Let's make music as we normally do: A systematic review of how early natural musical interactions between infant and caregiver have been studied in research.

Musical interactions between babies and their primary caregivers are very frequent during the early years of life and their impact on dyadic interaction and infants' development has garnered significant attention in recent literature. However, the difficulties that natural observations entail have meant that research often carries out methodological manipulations that have a significant impact on the phenomenon studied. In order to clarify how to investigate best natural musical interactions and the information that these can provide, we have carried out a systematic review to analyze the proposed scenarios and the variables analyzed in the studies published on such interactions between main caregivers and babies under three years old. We have screened 971 articles and yielded 27. We have found a higher prevalence in the literature of studies on singing interactions, between mothers and babies under 12 months of age. We have also been able to identify two extremes in terms of methodological structuring of natural interactions. Regarding the analysis variables, a few behaviors are repeated throughout the studies, being emotions, rhythmic behaviors and characterizations of the vocal emissions common between parents and babies. Synchrony is the dyadic variable with the most weight and also one of the preferred focuses of interest in the most recent literature that has undergone a shift of focus from characterization of musical interactions to the search for the mechanisms that underlie and make them specific.

Prosodic skills in Spanish-speaking adolescents and young adults with Down syndrome.

BACKGROUND: Down syndrome (DS) is a neurodevelopmental disorder of genetic origin with a cognitive-behavioural profile that distinguishes it from other syndromes. Within this profile, language difficulties are particularly marked, having been more studied in childhood than in adulthood. More generally, there is a paucity of research on the prosodic skills of individuals with DS, despite the relevance of this linguistic component for effective communication. AIMS: This study aimed to analyse, for the first time, the prosodic profile of Spanish-speaking teenagers and young adults with DS. We hypothesized that participants with DS would show significantly lower skills for the perception and production of prosodic functions and forms when compared to peers with intellectual disability (ID) of unknown origin. We also hypothesized that teenagers and young adults with DS would have better prosody perception than prosody production. METHODS & PROCEDURES: The final sample included in the study comprised 28 Spanish-speaking teenagers and young adults with DS and 29 teenagers and young adults with other ID matched on chronological age and nonverbal cognition. Their prosodic skills were tested by means of the Profiling Elements of Prosody for Speech and Communication battery. This battery allows for the separate evaluation of the comprehension and expression of the communicative functions of prosody and the discrimination and production of the forms that carry out such functions. OUTCOMES & RESULTS: In the prosody function tasks, which are the most adaptive tasks for the communicative process, we found, as expected, significantly lower scores on the turn-end, chunking, and focus tasks in the group with DS. However, no significant between-group differences were found for the affect tasks. Participants with DS also had significantly lower scores on the prosodic form tasks than participants with other ID. The results of the comparison between prosodic perception and production skills showed that a generalization about a better profile in comprehension versus production is not possible and that there is a dependence on the demands of the prosodic task undertaken. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS: The findings contribute to the ongoing development of the language profile of teenagers and young adults with DS and imply the need to design prosodic intervention programs based on their specific profile. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: What is already known on the subject Prosody is a fundamental element of language, and its mastery affects the effectiveness of communication. However, research on prosody in Down syndrome (DS) that offers a holistic view from a psycholinguistic approach is still scarce. To date, studies focused on providing a detailed profile of prosodic skills in individuals with DS have been mainly conducted with a few English-speaking children. These studies have shown that the comprehension and production of prosody is severely impaired, especially when considering affect and focus production, as well as the perception and production of prosodic forms. During childhood, greater efficacy is found in prosody comprehension than in prosody expression. What this study adds This is the first study analysing the prosodic profile of a large group of Spanish-speaking teenagers and young adults with DS. Poorer performance in the perception and production of both prosodic functions and forms was observed in participants with DS compared to participants with intellectual disability of unknown origin matched on chronological age and nonverbal cognition. Unlike what has been previously found in children, teenagers and young adults with DS performed at the same level as the control group on the understanding and expression of affect through prosodic cues. Results also showed that a generalization about a better prosody profile in comprehension versus production is not possible. What are the clinical implications of this work? This study provides new data on the prosodic skills of Spanish-speaking teenagers and young adults with DS. Given the impact of prosody on effective communication and the pattern of difficulties found in this study, speech and language therapists working with individuals with DS should consider including prosodic skills in interventions not only in childhood but also in adolescence and adulthood. Therefore, the prosodic profile of strengths and weaknesses in individuals with DS found in this research has direct implications for clinical practice.

Music skills of Spanish-speaking children with developmental language disorder.

BACKGROUND: According to temporal sampling theory, deficits in rhythm processing contribute to both language and music difficulties in children with developmental language disorder (DLD). Evidence for this proposition is derived mainly from studies conducted in stress-timed languages, but the results may differ in languages with different rhythm features (e.g., syllable-timed languages). AIMS: This research aimed to study a previously unexamined topic, namely, the music skills of children with DLD who speak Spanish (a syllable-timed language), and to analyze the possible relationships between the language and music skills of these children. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Two groups of 18 Spanish-speaking children with DLD and 19 typically-developing peers matched for chronological age completed a set of language tests. Their rhythm discrimination, melody discrimination and music memory skills were also assessed. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: Children with DLD exhibited significantly lower performance than their typically-developing peers on all three music subtests. Music and language skills were significantly related in both groups. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: The results suggest that similar music difficulties may be found in children with DLD whether they speak stress-timed or syllable-timed languages. The relationships found between music and language skills may pave the way for the design of possible language intervention programs based on music stimuli.

Anxiety, concerns and COVID-19: Cross-country perspectives from families and individuals with neurodevelopmental conditions.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on the mental health and well-being of children with neurodevelopmental conditions (NDCs) and of their families worldwide. However, there is insufficient evidence to understand how different factors (e.g., individual, family, country, children) have impacted on anxiety levels of families and their children with NDCs developed over time. Methods: We used data from a global survey assessing the experience of 8043 families and their children with NDCs (mean of age (m) = 13.18 years, 37% female) and their typically developing siblings (m = 12.9 years, 45% female) in combination with data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the University of Oxford, and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) World Factbook, to create a multilevel data set. Using stepwise multilevel modelling, we generated child-, family- and country-related factors that may have contributed to the anxiety levels of children with NDCs, their siblings if they had any, and their parents. All data were reported by parents. Results: Our results suggest that parental anxiety was best explained by family-related factors such as concerns about COVID-19 and illness. Children's anxiety was best explained by child-related factors such as children's concerns about loss of routine, family conflict, and safety in general, as well as concerns about COVID-19. In addition, anxiety levels were linked to the presence of pre-existing anxiety conditions for both children with NDCs and their parents. Conclusions: The present study shows that across the globe there was a raise in anxiety levels for both parents and their children with NDCs because of COVID-19 and that country-level factors had little or no impact on explaining differences in this increase, once family and child factors were considered. Our findings also highlight that certain groups of children with NDCs were at higher risk for anxiety than others and had specific concerns. Together, these results show that anxiety of families and their children with NDCs during the COVID-19 pandemic were predicted by very specific concerns and worries which inform the development of future toolkits and policy. Future studies should investigate how country factors can play a protective role during future crises.

Prosodic Skills and Reading Acquisition in Spanish Primary School Children: Analysis Using the PEPS-C Test.

BACKGROUND: Although previous studies have considered the relationship between prosody skills and the acquisition of reading skills, few have performed comprehensive, simultaneous assessments of different oral language prosody skills and, to our knowledge, none have been carried out in Spanish. Our study analyses the relationship between prosody and reading skills. METHOD: Sixty-one second-grade Spanish schoolchildren participated in this study. Prosodic skills were assessed using the Spanish version of the Profiling Elements of Prosody in Speech-Communication battery, available in different languages. Reading comprehension, word/non-word reading skills, phonological awareness and vocabulary were also evaluated. RESULTS: The results show that prosody was significantly related to word and non-word reading, but phonological awareness was the only significant predictor of these reading outcomes. Prosodic skills contribute to explaining reading comprehension even after controlling for the effect of vocabulary and phonological awareness. CONCLUSIONS: The results highlight the role of prosodic skills in reading acquisition in Spanish. Comparison with previous studies in English-language populations demonstrates the existence of cross-linguistic differences.

Prosodic Skills and Reading Acquisition in Spanish Primary School Children: Analysis Using the PEPS-C Test / Habilidades Prosódicas y Adquisición de la Lectura en Niños Españoles de Primaria: Análisis con el Test PEPS-C

Background: Although previous studies have considered the relationshipbetween prosody skills and the acquisition of reading skills, few haveperformed comprehensive, simultaneous assessments of different orallanguage prosody skills and, to our knowledge, none have been carriedout in Spanish. Our study analyses the relationship between prosody andreading skills. Method: Sixty-one second-grade Spanish schoolchildrenparticipated in this study. Prosodic skills were assessed using the Spanishversion of the Profiling Elements of Prosody in Speech-Communicationbattery, available in different languages. Reading comprehension, word/non-word reading skills, phonological awareness and vocabulary were alsoevaluated. Results: The results show that prosody was significantly relatedto word and non-word reading, but phonological awareness was the onlysignificant predictor of these reading outcomes. Prosodic skills contributeto explaining reading comprehension even after controlling for the effect ofvocabulary and phonological awareness. Conclusions: The results highlightthe role of prosodic skills in reading acquisition in Spanish. Comparisonwith previous studies in English-language populations demonstrates theexistence of cross-linguistic differences.

Antecedentes: aunque estudiosanteriores han considerado la relación entre las habilidades prosódicas y laadquisición de habilidades lectoras, pocos han realizado una evaluacióncompleta y simultánea de las diferentes habilidades prosódicas del lenguajeoral y, hasta donde sabemos, ninguno se ha llevado a cabo en español.Nuestro trabajo analiza la relación entre prosodia y habilidades lectoras.Método: participaron 61 niños españoles de segundo de Primaria. Lashabilidades prosódicas se evaluaron mediante la versión española dela batería Profiling Elements of Prosody in Speech-Communication,disponible en diferentes idiomas. También se evaluaron la comprensiónlectora, las habilidades de lectura de palabras/no palabras, la concienciafonológica y el vocabulario. Resultados: los resultados muestran que laprosodia se relaciona significativamente con la lectura de palabras y nopalabras, pero la conciencia fonológica es el único predictor significativode estos resultados de lectura. Las habilidades prosódicas contribuyena explicar la comprensión lectora incluso después de controlar el efectodel vocabulario y la conciencia fonológica. Conclusiones: los resultadosdestacan el papel de las habilidades prosódicas en la adquisición lectora enespañol. La comparación con estudios anteriores de poblaciones de hablainglesa revela la existencia de diferencias interlingüísticas.

"Help! I Need Somebody": Music as a Global Resource for Obtaining Wellbeing Goals in Times of Crisis.

Music can reduce stress and anxiety, enhance positive mood, and facilitate social bonding. However, little is known about the role of music and related personal or cultural (individualistic vs. collectivistic) variables in maintaining wellbeing during times of stress and social isolation as imposed by the COVID-19 crisis. In an online questionnaire, administered in 11 countries (Argentina, Brazil, China, Colombia, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, the UK, and USA, N = 5,619), participants rated the relevance of wellbeing goals during the pandemic, and the effectiveness of different activities in obtaining these goals. Music was found to be the most effective activity for three out of five wellbeing goals: enjoyment, venting negative emotions, and self-connection. For diversion, music was equally good as entertainment, while it was second best to create a sense of togetherness, after socialization. This result was evident across different countries and gender, with minor effects of age on specific goals, and a clear effect of the importance of music in people's lives. Cultural effects were generally small and surfaced mainly in the use of music to obtain a sense of togetherness. Interestingly, culture moderated the use of negatively valenced and nostalgic music for those higher in distress.

Prosodic skills of Spanish-speaking children with developmental language disorder.

BACKGROUND: Phonological difficulties in children with developmental language disorder (DLD) are well documented. However, abilities regarding prosody, the rhythmic and melodic characteristics of language, have been less widely studied, particularly in Spanish. Moreover, the scant research findings that have been reported are contradictory. These considerations justify our new research into the question, focusing on Spanish-speaking children with DLD. AIMS: To examine a wide range of prosodic skills among Spanish-speaking children with DLD. To analyse the relationships between prosody and other language measurements. METHODS & PROCEDURES: Prosodic skills were assessed through the Spanish version of the Profiling Elements of Prosody in Speech-Communication (PEPS-C) battery. The performance of 19 children aged 5-11 years with DLD was compared with that of a chronological age-matched control group of 19 typically developing children. Language skills were also assessed. OUTCOMES & RESULTS: There were significant differences between the group with DLD and the control group in terms of skills involving prosody functions and forms: turn-end and chunking signalling, contrastive focus and affect expression and understanding, discriminating and the imitation of prosodic patterns in both words and phrases. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS: Spanish-speaking children with DLD present impairments not only when prosody interacts with language but also in the processing of prosody alone. The study results suggest that prosody is related to lexicon and grammar in children with DLD. The prosodic impairments of Spanish-speaking children with DLD could produce a negative impact on their language functioning and could also relate to their emotional and social difficulties. Consideration should therefore be given to focusing future interventions on prosodic skills in Spanish-speaking children with DLD. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: What is already known on the subject Although deficits in segmental phonology have been extensively studied in DLD, relatively little research has been conducted into supra-segmental phonology, especially among speakers of Spanish. To our knowledge, only one previous study has analysed the prosodic skills of Spanish-speaking children with DLD, and this only focused on prosody while reading. No analysis was made of the use of prosody in language comprehension and expression. What this study adds to existing knowledge This is the first study to analyse competence in a wide range of prosodic skills among Spanish-speaking children with DLD by using the PEPS-C battery. Spanish-speaking children with DLD present impairments in prosody functions and forms, which are related to other language skills. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? Prosodic impairments among Spanish-speaking children with DLD could contribute to explaining both their language difficulties and their socio-emotional problems. The results obtained suggest that Spanish-speaking children with DLD could benefit from interventions focused on prosody.

The Efficacy of Music for Emotional Wellbeing During the COVID-19 Lockdown in Spain: An Analysis of Personal and Context-Related Variables.

The strict lockdown experienced in Spain during March-June 2020 as a consequence of the COVID-19 crisis has led to strong negative emotions. Music can contribute to enhancing wellbeing, but the extent of this effect may be modulated by both personal and context-related variables. This study aimed to analyze the impact of the two types of variables on the perceived efficacy of musical behaviors to fulfill adults' emotional wellbeing-related goals during the lockdown established in Spain. Personal variables included age, gender, musical training, personality, resilience, and perception of music's importance. Contextual variables referred to living in a region with a high COVID-19 impact, perception of belonging to a risk group, being alone, having caring responsibilities during confinement, and amount of time of music listening as compared to prior to the crisis. The study was conducted retrospectively during August-December 2020, when the strict lockdown was over in Spain. An online survey was disseminated among the general population and groups of musicians, and the answers of 507 adults (from 18 years on, 73.9% females, 51.3% musically trained adults) were analyzed. Only personal, but not COVID-19 context-related variables, showed an impact on music's efficacy. The youngest age group of adults and those with musical training reported the highest efficacy of music for wellbeing enhancement, and music's importance was found to be the main significant predictor of music's perceived efficacy. Our findings suggest that the people who have been reported to be emotionally more vulnerable during the lockdown, due to either a strong impact on their daily lives or their lower resilience, perceive a higher benefit from musical behaviors. Being musically trained, even for a small number of years, also leads to a perception of higher efficacy of music for the achievement of emotional wellbeing goals. However, this effect is explained by the musically trained individuals' higher perception of music's importance. Although musical behaviors can be generally considered as important for wellbeing enhancement, our study highlights who are the potential individuals who could benefit the most from music-related activities for obtaining better levels of wellbeing, at least within the current context of the COVID-19 crisis.

Psycholinguistic profile of young adults with Down syndrome.

BACKGROUND: The phenotype of Down syndrome (DS) is usually characterized by relative strengths in visual skills and severe deficits in auditory processing; this has consequences for language and communication. To date, it is not known whether this pattern characterizes the psycholinguistic profile of young adults with DS. AIMS: This study aimed to assess whether, relative to their cognitive level, young adults with DS present a specific and homogeneous phenotype for both auditory and visual psycholinguistic skills. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Fifty young adults with DS and 50 peers with other intellectual disability (ID) were equated in chronological age and nonverbal cognition and were compared regarding their performance in auditory and visual psycholinguistic functions. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: Participants with DS showed more phenotypic-specific deficits in auditory psycholinguistic skills than in those involved in visual processing. However, phenotypic-specific impairments in visual psycholinguistic skills were also observed, while no significant between-group differences were found for some auditory psycholinguistic skills. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: The psycholinguistic pattern of young adults with DS is not homogeneous with respect to auditory and visual processing. The profile of specific deficits suggests that the educative support for young adults with DS may need to be specific.

Developmental trajectories of pitch-related music skills in children with Williams syndrome.

The study of music cognition in Williams syndrome (WS) has resulted in theoretical debates regarding cognitive modularity and development. However, no research has previously investigated the development of music skills in this population. In this study, we used the cross-sectional developmental trajectories approach to assess the development of pitch-related music skills in children with WS compared with typically developing (TD) peers. Thus, we evaluated the role of change over time on pitch-related music skills and the developmental relationships between music skills and different cognitive areas. In the TD children, the pitch-related music skills improved with chronological age and cognitive development. In the children with WS, developmental relationships were only found between several pitch-related music skills and specific cognitive processes. We also found non-systematic relationships between chronological age and the pitch-related music skills, stabilization in the level reached in music when cognitive development was considered, and uneven associations between cognitive and music skills. In addition, the TD and WS groups differed in their patterns of pitch-related music skill development. These results suggest that the development of pitch-related music skills in children with WS is atypical. Our findings stand in contrast with the views that claim innate modularity for music in WS; rather, they are consistent with neuroconstructivist accounts.

Facial emotion recognition in Williams syndrome and Down syndrome: A matching and developmental study.

In this study both the matching and developmental trajectories approaches were used to clarify questions that remain open in the literature on facial emotion recognition in Williams syndrome (WS) and Down syndrome (DS). The matching approach showed that individuals with WS or DS exhibit neither proficiency for the expression of happiness nor specific impairments for negative emotions. Instead, they present the same pattern of emotion recognition as typically developing (TD) individuals. Thus, the better performance on the recognition of positive compared to negative emotions usually reported in WS and DS is not specific of these populations but seems to represent a typical pattern. Prior studies based on the matching approach suggested that the development of facial emotion recognition is delayed in WS and atypical in DS. Nevertheless, and even though performance levels were lower in DS than in WS, the developmental trajectories approach used in this study evidenced that not only individuals with DS but also those with WS present atypical development in facial emotion recognition. Unlike in the TD participants, where developmental changes were observed along with age, in the WS and DS groups, the development of facial emotion recognition was static. Both individuals with WS and those with DS reached an early maximum developmental level due to cognitive constraints.

Environmental sound recognition by timbre in children with Williams syndrome.

Anecdotal reports have described children with Williams syndrome (WS) as presenting outstanding skills for recognizing environmental sounds by their timbre. This has led to suggest that the skills for environmental sound recognition by timbre are highly developed in WS. Furthermore, the term hypertimbria has been proposed to refer to this feature. However, no academic research has assessed these skills in WS. This study therefore aimed to contrast the reports on the highly developed skills for environmental sound recognition by timbre in children with WS. An environmental sound recognition task was administered to children with WS, children with Down syndrome of the same chronological age and cognitive level, and chronological age-matched typically developing children. Participants with WS performed significantly lower than their typically developing peers and no significant differences were found between the WS and Down syndrome groups. Unlike previous reports, this study points out that in WS environmental sound recognition by timbre does not constitute a phenotypic strength either in absolute or relative terms. Results suggest that children with WS do not present hypertimbria or preserved skills for timbre recognition. We discuss the implications of these results for theories of cognitive modularity.

Pitch Processing in Children with Williams Syndrome: Relationships between Music and Prosody Skills.

Williams syndrome (WS), a genetic neurodevelopmental disorder, has been taken as evidence that music and language constitute separate modules. This research focused on the linguistic component of prosody and aimed to assess whether relationships exist between the pitch processing mechanisms for music and prosody in WS. Children with WS and typically developing individuals were presented with a musical pitch and two prosody discrimination tasks. In the musical pitch discrimination task, participants were required to distinguish whether two musical tones were the same or different. The prosody discrimination tasks evaluated participants' skills for discriminating pairs of prosodic contours based on pitch or pitch, loudness and length, jointly. In WS, musical pitch discrimination was significantly correlated with performance on the prosody task assessing the discrimination of prosodic contours based on pitch only. Furthermore, musical pitch discrimination skills predicted performance on the prosody task based on pitch, and this relationship was not better explained by chronological age, vocabulary or auditory memory. These results suggest that children with WS process pitch in music and prosody through shared mechanisms. We discuss the implications of these results for theories of cognitive modularity. The implications of these results for intervention programs for individuals with WS are also discussed.

Do individuals with Williams syndrome possess absolute pitch?

Although absolute pitch (AP) is a rare skill in typical development, individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) are often referred to as possessing this musical ability. However, there is paucity of research on the topic. In this article, 2 studies were conducted to evaluate AP in WS. In Study 1, seven musically trained individuals with WS, 14 musically trained typically developing controls matched for chronological age, and 2 experienced musicians with AP completed a pitch-identification task. Although the task was a classical assessment of AP, it required participants to have musical knowledge, and the availability and accessibility of musically trained individuals with WS is very low. In Study 2, a paradigm suitable for evaluating AP in individuals without musical training was used, which made it possible to evaluate a larger group of participants with WS. A pitch memory test for isolated tones was presented to 27 individuals with WS, 54 typically developing peers matched for chronological age, and the 2 musicians with AP. Both individuals with WS and their controls obtained low results in the two studies. They showed an arbitrary pattern of response, and their performance was far from that of musicians with AP. Therefore, participants with WS did not appear to possess AP. Unlike what is usually claimed, results suggest that AP is not a remarkable ability in WS and that, as in the typically developing population, this musical ability is also rare in individuals with WS.

Cross-linguistic expression of contrastive accent: Clinical assessment in Spanish and English.

Well-documented Romance-Germanic differences in the use of accent in speech to convey information-structure and focus cause problems for the assessment of prosodic skills in populations with clinical disorders. The strategies for assessing the ability to use lexical and contrastive accent in English and Spanish are reviewed, and studies in the expression of contrastive accent in Spanish- and English-speaking typically-developing children are described. These studies used similar tasks requiring pre-final contrastive accent. Results were, however, strikingly different (English > Spanish). Using the same tasks, studies of English-speaking individuals with autism and Williams syndrome showed marked difficulty with the expression of contrastive stress, but the use of such tasks with Spanish speakers may merely reflect cross-linguistic differences. This study presents the methodology and results of these tasks, and suggests alternative methods of assessing the ability to discern and use contrastive accents in Spanish.

Assessing prosodic skills in five European languages: cross-linguistic differences in typical and atypical populations.

Following demand for a prosody assessment procedure, the test Profiling Elements of Prosody in Speech-Communication (PEPS-C), has been translated from English into Spanish, French, Flemish and Norwegian. This provides scope to examine receptive and expressive prosodic ability in Romance (Spanish and French) as well as Germanic (English and Flemish) languages, and includes the possibility of assessing these skills with regard to lexical tone (Norwegian). Cross-linguistic similarities and differences relevant to the translation are considered. Preliminary findings concerning 8-year-old neurotypical children speaking the five languages are reported. The appropriateness of investigating contrastive stress in Romance as well as Germanic languages is considered: results are reported for assessing this skill in Spanish and English speakers and suggest that in Spanish it is acquired much later than in English. We also examine the feasibility of assessing and comparing prosodic disorder in the five languages, using assessments of prosody in Spanish and English speakers with Williams syndrome as an example. We conclude that, with caveats, the original design of the UK test may indicate comparable stages of prosodic development in neurotypical children and is appropriate for the evaluation of prosodic skills for adults and children, both neurotypical and with impairment, in all five languages.

Intonation features of the expression of emotions in Spanish: preliminary study for a prosody assessment procedure.

This study aimed to find out what intonation features reliably represent the emotions of "liking" as opposed to "disliking" in the Spanish language, with a view to designing a prosody assessment procedure for use with children with speech and language disorders. 18 intonationally different prosodic realisations (tokens) of one word (limón) were recorded by one native Spanish speaker. The tokens were deemed representative of two categories of emotion: liking or disliking of the taste "lemon". 30 native Spanish speakers assigned them to the two categories and rated their expressiveness on a six-point scale. For all tokens except two, agreement between judges as to category was highly significant, some tokens attracting 100% agreement. The intonation contours most related to expressiveness levels were: for "liking", an inverted U form contour with exaggerated pitch peak within the tonic syllable; and for "disliking", a flat melodic contour with a slight fall.