The seminar of 4/28 (Tuesday) will be held at NCU and NYMU separately. Attached is the CV of the speaker.

Speaker:
Ying-Ying, Chung PhD, 鄭盈吟
Institute of Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica

Topic:
Development of Mismatch Responses to Lexical Tone Changes in Mandarin Infants

Abstract：The ability of phonetic discrimination in early infancy has been suggested to be one of the foundations of language and reading acquisition. In this talk, I will present the study exploring the development of perception in Mandarin lexical tones from birth to 24 months of age by measuring mismatch responses (MMRs). MMRs indicate change-related event-related potentials (ERPs), which include: (1) mismatch negativity (MMN) reflecting automatic change detection, and (2) positive mismatch response (P-MMR) reflecting less mature processing to incoming changes. This study examined how age and deviant size affect MMRs to Mandarin lexical tone changes. MMRs were measured every 6 months, from birth to 24 months using the multi-deviant oddball paradigm. The low-dipping Tone 3 (T3) was used as the standard sound, the high-level Tone 1 (T1) as the large deviant, and the high-rising Tone 2 (T2) as the small deviant. The result showed that the large T1/T3 change elicited P-MMR in newborns, whereas MMN to T1/T3 was found at 6 months and sustained at older ages. The small T2/T3 change elicited P-MMR at 6 to 18 months. The findings demonstrated the developmental change from P-MMR to MMN with age, while the timetable of this developmental change depends on the discriminability of a contrast. It suggested that MMRs could serve as a neurophysiological index to evaluate the maturation of speech perception.



Date & Time:
2020/04/28 Tuesday, 14:00-16:00, including seminar (14:00-15:00) and QA section (15:00-16:00).


Venue:
for NCU : Science Building #4, S4-209, National Central University（中央大學科四館209室）
for NYMU : Please log in the virtual room individually