Infants’ neural speech discrimination predicts individual differences in grammar ability at 6 years of age and their risk of developing speech-language disorders

Zhao, T. Christina; Boorom, Olivia; Kuhl, Patricia K.; Gordon, Reyna L.

doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2021.100949

Cited by 20 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 69 publications

(51 reference statements)

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“…Thus, these earlier studies suggest that good performance on nonnative contrasts may serve as an indicator of slower later language growth. Most recently, this result was replicated and extended to 6 years of age (Zhao et al, 2021). Infants' MMR to a nonnative speech contrast was measured in MEG at 11 months of age and infants were followed up at 6 years of age with a comprehensive standardized speech and language assessment by a speech-language pathologist.…”

Section: Prediction Of Later Language Outcomes Using Mmrmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…While the Nonnative MMR in the left ST and IF regions at 11 months were significant predictors of later vocabulary growth in the current study, the direction of prediction is different from previous studies. Specifically, the Nonnative MMR predicts later vocabulary in a positive direction (i.e., better MMR, faster vocabulary growth) while previous studies demonstrate a negative direction (i.e., better MMR, slower vocabulary growth) (Kuhl et al, 2008;Zhao et al, 2021). This difference, again, may be due to the increased acoustic processing for the Nonnative contrast discussed in 4.1.…”

Section: Prediction Of Later Language Outcomementioning

confidence: 88%

“…The machine-learning analyses were done using the open source scikit-learn package (Pedregosa et al, 2011) in conjunction with the MNE-python software. This method was an extension from a previously published study (Zhao et al, 2021). Specifically, for each time sample, we employed a support-vector regression (SVR) where the model uses MMR values from all 114 label regions, therefore taking spatial pattern of the MMR into consideration, to predict individual 24-month vocabulary scores (Drucker, Burges, Kaufman, Smola, & Vapnik, 1996).…”

Section: The Whole Brain Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, very little is known regarding the neural processes underlying these contrasts. Neural discrimination of a nonnative contrast based on consonant duration was most recently demonstrated to predict later language outcome (Zhao et al, 2021), however, more research with this contrast is needed.…”

Section: Selection Of Nonnative Contrastsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The sensitive period for phonetic learning, roughly between 6 to 12 months of age, is one of the earliest milestones in language acquisition. Learning during this period is a reliable predictor of individual differences in speech and language skills later in life (Kuhl et al, 2008;Kuhl, Conboy, Padden, Nelson, & Pruitt, 2005;Tsao, Liu, & Kuhl, 2004;Zhao, Boorom, Kuhl, & Gordon, 2021). A striking characteristic of this period is the reduction in the ability to discriminate nonnative speech sounds in addition to the improvement in the infants' ability to discriminate speech sounds in their native language (Kuhl et al, 2006;Werker & Tees, 1984a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Development of infants’ neural speech processing and its relation to later language skills: an MEG study

Zhao

Kuhl

2021

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The 'sensitive period' for phonetic learning (~6-12 months) is one of the earliest milestones in language acquisition where infants start to become specialized in processing speech sounds in their native language. In the last decade, advancements in neuroimaging technologies for infants are starting to shed light on the underlying neural mechanisms supporting this important learning period. The current study reports on the largest longitudinal dataset to date with the aim to replicate and extend on two important questions: 1) what are the developmental changes during the 'sensitive period' for native and nonnative speech processing? 2) how does native and nonnative speech processing in infants predict later language outcomes? Fifty-four infants were recruited at 7 months of age and their neural processing of speech was measured using Magnetoencephalography (MEG). Specifically, the neural sensitivity to a native and a nonnative speech contrast was indexed by the mismatch response (MMR). They repeated the measurement again at 11 months of age and their language development was further tracked from 12 months to 30 months of age using the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI). Using an a prior Region-of-Interest (ROI) approach, we observed significant increases for the Native MMR in the left inferior frontal region (IF) and superior temporal region (ST) from 7 to 11 months, but not for the Nonnative MMR. Complementary whole brain comparison revealed more widespread developmental changes for both contrasts. However, only individual differences in the left IF and ST for the Nonnative MMR at 11 months of age were significant predictors of individual vocabulary growth up to 30 months of age. An exploratory machine-learning based analysis further revealed that whole brain MMR for both Native and Nonnative contrasts can robustly predict later outcomes, but with very different underlying spatial-temporal patterns. The current study extends our current knowledge and suggests that native and nonnative speech processing may follow different developmental trajectories and utilize different mechanisms that are relevant for later language skills.

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Section: Prediction Of Later Language Outcomes Using Mmrmentioning

confidence: 87%

Section: Prediction Of Later Language Outcomementioning

confidence: 88%

Section: The Whole Brain Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Selection Of Nonnative Contrastsmentioning

confidence: 99%