If you are seeing this message, you may be experiencing temporary network problems. Please wait a few minutes and refresh the page. If the problem persists, you may wish to report it to your local Network Manager.

It is also possible that your web browser is not configured or not able to display style sheets. In this case, although the visual presentation will be degraded, the site should continue to be functional. We recommend using the latest version of Microsoft or Mozilla web browser to help minimise these problems.

Wiley InterScience

< Previous Abstract  |  Next Abstract >

Save Article to My Profile      Download Citation      Request Permissions

Abstract |  References  |  Full Text: HTML, PDF (Size: 99K)  | Related Articles | Citation Tracking

Research Article
Effects of experience on fetal voice recognition
Barbara S.Kisilevsky, Sylvia M.J.Hains, KangLee, XingXie, HefengHuang, Hai HuiYe, KeZhang, ZengpingWang
  1 Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada , and   2 Women's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, People's Republic of China
 Address correspondence to B.S. Kisilevsky, 90 Barrie St., Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada; kisilevb@post.queensu.ca.
Copyright Blackwell Science

ABSTRACT

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.


(Received 4/3/02; Revision accepted 8/5/02)

DIGITAL OBJECT IDENTIFIER (DOI)
10.1111/1467-9280.02435 About DOI

Related Articles

  • Find other articles like this in Wiley InterScience
  • Find articles in Wiley InterScience written by any of the authors

Wiley InterScience is a member of CrossRef.

Cross Ref Member


Introducing

Cognitive Science Journals

In 2009, Wiley-Blackwell is proud to publish Cognitive Science and the new journal Topics in Cognitive Science on behalf of the Cognitive Science Society.

Visit the Society site

Member Benefit


ATTENTION APS MEMBERS:
You have access to all issues of Psychological Science online from Volume 1, Issue 1 to today’s.