Neural processing of rhythmic structures and sound symbolism in infant-directed speech

成年人通常以一种特殊的讲话方式向婴儿讲话，这种方式被称为婴儿定向讲话(IDS)。IDS的特点是有一种特殊的韵律(即高音、慢速和多音节)和一种特殊的词汇(“婴儿语”)。在这里，我们调查了成人大脑的哪些区域参与处理入侵检测，处理入侵检测的哪些方面(韵律或词汇)，为人父母的经历在多大程度上影响成年人处理入侵检测的方式，以及性别和个性对入侵检测处理的影响。使用功能磁共振成像，我们发现，无论母亲听的是韵律成分还是词汇成分，分娩前婴儿的母亲在语言区的听觉背侧通路中都表现出增强的激活。我们还发现，与性格外向的母亲相比，性格外向的母亲在与言语相关的运动区中表现出更高的皮质激活。在父亲、非父母或有大孩子的母亲中，没有发现皮质激活水平增加。

Adults typically address infants in a special speech mode called infant-directed speech(IDS). IDS is characterized by a special prosody(i. e., higher pitched, slower and hyperarticulated) and a special lexicon( "baby talk"). Here we investigated which areas of the adult brain are involved in processing IDS, which aspects of IDS(prosodic or lexical) are processed, to what extent the experience of being a parent affects the way adults process IDS, and the effects of gender and personality on IDS processing. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we found that mothers with preverbal infants showed enhanced activation in the auditory dorsal pathway of the language areas, regardless of whether they listened to the prosodic or lexical component of IDS. We also found that extroverted mothers showed higher cortical activation in speech-related motor areas than did mothers with lower extroverted personality scores. Increased cortical activation levels were not found for fathers, non-parents, or mothers with older children.