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Cited by 1,260Neurobiology of Language and BilingualismNeuroscience and Music PerceptionPhonetics and Phonology Research

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 22 of the 22 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Language-specific phoneme representations revealed by electric and magnetic brain responses

Näätänen, Risto, Lehtokoski, Anne, Lennes, Mietta, Cheour, Marie, Huotilainen, Minna, Iivonen, Antti, Vainio, Martti, Alku, Paavo, Ilmoniemi, Risto J., Luuk, Aavo, Allik, Jüri, Sinkkonen, Janne, Alho, Kimmo·1997·Nature
DOI 10.1038/385432a0
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Abstract

There is considerable debate about whether the early processing of sounds depends on whether they form part of speech. Proponents of such speech specificity postulate the existence of language-dependent memory traces, which are activated in the processing of speech but not when equally complex, acoustic non-speech stimuli are processed. Here we report the existence of these traces in the human brain. We presented to Finnish subjects the Finnish phoneme prototype /e/ as the frequent stimulus, and other Finnish phoneme prototypes or a non-prototype (the Estonian prototype /õ/) as the infrequent stimulus. We found that the brain's automatic change-detection response, reflected electrically as the mismatch negativity (MMN), was enhanced when the infrequent, deviant stimulus was a prototype (the Finnish /ö/) relative to when it was a non-prototype (the Estonian /õ/). These phonemic traces, revealed by MMN, are language-specific, as /õ/ caused enhancement of MMN in Estonians. Whole-head magnetic recordings located the source of this native-language, phoneme-related response enhancement, and thus the language-specific memory traces, in the auditory cortex of the left hemisphere.

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Research works printed but not linked: 4

  1. Aaltonen, O., Eerola, O., Hellström, Å., Unispaikka, E., & Lang, A. H. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. (in the press).
  2. Wiik, K. Ann. Univ. Turku. 94, 1–192 (1965).
  3. Liiv, G. & Remmel, M. Sov. Fenno-Ugric Studies VI 1, 7–23 (1970).
  4. Näätänen, R. & Alho, K. Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol. (suppl.) 44, 179–185 (1995).

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Metadata

Authors
Näätänen, R., Lehtokoski, A., Lennes, M., Cheour, M., Huotilainen, M., Iivonen, A., Vainio, M., Alku, P., Ilmoniemi, R. J., Luuk, A., Allik, J., Sinkkonen, J., & Alho, K.
Affiliations
  • University of Helsinki (FI)
  • University of Turku (FI)
  • Helsinki University Hospital (FI)
  • University of Tartu (EE)
ORCID
Venue
Nature
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
1997-01
Volume
385
Issue
6615
Pages
432-434
ISSN
  • 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
  • 1476-4687
DOI
10.1038/385432a0
OpenAlex
W2089239460
Cited by
1,260
References
22
Citations by year
2026: 17 · 2025: 24 · 2024: 28 · 2023: 25 · 2022: 60 · 2021: 36 · 2020: 27 · 2019: 42 · 2018: 31 · 2017: 46 · 2016: 46 · 2015: 38 · 2014: 50 · 2013: 50 · 2012: 55
FWCI
18.17
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
Locations
  • Nature (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Music Perception
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Phonetics and Phonology Research
Keywords
phonemic representation, mismatch negativity, auditory cortex, change detection, cross-linguistic comparison, left hemisphere, auditory event-related potentials, magnetoencephalography
MeSH terms
Acoustic Stimulation, Adult, Brain, Estonia, Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Female, Finland, Humans, Language, Magnetics, Male, Phonetics, Speech Perception

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