Neural Tracking in Infancy Predicts Language Development in Children With and Without Family History of Autism
AbstractDuring speech processing, neural activity in non-autistic adults and infants tracks the speech envelope. Recent research in adults indicates that this neural tracking relates to linguistic knowledge and may be reduced in autism. Such reduced tracking, if present already in in...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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The MIT Press
2022-01-01
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| Series: | Neurobiology of Language |
| Online Access: | https://direct.mit.edu/nol/article/3/3/495/111271/Neural-Tracking-in-Infancy-Predicts-Language |
| _version_ | 1828071753654468608 |
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| author | Katharina H. Menn Emma K. Ward Ricarda Braukmann Carlijn van den Boomen Jan Buitelaar Sabine Hunnius Tineke M. Snijders |
| author_facet | Katharina H. Menn Emma K. Ward Ricarda Braukmann Carlijn van den Boomen Jan Buitelaar Sabine Hunnius Tineke M. Snijders |
| author_sort | Katharina H. Menn |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
AbstractDuring speech processing, neural activity in non-autistic adults and infants tracks the speech envelope. Recent research in adults indicates that this neural tracking relates to linguistic knowledge and may be reduced in autism. Such reduced tracking, if present already in infancy, could impede language development. In the current study, we focused on children with a family history of autism, who often show a delay in first language acquisition. We investigated whether differences in tracking of sung nursery rhymes during infancy relate to language development and autism symptoms in childhood. We assessed speech-brain coherence at either 10 or 14 months of age in a total of 22 infants with high likelihood of autism due to family history and 19 infants without family history of autism. We analyzed the relationship between speech-brain coherence in these infants and their vocabulary at 24 months as well as autism symptoms at 36 months. Our results showed significant speech-brain coherence in the 10- and 14-month-old infants. We found no evidence for a relationship between speech-brain coherence and later autism symptoms. Importantly, speech-brain coherence in the stressed syllable rate (1–3 Hz) predicted later vocabulary. Follow-up analyses showed evidence for a relationship between tracking and vocabulary only in 10-month-olds but not in 14-month-olds and indicated possible differences between the likelihood groups. Thus, early tracking of sung nursery rhymes is related to language development in childhood. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T00:58:39Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-25e7a7909248427ca9ec3431caa750c3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2641-4368 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T00:58:39Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | The MIT Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Neurobiology of Language |
| spelling | doaj.art-25e7a7909248427ca9ec3431caa750c32023-01-04T20:18:13ZengThe MIT PressNeurobiology of Language2641-43682022-01-013349551410.1162/nol_a_00074Neural Tracking in Infancy Predicts Language Development in Children With and Without Family History of AutismKatharina H. Menn0http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9555-3788Emma K. Ward1http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4295-9167Ricarda Braukmann2http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6383-7148Carlijn van den Boomen3http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0110-9919Jan Buitelaar4http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8288-7757Sabine Hunnius5http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5510-4032Tineke M. Snijders6http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2442-0451Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, The NetherlandsDonders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The NetherlandsDonders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The NetherlandsDepartment of Experimental Psychology, Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The NetherlandsDonders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The NetherlandsDonders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The NetherlandsMax Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands AbstractDuring speech processing, neural activity in non-autistic adults and infants tracks the speech envelope. Recent research in adults indicates that this neural tracking relates to linguistic knowledge and may be reduced in autism. Such reduced tracking, if present already in infancy, could impede language development. In the current study, we focused on children with a family history of autism, who often show a delay in first language acquisition. We investigated whether differences in tracking of sung nursery rhymes during infancy relate to language development and autism symptoms in childhood. We assessed speech-brain coherence at either 10 or 14 months of age in a total of 22 infants with high likelihood of autism due to family history and 19 infants without family history of autism. We analyzed the relationship between speech-brain coherence in these infants and their vocabulary at 24 months as well as autism symptoms at 36 months. Our results showed significant speech-brain coherence in the 10- and 14-month-old infants. We found no evidence for a relationship between speech-brain coherence and later autism symptoms. Importantly, speech-brain coherence in the stressed syllable rate (1–3 Hz) predicted later vocabulary. Follow-up analyses showed evidence for a relationship between tracking and vocabulary only in 10-month-olds but not in 14-month-olds and indicated possible differences between the likelihood groups. Thus, early tracking of sung nursery rhymes is related to language development in childhood.https://direct.mit.edu/nol/article/3/3/495/111271/Neural-Tracking-in-Infancy-Predicts-Language |
| spellingShingle | Katharina H. Menn Emma K. Ward Ricarda Braukmann Carlijn van den Boomen Jan Buitelaar Sabine Hunnius Tineke M. Snijders Neural Tracking in Infancy Predicts Language Development in Children With and Without Family History of Autism Neurobiology of Language |
| title | Neural Tracking in Infancy Predicts Language Development in Children With and Without Family History of Autism |
| title_full | Neural Tracking in Infancy Predicts Language Development in Children With and Without Family History of Autism |
| title_fullStr | Neural Tracking in Infancy Predicts Language Development in Children With and Without Family History of Autism |
| title_full_unstemmed | Neural Tracking in Infancy Predicts Language Development in Children With and Without Family History of Autism |
| title_short | Neural Tracking in Infancy Predicts Language Development in Children With and Without Family History of Autism |
| title_sort | neural tracking in infancy predicts language development in children with and without family history of autism |
| url | https://direct.mit.edu/nol/article/3/3/495/111271/Neural-Tracking-in-Infancy-Predicts-Language |
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