RIKEN BRAIN SCIENCE INSTITUTE (RIKEN BSI)

Faculty Detail / 研究室詳細

Reiko Mazuka, Ph.D.

- To understand the mechanism of human language acquisition through the investigation of Japanese phonological development.

Language Development

Senior Team Leader

Associate Professor, The Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, USA

Language acquisition, Prosody, Phonology

Reiko  Mazuka

Research Area

We investigate how young infants become interested in speech that surround them, and learn to be the speaker of that language. In particular, we focus on the role of 'prosody' (i.e., intonation, rhythm and other suprasegmental characteristics of the speech) in language acquisition. We study how infants become attuned to the prosodic characteristics of their ambient language, and how acquiring it would affect other domains of language development.

Selected Publications View All

  1. 1

    Bion R. A. H, Miyazawa K, Kikuchi H, and Mazuka R: "Learning phonemic vowel length from naturalistic recordings of Japanese infant-directed speech. ", PLOS ONE, 8(2), e51594 (2013)

  2. 2

    Minai U, Jincho N, Yamane N, and Mazuka R: "What hinders child semantic computation: Children's universal quantification and the development of cognitive control.", J Child Lang , 39(5), 919-956 (2012)

  3. 3

    Tsuji S, Gonzalez GN, Medina V, Nazzi T, and Mazuka R: "The labial-coronal effect revisited: Japanese adults say pata, but hear tapa.", Cognition, 125(3), 413-428 (2012)

  4. 4

    Nakamura C, Arai M, and Mazuka R: "Immediate use of prosody and context in predicting a syntactic structure.", Cognition, 125(2), 317-323 (2012)

  5. 5

    Ito K, Jincho N, Minai U, Yamane N, and Mazuka R: "Intonation facilitates contrast resolution: Evidence from Japanese adults and 6-year olds.", Journal of Memory and Language, 66(1), 265-284 (2012)

  6. 6

    Sato Y, Kato M, and Mazuka R: "Development of single/geminate obstruent discrimination by Japanese infants: Early integration of durational and non-durational cues.", Dev Psychol , 48(1), 18-34 (2012)

  7. 7

    Mazuka R, Cao Y, Dupoux E, and Christophe A: "The development of a phonological illusion: a cross-linguistic study with Japanese and French infants.", Dev Sci, 14(4), 693-699 (2011)

  8. 8

    Minagawa-Kawai Y, van der Lely H, Ramus F, Sato Y, Mazuka R, and Dupoux E: "Optical brain imaging reveals general auditory and language-specific processing in early infant development.", Cereb Cortex, 21(2), 254-261 (2011)

  9. 9

    Matsuda Y-T, Ueno K, Waggoner R. A, Erickson D, Shimura Y, Tanaka K, Cheng K, and Mazuka R: "Processing of infant-directed speech by adults.", Neuroimage, 54(1), 611-621 (2011)

  10. 10

    Sato Y, Sogabe Y, and Mazuka R: "Development of hemispheric specialization for lexical pitch-accent in Japanese infants.", J Cogn Neurosci, 22(11), 2503-2513 (2010)

Press Releases View All