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Early Specialization for Voice and Emotion Processing in the Infant Brain
Open accessAbstract
Human voices play a fundamental role in social communication, and areas of the adult "social brain" show specialization for processing voices and their emotional content (superior temporal sulcus, inferior prefrontal cortex, premotor cortical regions, amygdala, and insula). However, it is unclear when this specialization develops. Functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) studies suggest that the infant temporal cortex does not differentiate speech from music or backward speech, but a prior study with functional near-infrared spectroscopy revealed preferential activation for human voices in 7-month-olds, in a more posterior location of the temporal cortex than in adults. However, the brain networks involved in processing nonspeech human vocalizations in early development are still unknown. To address this issue, in the present fMRI study, 3- to 7-month-olds were presented with adult nonspeech vocalizations (emotionally neutral, emotionally positive, and emotionally negative) and nonvocal environmental sounds. Infants displayed significant differential activation in the anterior portion of the temporal cortex, similarly to adults. Moreover, sad vocalizations modulated the activity of brain regions involved in processing affective stimuli such as the orbitofrontal cortex and insula. These results suggest remarkably early functional specialization for processing human voice and negative emotions.
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“Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) Blasi et al. (2011) measured increased insula and orbito-frontal activity in 3- to 7-month-old infants listening to sad voices.”
From From early markers to neuro-developmental mechanisms of autism (2014) · cites this paper as Blasi et al., 2011
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Metadata
- Authors
- Blasi, A., Mercure, E., Lloyd-Fox, S., Thomson, A., Brammer, M., Sauter, D., Deeley, Q., Barker, G. J., Renvall, V., Deoni, S., Gasston, D., Williams, S. C. R., Johnson, M. H., Simmons, A., & Murphy, D. G. M.
- Affiliations
- King's College London (GB)
- University College London (GB)
- Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics (NL)
- Aalto University (FI)
- Birkbeck, University of London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Blasi, Anna
- Mercure, Evelyne
- ORCID
- Venue
- Current Biology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2011-07
- Volume
- 21
- Issue
- 14
- Pages
- 1220-1224
- ISSN
- 0960-9822 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2150315647
- Cited by
- 291
- References
- 31
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 23 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 55 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 23 · 2017: 18 · 2016: 18 · 2015: 13 · 2014: 25 · 2013: 24 · 2012: 10
- FWCI
- 10.06
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Current Biology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UvA-DARE (University of Amsterdam) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- BIROn (Birkbeck, University of London) (submittedVersion)
- Goldsmiths Research Online (submittedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Max Planck Digital Library (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Research Portal (King's College London) (submittedVersion)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- National Institute for Health and Care Research (G0701484, G0400061)
- King's College London
- Medical Research Council (G0400061, G0701484, G0400061/69344)
- Economic and Social Research Council (ES/G017603/1)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Music Perception
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Tactile and Sensory Interactions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Language Development and Disorders
- Keywords
- infant brain development, voice processing, emotional processing, temporal cortex, social brain, orbitofrontal cortex, insula, negative emotions, social communication, functional specialization
- MeSH terms
- Acoustic Stimulation, Adult, Brain Mapping, Emotions, Female, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Infant, Functional Laterality, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Radiography, Speech Perception, Temporal Lobe, Voice
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