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This eBook is a collection of articles from a Frontiers Research Topic. Frontiers Research Topics are very popular trademarks of the Frontiers Journals Series: they are collections of at least ten articles, all centered on a particular subject. With their unique mix of varied contributions from Original Research to Review Articles, Frontiers Research Topics unify the most influential researchers, the latest key findings and historical advances in a hot research area! Find out more on how to host your own Frontiers Research Topic or contribute to one as an author by contacting the Frontiers Editorial Office: frontiersin.org/about/contact

listening skills --- listening effort --- speech perception --- noise --- children's cognition

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Perceptual categorization is fundamental to the brain’s remarkable ability to process large amounts of sensory information and efficiently recognize objects including speech. Perceptual categorization is the neural bridge between lower-level sensory and higher-level language processing. A long line of research on the physical properties of the speech signal as determined by the anatomy and physiology of the speech production apparatus has led to descriptions of the acoustic information that is used in speech recognition (e.g., stop consonants place and manner of articulation, voice onset time, aspiration). Recent research has also considered what visual cues are relevant to visual speech recognition (i.e., the visual counter-parts used in lipreading or audiovisual speech perception). Much of the theoretical work on speech perception was done in the twentieth century without the benefit of neuroimaging technologies and models of neural representation. Recent progress in understanding the functional organization of sensory and association cortices based on advances in neuroimaging presents the possibility of achieving a comprehensive and far reaching account of perception in the service of language. At the level of cell assemblies, research in animals and humans suggests that neurons in the temporal cortex are important for encoding biological categories. On the cellular level, different classes of neurons (interneurons and pyramidal neurons) have been suggested to play differential roles in the neural computations underlying auditory and visual categorization. The moment is ripe for a research topic focused on neural mechanisms mediating the emergence of speech representations (including auditory, visual and even somatosensory based forms). Important progress can be achieved by juxtaposing within the same research topic the knowledge that currently exists, the identified lacunae, and the theories that can support future investigations. This research topic provides a snapshot and platform for discussion of current understanding of neural mechanisms underlying the formation of perceptual categories and their relationship to language from a multidisciplinary and multisensory perspective. It includes contributions (reviews, original research, methodological developments) pertaining to the neural substrates, dynamics, and mechanisms underlying perceptual categorization and their interaction with neural processes governing speech perception.

Audiovisual processing --- Neuroimaging --- category learning --- auditory processing --- Phonemic perception --- Speech Perception --- Categorization --- Neural mechanism

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Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) is a novel and increasingly popular optical imaging technique that has revolutionised brain research in the youngest developmental populations. After nearly a decade of technological development, NIRS has become a reliable, easy-to-use and efficient tool to explore the linguistic and cognitive abilities of neonates and young infants, opening new vistas for the investigation of language acquisition and cognitive development. This Research Topic covers the latest advances in these areas brought about by NIRS imaging. The main focus is to highlight innovative and foundational studies that go beyond methodological issues and advance our theoretical understanding of infant and child development. Contributions from the pioneers of this method are selected, illustrating how NIRS has allowed developmental researchers to ask theoretically relevant questions that more traditional methods couldn't address. These works further our understanding of language and cognitive development and bring us closer to bridging the gap between brain, mind and behaviour at the very beginning of life.

Analytical Chemistry --- Chemistry --- Physical Sciences & Mathematics --- language learning --- near-infrered spectroscopy --- brain specialization for language --- Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience --- language developmental --- Speech Perception

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The present collection of articles brings together experimental work in the field of segmental and prosodic processing and representation in phonology and phonetics. Contributions focus on the exploration of human cognitive, articulatory, and perceptual abilities dealing with all types of phonetic and phonological entities. Main topics of investigation include: (1) sounds and sound-changing processes—systemic and functional aspects, (2) prosodic units such as syllables and metrical feet—systemic properties, processing, and phonetic consequences, and (3) tones as building blocks of the sentence melody—their relation to the level of linguistic expressions on the one hand, their phonetic realization (e.g., tonal height and contours) and perception on the other hand. In addition, topics (1) and (2) extend to the question how phonological representations are stored in the mental lexicon: specified minimally in terms of categorical phonological information or as variable phonetic imprint of the exemplars in the input. Diagonally to these thematic domains, the present Research Topic shows a strong focus on up-to-date experimental approaches, going far beyond traditional linguistic analysis, and making use of psycho- and neurolinguistic methodologies.

Prosodic analysis (Linguistics) --- Phonetics --- German language --- Psychological aspects. --- Prosodic analysis. --- Neuroimaging --- Language change --- Prosody --- language development --- EEG --- Eye-tracking --- speech production --- Speech Perception --- phonology

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De récentes découvertes sur le rôle du détail phonétique ont inspiré des modèles prosodiques basés sur une approche exemplariste. Au travers de quatre expériences portant sur la production et la perception du détail mélodique et temporel dans la variété napolitaine de l'italien, nous montrons que la notion de détail prosodique n'est pas non plus incompatible avec une approche abstractionniste. Plus particulièrement, nous suggérons que l'exploration du détail prosodique permettrait de mieux encadrer les rapports entre substance phonétique et formes phonologiques, en éclairant ainsi comment les fonctions pragmatiques sont véhiculée par la prosodie. Recent findings on phonetic detail have been taken as supporting exemplar-based approaches to prosody. Through four experiments on both production and perception of both melodic and temporal detail in Neapolitan Italian, we show that prosodic detail is not incompatible with abstractionist approaches either. Specifically, we suggest that the exploration of prosodic detail leads to a refined understanding of the relationships between the richly specified and continuous varying phonetic information on one side, and coarse phonologically structured contrasts on the other, thus offering in-sights on how pragmatic information is conveyed by prosody.

Italian language --- Grammar, Comparative and general --- Phonetics. --- Language and languages --- Dialects --- Phonology. --- Détail phonétique. --- Intonation. --- Italien (de Naples). --- Modèles exemplaristes et abstractionnistes. --- Napolitain (dialecte) --- Phonologie. --- Prosodie. --- Tempo. --- Intonation (linguistique) --- Thèses et écrits académiques. --- Phonologie --- Prosodie (linguistique) --- E-books --- Foreign languages --- Languages --- Anthropology --- Communication --- Ethnology --- Information theory --- Meaning (Psychology) --- Philology --- Linguistics --- Articulatory phonetics --- Orthoepy --- Phonology --- Speech --- Romance languages --- Grammar, Comparative and general Phonology --- italian --- speech production --- phonetics --- neapolitan italian --- phonology --- speech perception --- pragmatics --- intonation --- Duration (music) --- Focus (linguistics) --- Italy --- Pitch-accent language --- Prosody (linguistics) --- Utterance