Ribas-Prats, TeresaCordero, GaëlArenillas-Alcón, SoniaCosta Faidella, JordiGómez Roig, Ma. DoloresEscera i Micó, CarlesLip-Sosa, Diana L.2025-10-302025-10-302023-12-111092-4388https://hdl.handle.net/2445/223993Purpose: The aim of the present study is to characterize the maturational changes during the first 6 months of life in the neural encoding of two speech sound features relevant for early language acquisition: the stimulus fundamental frequency (fo), related to stimulus pitch, and the vowel formant composition, particularly F1. The frequency-following response (FFR) was used as a snapshot into the neural encoding of these two stimulus attributes. Method: FFRs to a consonant-vowel stimulus /da/ were retrieved from electroencephalographic recordings in a sample of 80 healthy infants (45 at birth and 35 at the age of 1 month). Thirty-two infants (16 recorded at birth and 16 recorded at 1 month) returned for a second recording at 6 months of age. Results: Stimulus fo and F1 encoding showed improvements from birth to 6 months of age. Most remarkably, a significant improvement in the F1 neural encoding was observed during the first month of life. Conclusion: Our results highlight the rapid and sustained maturation of the basic neural machinery necessary for the phoneme discrimination ability during the first 6 months of age.16 p.application/pdfengcc by (c) Ribas-Prats, Teresa et al., 2023http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/Desenvolupament infantilInfants nadonsCervellElectroencefalografiaChild developmentNewborn infantsBrainElectroencephalographyinfo:eu-repo/semantics/article7413222025-10-30info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess