LEPPANEN Paavo (SWEDEN) (Fellow)
BENASICH April A. (Host)
Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, Rutgers University, Newark, USA
Electrophysicological and behavioral measures of temporal integration as predictors of speech development

The aim in the present research project is to examine the long-term relations between early information processing abilities (as indexed by auditory temporal processing [ATP], habituation, and recognition memory) and later cognitive and linguistic development. The project will combine two promising techniques: measures of brain electric activation employing event-related potentials (ERPs) to rapidly-changing auditory temporal cues and behavioral assessment using a perceptual-cognitive battery sensitive to individual differences in perceiving fine acoustic discriminations. Determining in more detail the nature of the relationship between early information processing abilities in the tens of ms time frame and later language abilities should elucidate the perceptual and cognitive substrates of speech and language processes. The development of more precise measures for the early identification of children most at risk for later language impairment (LI) would also be facilitated. This is an important long-term goal, so that intervention and remediation can begin during the most critical early periods of language development. Thirty infants will be studied, half at a high familial risk for language impairment and half forming an appropriate matched control group. The following behavioral tasks will be given (at 6, 9, 12, 16, and 24 months): 2 ATP tasks, infant-control habituation and recognition-memory tasks (at 6 and 9 months only), and standardized cognitive and language assessments. Brain activation to stimulation, ERPs, will be measured using a subset of the stimuli used in the behavioral tasks, in a passive oddball (or mismatch negativity [MMN] paradigm), which is particularly suitable for studying the brain's capability todetect small acoustic changes embedded in a sound stream. New technology with advanced brain mapping for infant ERP/EEG measurements with up to 64 scalp recording sites will be used to determine early auditory/speech processing in the tens of milliseconds time frame. To date, no comprehensive study has attempted to link these complementary methodologies in order to delineate the underlying basic neurocognitive mechanisms involved in the early onset of LI.