Neural Tracking in Infancy Predicts Language Development in Children With and Without Family History of Autism
Menn, Katharina H.; Ward, Emma K.; Braukmann, Ricarda; van den Boomen, Carlijn; Buitelaar, Jan; Hunnius, Sabine; Snijders, Tineke M.
(2022) Neurobiology of Language, volume 3, issue 3, pp. 495 - 514
(Article)
Abstract
During 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
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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.
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Keywords: autism, neural oscillations, speech entrainment, speech processing, speech segmentation, word learning, Linguistics and Language, Neurology
ISSN: 2641-4368
Publisher: MIT Press Journals
Note: Funding Information: Jan Buitelaar, Innovative Medicines Initiative Joint Undertaking, Award ID: 115300. Jan Buitelaar and Sabine Hunnius, Innovative Medicines Initiative Joint Undertaking, Award ID: 77394. Jan Buitelaar and Sabine Hunnius, Horizon 2020 Marie Sklodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network, Award ID: 642996. Jan Buitelaar and Sabine Hunnius, Horizon 2020 CANDY, Award ID: 847818. Funding Information: The authors would like to thank all the families who participated in this research, as well as Loes Vinkenvleugel and Yvette De Bruijn for their assistance with running the project, and Lars Meyer for his valuable feedback on an earlier version of this manuscript. This work has been supported by the EU-AIMS (European Autism Interventions) and AIMS-2-TRIALS programmes, which receive support from Innovative Medicines Initiative Joint Undertaking Grant No. 115300 and 777394, the resources of which are composed of financial contributions from the European Union’s FP7 and Horizon 2020 Programmes, from the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) companies’ in-kind contributions, and from AUTISM SPEAKS, Autistica and SFARI; by the Horizon 2020 supported programme CANDY Grant No. 847818; and by the Horizon 2020 Marie Sklodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network 642996, BRAINVIEW. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results. Any views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the funders. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.
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