Effect of music intervention on infants' brainstem encoding of speech

项目总结/摘要 音乐学习，在发展的早期开始有深远的和持久的利益，在以后的生活中， 在音乐领域之外，在演讲和语言技能，认知技能等重要领域， 和社交/情感技能。此前，PI的工作表明，短期音乐 早在9个月大的时候，在语言学习的“敏感期”进行干预， 已经影响到了音乐之外的大脑皮层处理也就是说，接受音乐干预的婴儿 与对照组相比， 进行自由活动。拟议的项目旨在扩大这些结果，并调查 婴儿期音乐干预的影响程度，更具体地说， 干预已经可以调节较低水平听觉脑干的语音编码。 从理论和应用的角度来看，理解这个问题至关重要。从理论上讲， 这些结果将提高对相关影响的机制的基本科学认识， 音乐干预及其与早期发展和言语学习的相互作用。在实践上许多 我们从基础研究中获得的知识将有助于未来早期音乐干预的实施 程序作为一种替代方法，以改善早期的讲话和后来的语言学习，为典型的 发育中的婴儿，更重要的是，对于有言语和语言障碍风险的婴儿。第一 研究（目标1）将测量7个月和11个月婴儿对非母语词汇音调的脑干编码 月龄。该组的结果将作为目标2的对照。与此同时， 目的1的研究也将建立词汇的脑干编码的典型发展轨迹 这是以前没有建立过的。结果也将扩大我们目前的 了解在“敏感期”发生的行为和神经变化， 语音学习在第二项研究中（目标2），婴儿将完成先前建立的音乐 除了在7个月和11个月时进行脑干测量外，还从9个月大时开始进行干预 年龄。他们的结果将与对照组（目标1）进行比较，以解决与音乐相关的影响 干预总之，拟议的研究将进一步加深我们对音乐相关效应的理解 婴儿期的干预及其潜在机制。这个项目也将帮助PI采取一个大的 迈向她长远目标，即应用早期音乐介入，帮助有患上自闭症风险的婴儿， 沟通障碍

Project Summary/Abstract Music learning that starts early in development has profound and long-lasting benefits later in life, within and beyond the music domain, in important areas such as speech and language skills, cognitive skills and social/emotional skills. Previously, work by the PI demonstrated that a short-term music intervention at as early as 9 months of age, during the ‘sensitive period’ for speech learning, can already affect cortical processing beyond music. That is, infant who underwent the music intervention also exhibited enhanced cortical processing of nonnative speech compared to the controls who underwent free play sessions. The proposed project aims to expand on these results and investigate the extent of the effects from the music intervention in infancy, more specifically, whether the music intervention can already modulate speech encoding at the lower level auditory brainstem. Understanding this question is critical from a theoretical and an application perspective. Theoretically, the results will improve the basic scientific understanding of mechanisms underlying the effects related to music intervention and its interaction with early development and speech learning. In practice, the knowledge we gain from the basic research will help future implementation of early music intervention programs as an alternative method to improve early speech and later language learning, for typically developing infants and more importantly, for infants at-risk for speech and language disorders. The first study (Aim 1) will measure infants’ brainstem encoding of nonnative lexical tones at 7 months and 11 months of age. The results from this group will serve as controls for Aim 2. At the same time, the results from Aim 1 will also establish the typical developmental trajectory for brainstem encoding of lexical tones, which has not been established before. The results will thus also expand our current understanding of behavioral and neural changes that take place during the ‘sensitive period’ for phonetic learning. In the second study (Aim 2), infants will complete the previously-established music intervention starting at 9 months of age, in addition to the brainstem measurements at 7 and 11 months of age. Their results will be compared to the controls (Aim 1) to address the effects related to the music intervention. Together, the proposed study will further our understanding of the effect related to music intervention in infancy and its underlying mechanisms. This project will also help the PI to take a big step towards her long-term goal to apply early music intervention to help infants at-risk for communication disorders.