Descripción del proyecto
Las canciones infantiles son cruciales para establecer vínculos sociales
Los cuidadores emplean el habla y las canciones infantiles estereotipadas, caracterizadas por rasgos acústicos modificados, para relacionarse con bebés que tienen capacidades cognitivas inmaduras al nacer. Esta forma de vocalización desempeña un papel esencial en el establecimiento de vínculos sociales y afectivos. Investigaciones recientes indican que el ritmo de las canciones infantiles constituye una señal eficaz para que los bebés presten atención a contenidos emocional y socialmente relevantes. El equipo del proyecto MusicalSpeech, que cuenta con el apoyo de las acciones Marie Skłodowska-Curie, examina las adaptaciones acústicas del habla y las canciones infantiles en diversas culturas, rastrea la evolución de estos marcadores e investiga si el ritmo en el habla infantil atrae la atención. El equipo del proyecto utiliza grabaciones audiovisuales, medidas de seguimiento ocular de última generación en lactantes canadienses y españoles, y electroencefalogramas para medir la codificación neuronal del ritmo, contribuyendo a ámbitos de estudio tanto básicos como aplicados.
Objetivo
Given the immature cognitive abilities of infants at birth, caregivers connect with them by producing stereotyped infant-directed (ID) forms of speech and songs in which the acoustic features are modified. Although ID vocalisations are fundamental for establishing social and affective bonds, key aspects of infant–caregiver interactions are still poorly understood. One of the goals of the Musical Speech project is to identify distinctive acoustic adaptations of ID speech and songs by implementing machine learning models to cross-culture recordings from diverse societies, and track the evolution of those acoustic markers over the first year of life. In addition, recent evidence shows that the rhythm of ID singing acts as an effective cue for infants to attend to emotionally and socially-relevant content, such that infants look more to the caregiver’s eyes during on-beat moments of the songs. This project aims to determine whether rhythm in ID speaking similarly attunes infants’ attention and whether ID speech elicits distinctive patterns of attention before and after 6 months (as it serves more of a linguistic purpose). Using audiovisual recordings of adults speaking/singing to infants, this project will implement cutting-edge eye-tracking measures to samples of Canadian and Spanish infants. Finally, prematurity and individual differences in neural coding of rhythm, measured with a state-of-the-art EEG paradigm, can affect early interactions. Thus, the eye-tracking outcomes of terms and an additional sample of preterms will be correlated with the EEG signal elicited by rhythmic stimuli. The cross-laboratory studies proposed in this innovative project will comprise training on advanced statistical techniques and leadership, as they rely on the coordination of an international network. The project can contribute to basic and applied fields with unprecedented, high-quality insights and an experimental paradigm shift to compare early language and music perception.
Ámbito científico
Programa(s)
- HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Main Programme
Régimen de financiación
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-GF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global FellowshipsCoordinador
18071 Granada
España