Effects of experience on fetal voice recognition
Abstract
The ability of human fetuses to recognize their own mother's voice was examined. Sixty term fetuses were assigned to one of two conditions during which they were exposed to a tape recording of their mother or a female stranger reading a passage. Voice stimuli were delivered through a loudspeaker held approximately 10 cm above the maternal abdomen and played at an average of 95 dB SPL. Each condition consisted of three 2-min periods: no stimulus, voice (mother or stranger), and no stimulus. Fetal heart rate increased in response to the mother's voice and decreased in response to the stranger's; both responses were sustained for 4 min. The finding of differential behavior in response to a familiar versus a novel voice provides evidence that experience influences fetal voice processing. It supports an epigenetic model of speech perception, presuming an interaction between genetic expression of neural development and species-specific experience.
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Third-trimester fetuses register, recognize, and differentially respond to varied stimuli as measured by heart rate changes.
“Third-trimester fetuses register, recognize, and differentially respond to varied stimuli measured by heart rate changes during habituation paradigms.20-24”
From The transition to parenthood in obstetrics: enhancing prenatal care for 2-generation impact (2022) · cites this paper as [22]
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- Authors
- Kisilevsky, B. S., Hains, S. M. J., Lee, K., Xie, X., Huang, H., Ye, H. H., Zhang, K., & Wang, Z.
- Affiliations
- Queen's University (CA)
- Women's Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Kisilevsky, Barbara S.
- Venue
- Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2003-05
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 220-224
- ISSN
- 0956-7976 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-9280
- OpenAlex
- W2136754809
- Semantic Scholar
- 48e2fd8e667fdc40a7f57ee8bb40a6a1c3c9693b
- Cited by
- 526
- References
- 36
- Citations by year
- 2026: 15 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 79 · 2021: 25 · 2020: 68 · 2019: 38 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 23 · 2016: 25 · 2015: 22 · 2014: 14 · 2013: 31 · 2012: 22
- FWCI
- 3.38
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Music Perception
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Phonetics and Phonology Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Language Development and Disorders
- Keywords
- fetal heart rate, maternal voice, speech perception, epigenetic model, prenatal experience, term fetus
- MeSH terms
- Arousal, Attention, Female, Fetal Movement, Fetus, Heart Rate, Fetal, Humans, Infant, Newborn, Mothers, Pregnancy, Pregnancy Trimester, Third, Speech Perception, Voice
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