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(Journal Article) |
Neuroreport 14 (16): 2117-9 (2003)
The newborn human brain binds sound features together.
Timo Ruusuvirta
,
Minna Huotilainen
,
Vineta Fellman
,
Risto Näätänen
ABSTRACT
To process a stimulus as a holistic entity, the human brain must be able to conjoin its different features. Previous evidence suggests that this ability emerges during the first months of life, implying its considerable dependence on postnatal development. We recorded human newborn (1-3 days of age) electrical brain responses to frequently occurring (standard) sounds and to rarely occurring (deviant) sounds in a series. Responses to deviants differed from those to standards despite the fact that only the combination of sound frequency and intensity could be used as a cue for discriminating between these sound types. Our finding suggests that the human brain is ready for auditory feature binding very soon after birth.