Abstract
Infants' ability to discriminate between auditory stimuli presented in rapid succession and differing in fundamental frequency (Rapid Auditory Processing [RAP] abilities) has been shown to be anomalous in infants at familial risk for Language Learning Impairment (LLI) and to predict later language outcomes. This study represents the first attempt to investigate RAP in Italian infants at risk for LLI (FH+), examining two critical acoustic features: frequency and duration, both embedded in a rapidly-presented acoustic environment. RAP skills of 24 FH+ and 32 control (FH-) Italian 6-month-old infants were characterized via EEG/ERP using a multi-feature oddball paradigm. Outcome measures of expressive vocabulary were collected at 20 months. Group differences favoring FH- infants were identified: in FH+ infants, the latency of the N2∗peak was delayed and the mean amplitude of the positive mismatch response was reduced, primarily for frequency discrimination and within the right hemisphere. Moreover, both EEG measures were correlated with language scores at 20 months. Results indicate that RAP abilities are atypical in Italian infants with a first-degree relative affected by LLI and that this impacts later linguistic skills. These findings provide a compelling cross-linguistic comparison with previous research on American infants, supporting the biological unity hypothesis of LLI.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 23-34 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience |
| Volume | 20 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Aug 1 2016 |
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Keywords
- Auditory discrimination
- Cross-cultural
- EEG/ERPs
- Infants
- Language acquisition
- Language learning impairment
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Cognitive Neuroscience
Cite this
Auditory discrimination predicts linguistic outcome in Italian infants with and without familial risk for language learning impairment. / Cantiani, Chiara; Riva, Valentina; Piazza, Caterina; Bettoni, Roberta; Molteni, Massimo; Choudhury, Naseem; Marino, Cecilia; Benasich, April A.
In: Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, Vol. 20, 01.08.2016, p. 23-34.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Auditory discrimination predicts linguistic outcome in Italian infants with and without familial risk for language learning impairment
AU - Cantiani, Chiara
AU - Riva, Valentina
AU - Piazza, Caterina
AU - Bettoni, Roberta
AU - Molteni, Massimo
AU - Choudhury, Naseem
AU - Marino, Cecilia
AU - Benasich, April A.
PY - 2016/8/1
Y1 - 2016/8/1
N2 - Infants' ability to discriminate between auditory stimuli presented in rapid succession and differing in fundamental frequency (Rapid Auditory Processing [RAP] abilities) has been shown to be anomalous in infants at familial risk for Language Learning Impairment (LLI) and to predict later language outcomes. This study represents the first attempt to investigate RAP in Italian infants at risk for LLI (FH+), examining two critical acoustic features: frequency and duration, both embedded in a rapidly-presented acoustic environment. RAP skills of 24 FH+ and 32 control (FH-) Italian 6-month-old infants were characterized via EEG/ERP using a multi-feature oddball paradigm. Outcome measures of expressive vocabulary were collected at 20 months. Group differences favoring FH- infants were identified: in FH+ infants, the latency of the N2∗peak was delayed and the mean amplitude of the positive mismatch response was reduced, primarily for frequency discrimination and within the right hemisphere. Moreover, both EEG measures were correlated with language scores at 20 months. Results indicate that RAP abilities are atypical in Italian infants with a first-degree relative affected by LLI and that this impacts later linguistic skills. These findings provide a compelling cross-linguistic comparison with previous research on American infants, supporting the biological unity hypothesis of LLI.
AB - Infants' ability to discriminate between auditory stimuli presented in rapid succession and differing in fundamental frequency (Rapid Auditory Processing [RAP] abilities) has been shown to be anomalous in infants at familial risk for Language Learning Impairment (LLI) and to predict later language outcomes. This study represents the first attempt to investigate RAP in Italian infants at risk for LLI (FH+), examining two critical acoustic features: frequency and duration, both embedded in a rapidly-presented acoustic environment. RAP skills of 24 FH+ and 32 control (FH-) Italian 6-month-old infants were characterized via EEG/ERP using a multi-feature oddball paradigm. Outcome measures of expressive vocabulary were collected at 20 months. Group differences favoring FH- infants were identified: in FH+ infants, the latency of the N2∗peak was delayed and the mean amplitude of the positive mismatch response was reduced, primarily for frequency discrimination and within the right hemisphere. Moreover, both EEG measures were correlated with language scores at 20 months. Results indicate that RAP abilities are atypical in Italian infants with a first-degree relative affected by LLI and that this impacts later linguistic skills. These findings provide a compelling cross-linguistic comparison with previous research on American infants, supporting the biological unity hypothesis of LLI.
KW - Auditory discrimination
KW - Cross-cultural
KW - EEG/ERPs
KW - Infants
KW - Language acquisition
KW - Language learning impairment
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84973889246&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84973889246&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.dcn.2016.03.002
DO - 10.1016/j.dcn.2016.03.002
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84973889246
VL - 20
SP - 23
EP - 34
JO - Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
JF - Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
SN - 1878-9293
ER -