Funded by the FWF Program Principal Investigator Projects
PI: Lisa Bartha-Doering
Cooperating Partners: Christoph Reuter (University of Vienna), Judit Gervain (University of Padova, Italy)
Duration: 2026-2029
Newborn babies communicate through crying when they want attention, are hungry, or are in pain. Even before birth, babies can hear speech while still in the womb. Although they are not yet able to speak after birth, there is growing evidence that these early prenatal listening experiences may already be reflected in their first vocalizations. This research project investigates whether newborn cries differ depending on the language environment they were exposed to before birth and whether adults unconsciously process these differences in their brains.
The project will help us better understand how early language-related patterns emerge and how the language environment before birth influences early communication. The findings will expand our knowledge of the earliest stages of human communication and provide new insights into the development of language and the brain. In the long term, they may also contribute to a better understanding of children's early language and brain development and inspire new approaches to supporting language development.