm to test the infants' ability to discriminate among other-race Asian faces and non-native Cantonese speech tones, as well as same-race Caucasian faces as a control. We found that while at 6 months of age infants could discriminate among all stimuli, by 9 months of age they could no longer discriminate among other-race faces or non-native tones. However, infants could discriminate among same-race stimuli both at 6 and at 9 months of age. These results demonstrate that the same infants undergo perceptual narrowing for both other-race faces and non-native speech tones between the ages of 6 and 9 months. This parallel development of perceptual narrowing occurring in both the face and speech perception modalities over the same period of time lends support to the domain-general theory of perceptual narrowing in face and speech perception. KW - face perception KW - speech perception KW - longitudinal KW - infant KW - perceptual KW - narrowing Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2021.101607 SN - 0163-6383 SN - 1879-0453 VL - 64 PB - Elsevier CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Krasotkina, Anna A1 - Götz, Antonia A1 - Höhle, Barbara A1 - Schwarzer, Gudrun T1 - Bimodal familiarization re-sensitizes 12-month-old infants to other-race faces JF - Infant behavior & development : an international and interdisciplinary journal N2 - Perceptual narrowing in the domain of face perception typically begins to reduce infants' sensitivity to differences distinguishing other-race faces from approximately 6 months of age. The present study investigated whether it is possible to re-sensitize Caucasian 12-month-old infants to other-race Asian faces through statistical learning by familiarizing them with different statistical distributions of these faces. The familiarization faces were created by generating a morphed continuum from one Asian face identity to another. In the unimodal condition, infants were familiarized with a frequency distribution wherein they saw the midpoint face of the morphed continuum the most frequently. In the bimodal condition, infants were familiarized with a frequency distribution wherein they saw faces closer to the endpoints of the morphed continuum the most frequently. After familiarization, infants were tested on their discrimination of the two original Asian faces. The infants' looking times during the test indicated that infants in the bimodal condition could discriminate between the two faces, while infants in the unimodal condition could not. These findings therefore suggest that 12-month-old Caucasian infants could be re-sensitized to Asian faces by familiarizing them with a bimodal frequency distribution of such faces. KW - Bimodal KW - Unimodal KW - Familiarization KW - Statistical learning KW - Infant KW - Face KW - discrimination Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2020.101502 SN - 0163-6383 SN - 1879-0453 VL - 62 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - THES A1 - Götz, Antonia T1 - Patterns of perceptual reorganization in infancy T1 - Muster der Wahrnehmungsorganisation im Säuglingsalter BT - decline, maintenance, and u shaped development BT - Abnahme, Aufrechterhaltung und U-Förmige Entwicklung N2 - Previous behavioral studies showed that perceptual changes in infancy can be observed in multiple patterns, namely decline (e.g., Mattock et al., 2008; Yeung et al., 2013), maintenance (e.g., Chen & Kager, 2016) and U-shaped development (Liu & Kager, 2014). This dissertation contributes further to the understanding of the developmental trajectory of phonological acquisition in infancy. The dissertation addresses the questions of how the perceptual sensitivity of lexical tones and vowels changes in infancy and how different experimental procedures contribute to our understanding. We used three experimental procedures to investigate German-learning infants’ discrimination abilities. In Studies 1 and 3 (Chapters 5 and 7) we used behavioral methods (habituation and familiarization procedures) and in Study 2 (Chapter 6) we measured neural correlates. Study 1 showed a U-shaped developmental pattern: 6- and 18-month-olds discriminated a lexical tone contrast, but not the 9-month-olds. In addition, we found an effect of experimental procedure: infants discriminated the tone contrast at 6 months in a habituation but not in a familiarization procedure. In Study 2, we observed mismatch responses (MMR) to a non-native tone contrast and a native-like vowel in 6- and 9-month-olds. In 6-month-olds, both contrasts elicited positive MMRs. At 9 months, the vowel contrast elicited an adult-like negative MMR, while the tone contrast elicited a positive MMR. Study 3 demonstrated a change in perceptual sensitivity to a vowel contrast between 6 and 9 months. In contrast to the 6-month-old infants, the 9-month-old infants discriminated the tested vowel contrast asymmetrically. We suggest that the shifts in perceptual sensitivity between 6 and 9 months are functional rather than perceptual. In the case of lexical tone discrimination, infants may have already learned by 9 months of age that pitch is not relevant at the lexical level in German, since the infants in Study 1 showed no perceptual sensitivity to the contrast tested. Nevertheless, the brain responded to the contrast, especially since pitch differences are also part of the German intonation system (Gussenhoven, 2004). The role of the intonation system in pitch discrimination could be supported by the recovery of behavioral discrimination at 18 months of age, as well as behavioral and neural discrimination in German-speaking adults. N2 - Frühere Verhaltensstudien haben gezeigt, dass Wahrnehmungsveränderungen im Säuglingsalter in verschiedenen Mustern beobachtet werden können, nämlich Rückgang (z. B. Mattock et al., 2008; Yeung et al., 2013), Aufrechterhaltung (z. B. Chen & Kager, 2016) und U-förmige Entwicklung (Liu & Kager, 2014). Diese Dissertation leistet einen weiteren Beitrag zum Verständnis des Entwicklungsverlaufs des phonologischen Erwerbs im Säuglingsalter und befasst sich mit den Fragen, wie sich die Wahrnehmungssensitivität von lexikalischen Tönen und Vokalen im Säuglingsalter verändert und wie verschiedene experimentelle Verfahren zu unserem Verständnis beitragen. Wir haben drei experimentelle Verfahren verwendet, um die Diskriminationsfähigkeiten von Deutsch lernenden Säuglingen zu untersuchen. In den Studien 1 und 3 (Kapitel 5 und 7) verwendeten wir Verhaltensmethoden (Habituierungs- und Familiarisierungsverfahren) und in Studie 2 (Kapitel 6) maßen wir neuronale Korrelate. Studie 1 zeigten ein U-förmiges Entwicklungsmuster: mit 6 und 18 Monaten unterschieden Kinder einen lexikalischen Tonkontrast, aber nicht mit 9 Monaten. Darüber hinaus fanden wir einen Effekt des experimentellen Verfahrens: Säuglinge unterschieden einen lexikalischen Tonkontrast mit 6 Monaten in einem Habituierungs-, aber nicht in einem Familiarisierungsverfahren. In Studie 2 beobachteten wir mismatch responses (MMR) auf einen nicht-muttersprachlichen Tonkontrast und auf einen muttersprachlichen Vokal bei 6 und 9 Monate alten Säuglingen. Die 6 Monate alten Säuglingen zeigten positive MMRs für beide Kontraste. Mit 9 Monaten löste der Tonkontrast eine positive MMR aus, während der Vokalkontrast eine erwachsenenähnliche negative MMR hervorrief. Studie 3 zeigte eine Veränderung der Wahrnehmungsempfindlichkeit für einen Vokalkontrast zwischen 6 und 9 Monaten. Im Gegensatz zu den 6 Monate alten Säuglingen unterschieden die 9 Monate alten Säuglinge den getesteten Vokalkontrast asymmetrisch. Wir vermuten, dass die Verschiebungen in der Wahrnehmungsempfindlichkeit zwischen 6 und 9 Monaten vielmehr funktionell als wahrnehmungsbezogen sind. Im Fall der lexikalischen Tonunterscheidung haben die Säuglinge im Alter von 9 Monaten möglicherweise bereits gelernt, dass die Tonhöhe auf der lexikalischen Ebene im Deutschen nicht relevant ist, da die Säuglinge in Studie 1 keine Wahrnehmungssensitivität für den getesteten Kontrast zeigten. Dennoch reagierte das Gehirn auf den Kontrast, zumal Tonhöhenunterschiede auch Teil des deutschen Intonationssystems sind (Gussenhoven, 2004). Die Rolle des Intonationssystems bei der Tonhöhendiskriminierung könnte durch die Wiederherstellung der Verhaltensdiskriminierung im Alter von 18 Monaten sowie durch die Verhaltens- und neuronale Diskriminierung bei deutschsprachigen Erwachsenen untermauert werden. KW - perceptual reorganization KW - infancy KW - lexical tones KW - vowels KW - experimental procedure KW - perzeptuelle Reorganisation KW - Säuglingsalter KW - lexikalische Töne KW - Vokale KW - experimentelle Verfahren Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-536185 ER -