101
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Gee DG. Early Adversity and Development: Parsing Heterogeneity and Identifying Pathways of Risk and Resilience. Am J Psychiatry 2021; 178:998-1013. [PMID: 34734741 DOI: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2021.21090944] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Adversity early in life is common and is a major risk factor for the onset of psychopathology. Delineating the neurodevelopmental pathways by which early adversity affects mental health is critical for early risk identification and targeted treatment approaches. A rapidly growing cross-species literature has facilitated advances in identifying the mechanisms linking adversity with psychopathology, specific dimensions of adversity and timing-related factors that differentially relate to outcomes, and protective factors that buffer against the effects of adversity. Yet, vast complexity and heterogeneity in early environments and neurodevelopmental trajectories contribute to the challenges of understanding risk and resilience in the context of early adversity. In this overview, the author highlights progress in four major areas-mechanisms, heterogeneity, developmental timing, and protective factors; synthesizes key challenges; and provides recommendations for future research that can facilitate progress in the field. Translation across species and ongoing refinement of conceptual models have strong potential to inform prevention and intervention strategies that can reduce the immense burden of psychopathology associated with early adversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dylan G Gee
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, Conn
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102
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McLaughlin KA, Sheridan MA, Humphreys KL, Belsky J, Ellis BJ. The Value of Dimensional Models of Early Experience: Thinking Clearly About Concepts and Categories. PERSPECTIVES ON PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2021; 16:1463-1472. [PMID: 34491864 PMCID: PMC8563369 DOI: 10.1177/1745691621992346] [Citation(s) in RCA: 127] [Impact Index Per Article: 42.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
We review the three prevailing approaches-specificity, cumulative risk, and dimensional models-to conceptualizing the developmental consequences of early-life adversity and address fundamental problems with the characterization of these frameworks in a recent Perspectives on Psychological Science piece by Smith and Pollak. We respond to concerns raised by Smith and Pollak about dimensional models of early experience and highlight the value of these models for studying the developmental consequences of early-life adversity. Basic dimensions of adversity proposed in existing models include threat/harshness, deprivation, and unpredictability. These models identify core dimensions of early experience that cut across the categorical exposures that have been the focus of specificity and cumulative risk approaches (e.g., abuse, institutional rearing, chronic poverty); delineate aspects of early experience that are likely to influence brain and behavioral development; afford hypotheses about adaptive and maladaptive responses to different dimensions of adversity; and articulate specific mechanisms through which these dimensions exert their influences, conceptualizing experience-driven plasticity within an evolutionary-developmental framework. In doing so, dimensional models advance specific falsifiable hypotheses, grounded in neurodevelopmental and evolutionary principles, that are supported by accumulating evidence and provide fertile ground for empirical studies on early-life adversity.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Margaret A. Sheridan
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
| | | | - Jay Belsky
- Department of Human Ecology, University of California at Davis
| | - Bruce J. Ellis
- Departments of Psychology and Anthropology, University of Utah
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103
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Wu J, Zheng W, Han M, Schiller NO. Cross-Dialectal Novel Word Learning and Borrowing. Front Psychol 2021; 12:734527. [PMID: 34659047 PMCID: PMC8515950 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.734527] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2021] [Accepted: 08/26/2021] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
The objective of this paper was to study the cognitive processes underlying cross-dialectal novel word borrowing and loanword establishment in a Standard-Chinese-to-Shanghainese (SC-SH) auditory lexical learning and borrowing experiment. To investigate these underlying cognitive processes, SC-SH bi-dialectals were compared with SC monolectals as well as bi-dialectals of SC and other Chinese dialects (OD) to investigate the influence of short-term and long-term linguistic experience. Both comprehension and production borrowings were tested. This study found that early and proficient bi-dialectism, even if it is not directly related to the recipient dialect of lexical borrowing, has a protective effect on the ability of cross-dialectal lexical borrowing in early adulthood. Bi-dialectals tend to add separate lexical representations for incidentally encountered dialectal variants, while monolectals tend to assimilate dialectal variants to standard forms. Bi-dialectals, but not monolectals, use etymologically related morphemes between the source and recipient dialects to create nonce-borrowing compounds. Dialectal variability facilitates lexical borrowing via enriching instead of increasing the short-term lexical experience of learners. The long-term bi-dialectal experience of individuals, as well as their short-term exposure to each specific loanword, may collectively shape the route of lexical evolution of co-evolving linguistic varieties.
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Affiliation(s)
- Junru Wu
- Laboratory of Language Cognition and Evolution, Department of Chinese Language and Literature, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.,Leiden University Centre for Linguistics, Leiden, Netherlands
| | - Wei Zheng
- Laboratory of Language Cognition and Evolution, Department of Chinese Language and Literature, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Mengru Han
- Laboratory of Language Cognition and Evolution, Department of Chinese Language and Literature, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Niels O Schiller
- Leiden University Centre for Linguistics, Leiden, Netherlands.,Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden, Netherlands
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104
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Shenker JJ, Steele CJ, Chakravarty MM, Zatorre RJ, Penhune VB. Early musical training shapes cortico-cerebellar structural covariation. Brain Struct Funct 2021; 227:407-419. [PMID: 34657166 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-021-02409-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2020] [Accepted: 10/05/2021] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Abstract
Adult abilities in complex cognitive domains such as music appear to depend critically on the age at which training or experience begins, and relevant experience has greater long-term effects during periods of peak maturational change. Previous work has shown that early trained musicians (ET; < age 7) out-perform later-trained musicians (LT; > age 7) on tests of musical skill, and also have larger volumes of the ventral premotor cortex (vPMC) and smaller volumes of the cerebellum. These cortico-cerebellar networks mature and function in relation to one another, suggesting that early training may promote coordinated developmental plasticity. To test this hypothesis, we examined structural covariation between cerebellar volume and cortical thickness (CT) in sensorimotor regions in ET and LT musicians and non-musicians (NMs). Results show that ETs have smaller volumes in cerebellar lobules connected to sensorimotor cortices, while both musician groups had greater cortical thickness in right pre-supplementary motor area (SMA) and right PMC compared to NMs. Importantly, early musical training had a specific effect on structural covariance between the cerebellum and cortex: NMs showed negative correlations between left lobule VI and right pre-SMA and PMC, but this relationship was reduced in ET musicians. ETs instead showed a significant negative correlation between vermal IV and right pre-SMA and dPMC. Together, these results suggest that early musical training has differential impacts on the maturation of cortico-cerebellar networks important for optimizing sensorimotor performance. This conclusion is consistent with the hypothesis that connected brain regions interact during development to reciprocally influence brain and behavioral maturation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph J Shenker
- Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada. .,BRAMS: International Laboratory for Brain, Music, and Sound Research, Montreal, QC, Canada.
| | - Christopher J Steele
- Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada.,Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | | | - Robert J Zatorre
- BRAMS: International Laboratory for Brain, Music, and Sound Research, Montreal, QC, Canada.,Cognitive Neuroscience Unit, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Virginia B Penhune
- Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada.,BRAMS: International Laboratory for Brain, Music, and Sound Research, Montreal, QC, Canada
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105
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Phillips I, Calloway RC, Karuzis VP, Pandža NB, O'Rourke P, Kuchinsky SE. Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation Strengthens Semantic Representations of Foreign Language Tone Words during Initial Stages of Learning. J Cogn Neurosci 2021; 34:127-152. [PMID: 34673939 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_01783] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Difficulty perceiving phonological contrasts in a second language (L2) can impede initial L2 lexical learning. Such is the case for English speakers learning tonal languages, like Mandarin Chinese. Given the hypothesized role of reduced neuroplasticity in adulthood limiting L2 phonological perception, the current study examined whether transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS), a relatively new neuromodulatory technique, can facilitate L2 lexical learning for English speakers learning Mandarin Chinese over 2 days. Using a double-blind design, one group of participants received 10 min of continuous priming taVNS before lexical training and testing each day, a second group received 500 msec of peristimulus (peristim) taVNS preceding each to-be-learned item in the same tasks, and a third group received passive sham stimulation. Results of the lexical recognition test administered at the end of each day revealed evidence of learning for all groups, but a higher likelihood of accuracy across days for the peristim group and a greater improvement in response time between days for the priming group. Analyses of N400 ERP components elicited during the same tasks indicate behavioral advantages for both taVNS groups coincided with stronger lexico-semantic encoding for target words. Comparison of these findings to pupillometry results for the same study reported in Pandža, Phillips, Karuzis, O'Rourke, and Kuchinsky (2020) suggest that positive effects of priming taVNS (but not peristim taVNS) on lexico-semantic encoding are related to sustained attentional effort.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ian Phillips
- University of Maryland Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence & Security, College Park.,Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Audiology and Speech Pathology Center, Bethesda, MD.,The Geneva Foundation, Bethesda, MD
| | - Regina C Calloway
- University of Maryland Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence & Security, College Park
| | - Valerie P Karuzis
- University of Maryland Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence & Security, College Park
| | - Nick B Pandža
- University of Maryland Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence & Security, College Park.,University of Maryland Program in Second Language Acquisition, College Park
| | - Polly O'Rourke
- University of Maryland Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence & Security, College Park
| | - Stefanie E Kuchinsky
- University of Maryland Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence & Security, College Park.,Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Audiology and Speech Pathology Center, Bethesda, MD
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106
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Gee DG, Cohodes EM. Caregiving Influences on Development: A Sensitive Period for Biological Embedding of Predictability and Safety Cues. CURRENT DIRECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2021; 30:376-383. [PMID: 34675455 DOI: 10.1177/09637214211015673] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Across species, caregivers exert a powerful influence on the neural and behavioral development of offspring. Increasingly, both animal and human research has highlighted specific patterns in caregivers' behavior that may be especially important early in life, as well as neurobiological mechanisms linking early caregiving experiences with long-term affective behavior. Here we delineate evidence for an early sensitive period during infancy and toddlerhood when caregiver inputs that are predictable and associated with safety may become biologically embedded via influences on corticolimbic circuitry involved in emotion regulation. We propose that these caregiver signals prime corticolimbic circuitry to be receptive to later stage-specific caregiver influences, such as caregivers' external regulation of children's emotional reactivity. Following caregiving adversity that disrupts predictability and safety associated with caregivers during this sensitive period, accelerated maturation of corticolimbic circuitry may foreshorten the protracted period of plasticity and caregiver influence that is characteristic of humans. This work has implications for both prevention and intervention efforts for children exposed to early life adversity.
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107
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Learning nonnative speech sounds changes local encoding in the adult human cortex. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:2101777118. [PMID: 34475209 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2101777118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2021] [Accepted: 07/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Adults can learn to identify nonnative speech sounds with training, albeit with substantial variability in learning behavior. Increases in behavioral accuracy are associated with increased separability for sound representations in cortical speech areas. However, it remains unclear whether individual auditory neural populations all show the same types of changes with learning, or whether there are heterogeneous encoding patterns. Here, we used high-resolution direct neural recordings to examine local population response patterns, while native English listeners learned to recognize unfamiliar vocal pitch patterns in Mandarin Chinese tones. We found a distributed set of neural populations in bilateral superior temporal gyrus and ventrolateral frontal cortex, where the encoding of Mandarin tones changed throughout training as a function of trial-by-trial accuracy ("learning effect"), including both increases and decreases in the separability of tones. These populations were distinct from populations that showed changes as a function of exposure to the stimuli regardless of trial-by-trial accuracy. These learning effects were driven in part by more variable neural responses to repeated presentations of acoustically identical stimuli. Finally, learning effects could be predicted from speech-evoked activity even before training, suggesting that intrinsic properties of these populations make them amenable to behavior-related changes. Together, these results demonstrate that nonnative speech sound learning involves a wide array of changes in neural representations across a distributed set of brain regions.
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108
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Abstract
Adult ability in complex cognitive domains, including music, is commonly thought of as the product of gene-environment interactions, where genetic predispositions influence and are modulated by experience, resulting in the final phenotypic expression. Recently, however, the important contribution of maturation to gene-environment interactions has become better understood. Thus, the timing of exposure to specific experience, such as music training, has been shown to produce long-term impacts on adult behaviour and the brain. Work from our lab and others shows that musical training before the ages of 7-9 enhances performance on musical tasks and modifies brain structure and function, sometimes in unexpected ways. The goal of this paper is to present current evidence for sensitive period effects for musical training in the context of what is known about brain maturation and to present a framework that integrates genetic, environmental and maturational influences on the development of musical skill. We believe that this framework can also be applied more broadly to understanding how predispositions, brain development and experience interact.
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109
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Połczyńska MM, Bookheimer SY. General principles governing the amount of neuroanatomical overlap between languages in bilinguals. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2021; 130:1-14. [PMID: 34400175 PMCID: PMC8958881 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.08.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2020] [Revised: 07/30/2021] [Accepted: 08/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
The literature has identified many important factors affecting the extent to which languages in bilinguals rely on the same neural populations in the specific brain region. The factors include the age of acquisition of the second language (L2), proficiency level of the first language (L1) and L2, and the amount of language exposure, among others. What is lacking is a set of global principles that explain how the many factors relate to the degree to which languages overlap neuroanatomically in bilinguals. We are offering a set of such principles that together account for the numerous sources of data that have been examined individually but not collectively: (1) the principle of acquisition similarity between L1 and L2, (2) the principle of linguistic similarity between L1 and L2, and (3) the principle of cognitive control and effort. Referencing the broad characteristics of language organization in bilinguals, as presented by the principles, can provide a roadmap for future clinical and basic science research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Monika M Połczyńska
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
| | - Susan Y Bookheimer
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
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110
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111
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Hartwigsen G, Bengio Y, Bzdok D. How does hemispheric specialization contribute to human-defining cognition? Neuron 2021; 109:2075-2090. [PMID: 34004139 PMCID: PMC8273110 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2021.04.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2021] [Revised: 03/22/2021] [Accepted: 04/26/2021] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Uniquely human cognitive faculties arise from flexible interplay between specific local neural modules, with hemispheric asymmetries in functional specialization. Here, we discuss how these computational design principles provide a scaffold that enables some of the most advanced cognitive operations, such as semantic understanding of world structure, logical reasoning, and communication via language. We draw parallels to dual-processing theories of cognition by placing a focus on Kahneman's System 1 and System 2. We propose integration of these ideas with the global workspace theory to explain dynamic relay of information products between both systems. Deepening the current understanding of how neurocognitive asymmetry makes humans special can ignite the next wave of neuroscience-inspired artificial intelligence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gesa Hartwigsen
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Lise Meitner Research Group Cognition and Plasticity, Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Yoshua Bengio
- Mila, Montreal, QC, Canada; University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Danilo Bzdok
- Mila, Montreal, QC, Canada; Montreal Neurological Institute, McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Medicine, and School of Computer Science, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
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112
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Abstract
Objectives: This longitudinal study followed the language development of children who received the combination of early (5 to 18 months) and simultaneous bilateral cochlear implants (CIs) throughout the first 6 years after implantation. It examined the trajectories of their language development and identified factors associated with language outcomes. Design: Participants were 21 Norwegian children who received bilateral CIs between the ages of 5 and 18 mo and 21 children with normal hearing (NH) who were matched to the children with CIs on age, sex, and maternal education. The language skills of these two groups were compared at 10 time points (3, 6, 9, 12, 18, 24, 36, 48, 60, and 72 months after implantation) using parent reports and standardized measures of general language skills, vocabulary, and grammar. In addition, assessments were made of the effects of age at CI activation, speech recognition abilities, and mothers’ education on language outcomes 6 years after implantation. Results: During the first 4 years after implantation, the gap in general expressive and receptive language abilities between children with CIs and children with NH gradually closed. While at the initial five to six assessments (3 to 36 months after implantation), significant differences between children with CIs and children with NH were observed; at 4 years after implantation, there were no longer any significant group differences in general language skills and most children with CIs achieved scores within 1 SD of the tests’ normative means. From 2 to 3 years after implantation onward, expressive vocabulary and receptive grammar skills of children with CIs were similar to those of the reference group. However, from 4 years after implantation until the end of the observation period, 6 years after implantation, expressive grammar skills of children with CIs were lower than those of children with NH. In addition, a gap in receptive vocabulary appeared and grew increasingly larger from 4 to 6 years postimplantation. At the final assessment, the children with CIs had an average receptive vocabulary score around 1 SD below the normative mean. Regression analysis indicated that the children’s language outcomes at 6 years after implantation were related to their speech recognition skills, age at CI activation, and maternal education. Conclusions: In the first 4 years after implantation, the language performance of children with CIs became increasingly similar to that of their NH peers. However, between 4 and 6 years after implantation, there were indications of challenges with certain aspects of language, specifically receptive vocabulary and expressive grammar. Because these challenges first appeared after the 4-year assessment, the findings underline the importance of long-term language intervention to increase the chances of a continued language development comparable to that of NH peers. They also indicate that there is a need for comprehensive longitudinal studies of the language development of children with CIs beyond 4 years after implantation.
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113
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Pierce LJ, Reilly E, Nelson CA. Associations Between Maternal Stress, Early Language Behaviors, and Infant Electroencephalography During the First Year of Life. JOURNAL OF CHILD LANGUAGE 2021; 48:737-764. [PMID: 32900397 DOI: 10.1017/s0305000920000501] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Associations have been observed between socioeconomic status (SES) and language outcomes from early childhood, but individual variability is high. Exposure to high levels of stress, often associated with low-SES status, might influence how parents and infants interact within the early language environment. Differences in these early language behaviors, and in early neurodevelopment, might underlie SES-based differences in language that emerge later on. Analysis of natural language samples from a predominantly low-/mid-income sample of mother-infant dyads, obtained using the Language Environment Analysis (LENA) system, found that maternal reports of exposure to stressful life events, and perceived stress, were negatively correlated with child vocalizations and conversational turns when infants were 6 and 12 months of age. Greater numbers of vocalizations and conversational turns were also associated with lower relative theta power and higher relative gamma power in 6- and 12-month baseline EEG - a pattern that might support subsequent language development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lara J Pierce
- Department of Pediatrics, Division of Developmental Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Emily Reilly
- Department of Pediatrics, Division of Developmental Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Charles A Nelson
- Department of Pediatrics, Division of Developmental Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
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114
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Nixon JS, Tomaschek F. Prediction and error in early infant speech learning: A speech acquisition model. Cognition 2021; 212:104697. [PMID: 33798952 PMCID: PMC8173624 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104697] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2020] [Revised: 03/03/2021] [Accepted: 03/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
In the last two decades, statistical clustering models have emerged as a dominant model of how infants learn the sounds of their language. However, recent empirical and computational evidence suggests that purely statistical clustering methods may not be sufficient to explain speech sound acquisition. To model early development of speech perception, the present study used a two-layer network trained with Rescorla-Wagner learning equations, an implementation of discriminative, error-driven learning. The model contained no a priori linguistic units, such as phonemes or phonetic features. Instead, expectations about the upcoming acoustic speech signal were learned from the surrounding speech signal, with spectral components extracted from an audio recording of child-directed speech as both inputs and outputs of the model. To evaluate model performance, we simulated infant responses in the high-amplitude sucking paradigm using vowel and fricative pairs and continua. The simulations were able to discriminate vowel and consonant pairs and predicted the infant speech perception data. The model also showed the greatest amount of discrimination in the expected spectral frequencies. These results suggest that discriminative error-driven learning may provide a viable approach to modelling early infant speech sound acquisition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessie S Nixon
- Quantitative Linguistics Group, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Germany.
| | - Fabian Tomaschek
- Quantitative Linguistics Group, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Germany.
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115
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Zacharopoulos G, Sella F, Cohen Kadosh K, Hartwright C, Emir U, Cohen Kadosh R. Predicting learning and achievement using GABA and glutamate concentrations in human development. PLoS Biol 2021; 19:e3001325. [PMID: 34292934 PMCID: PMC8297926 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001325] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2020] [Accepted: 06/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous research has highlighted the role of glutamate and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in learning and plasticity. What is currently unknown is how this knowledge translates to real-life complex cognitive abilities that emerge slowly and how the link between these neurotransmitters and human learning and plasticity is shaped by development. While some have suggested a generic role of glutamate and GABA in learning and plasticity, others have hypothesized that their involvement shapes sensitive periods during development. Here we used a cross-sectional longitudinal design with 255 individuals (spanning primary school to university) to show that glutamate and GABA in the intraparietal sulcus explain unique variance both in current and future mathematical achievement (approximately 1.5 years). Furthermore, our findings reveal a dynamic and dissociable role of GABA and glutamate in predicting learning, which is reversed during development, and therefore provide novel implications for models of learning and plasticity during childhood and adulthood.
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Affiliation(s)
- George Zacharopoulos
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
- Department of Psychology, Swansea University, United Kingdom
| | - Francesco Sella
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
- Centre for Mathematical Cognition, Loughborough University, United Kingdom
| | - Kathrin Cohen Kadosh
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
- School of Psychology, University of Surrey, Guildford, United Kingdom
| | - Charlotte Hartwright
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
- School of Psychology, Aston University, United Kingdom
| | - Uzay Emir
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
- School of Health Sciences, College of Health and Human Sciences, Purdue University, United States of America
| | - Roi Cohen Kadosh
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
- School of Psychology, University of Surrey, Guildford, United Kingdom
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116
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Junge C, Boumeester M, Mills DL, Paul M, Cosper SH. Development of the N400 for Word Learning in the First 2 Years of Life: A Systematic Review. Front Psychol 2021; 12:689534. [PMID: 34276518 PMCID: PMC8277998 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.689534] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2021] [Accepted: 05/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The N400 ERP component is a direct neural index of word meaning. Studies show that the N400 component is already present in early infancy, albeit often delayed. Many researchers capitalize on this finding, using the N400 component to better understand how early language acquisition unfolds. However, variability in how researchers quantify the N400 makes it difficult to set clear predictions or build theory. Not much is known about how the N400 component develops in the first 2 years of life in terms of its latency and topographical distributions, nor do we know how task parameters affect its appearance. In the current paper we carry out a systematic review, comparing over 30 studies that report the N400 component as a proxy of semantic processing elicited in infants between 0 and 24 months old who listened to linguistic stimuli. Our main finding is that there is large heterogeneity across semantic-priming studies in reported characteristics of the N400, both with respect to latency and to distributions. With age, the onset of the N400 insignificantly decreases, while its offset slightly increases. We also examined whether the N400 appears different for recently-acquired novel words vs. existing words: both situations reveal heterogeneity across studies. Finally, we inspected whether the N400 was modulated differently with studies using a between-subject design. In infants with more proficient language skills the N400 was more often present or showed itself here with earlier latency, compared to their peers; but no consistent patterns were observed for distribution characteristics of the N400. One limitation of the current review is that we compared studies that widely differed in choice of EEG recordings, pre-processing steps and quantification of the N400, all of which could affect the characteristics of the infant N400. The field is still missing research that systematically tests development of the N400 using the same paradigm across infancy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caroline Junge
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - Marlijne Boumeester
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - Debra L. Mills
- School of Psychology, Bangor University, Bangor, United Kingdom
| | - Mariella Paul
- Psychology of Language Research Group, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Samuel H. Cosper
- Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany
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117
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Mendoza JK, Fausey CM. Everyday music in infancy. Dev Sci 2021; 24:e13122. [PMID: 34170059 PMCID: PMC8596421 DOI: 10.1111/desc.13122] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2019] [Revised: 03/18/2021] [Accepted: 03/30/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Infants enculturate to their soundscape over the first year of life, yet theories of how they do so rarely make contact with details about the sounds available in everyday life. Here, we report on properties of a ubiquitous early ecology in which foundational skills get built: music. We captured daylong recordings from 35 infants ages 6–12 months at home and fully double‐coded 467 h of everyday sounds for music and its features, tunes, and voices. Analyses of this first‐of‐its‐kind corpus revealed two distributional properties of infants’ everyday musical ecology. First, infants encountered vocal music in over half, and instrumental in over three‐quarters, of everyday music. Live sources generated one‐third, and recorded sources three‐quarters, of everyday music. Second, infants did not encounter each individual tune and voice in their day equally often. Instead, the most available identity cumulated to many more seconds of the day than would be expected under a uniform distribution. These properties of everyday music in human infancy are different from what is discoverable in environments highly constrained by context (e.g., laboratories) and time (e.g., minutes rather than hours). Together with recent insights about the everyday motor, language, and visual ecologies of infancy, these findings reinforce an emerging priority to build theories of development that address the opportunities and challenges of real input encountered by real learners.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Caitlin M Fausey
- Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA
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118
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Zacharopoulos G, Sella F, Cohen Kadosh R. The impact of a lack of mathematical education on brain development and future attainment. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:e2013155118. [PMID: 34099561 PMCID: PMC8214709 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2013155118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Formal education has a long-term impact on an individual's life. However, our knowledge of the effect of a specific lack of education, such as in mathematics, is currently poor but is highly relevant given the extant differences between countries in their educational curricula and the differences in opportunities to access education. Here we examined whether neurotransmitter concentrations in the adolescent brain could classify whether a student is lacking mathematical education. Decreased γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) concentration within the middle frontal gyrus (MFG) successfully classified whether an adolescent studies math and was negatively associated with frontoparietal connectivity. In a second experiment, we uncovered that our findings were not due to preexisting differences before a mathematical education ceased. Furthermore, we showed that MFG GABA not only classifies whether an adolescent is studying math or not, but it also predicts the changes in mathematical reasoning ∼19 mo later. The present results extend previous work in animals that has emphasized the role of GABA neurotransmission in synaptic and network plasticity and highlight the effect of a specific lack of education on MFG GABA concentration and learning-dependent plasticity. Our findings reveal the reciprocal effect between brain development and education and demonstrate the negative consequences of a specific lack of education during adolescence on brain plasticity and cognitive functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- George Zacharopoulos
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6GG, United Kingdom;
| | - Francesco Sella
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6GG, United Kingdom
- Centre for Mathematical Cognition, Loughborough University, Loughborough LE11 3TU, United Kingdom
| | - Roi Cohen Kadosh
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6GG, United Kingdom;
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Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation in patients with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: A viable option? PROGRESS IN BRAIN RESEARCH 2021; 264:171-190. [PMID: 34167655 DOI: 10.1016/bs.pbr.2021.03.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Individuals with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) suffer from a range of cognitive and behavioral problems that severely impair their educational and occupational attainment. ADHD symptoms have been linked to structural and functional changes within and between different brain regions, particularly the prefrontal cortex. At the system level, reduced availability of the neurotransmitters dopamine (DA) and norepinephrine (NE) but also γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) have been repeatedly demonstrated. Recently, non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) techniques have been explored as treatment alternatives to alter dysfunctional activation patterns in specified brain areas or networks. In the current paper, we introduce transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) as a systemic approach to directly affect NE and GABA neurotransmission. TVNS is a non-drug intervention with low risk and proven efficacy in improving cognitive particularly executive functions. It is easy to apply and therefore well-suited to provide home-based or mobile treatment options allowing a significant increase in treatment intensity and providing easier access to medical care for individuals who are unable to regularly visit a clinician. We describe in detail the underlying mechanisms of tVNS and current fields of application and discuss its potential as an adjuvant treatment for ADHD.
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120
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Abstract
Childhood socio-economic status (SES), a measure of the availability of material and social resources, is one of the strongest predictors of lifelong well-being. Here we review evidence that experiences associated with childhood SES affect not only the outcome but also the pace of brain development. We argue that higher childhood SES is associated with protracted structural brain development and a prolonged trajectory of functional network segregation, ultimately leading to more efficient cortical networks in adulthood. We hypothesize that greater exposure to chronic stress accelerates brain maturation, whereas greater access to novel positive experiences decelerates maturation. We discuss the impact of variation in the pace of brain development on plasticity and learning. We provide a generative theoretical framework to catalyse future basic science and translational research on environmental influences on brain development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ursula A Tooley
- Neuroscience Graduate Group, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, PA, USA
- Department of Psychology, School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Danielle S Bassett
- Department of Bioengineering, School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, College of Arts & Sciences, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Department of Neurology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM, USA
| | - Allyson P Mackey
- Department of Psychology, School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
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Abstract
Behavioral genetics and cultural evolution have both revolutionized our understanding of human behavior-largely independent of each other. Here we reconcile these two fields under a dual inheritance framework, offering a more nuanced understanding of the interaction between genes and culture. Going beyond typical analyses of gene-environment interactions, we describe the cultural dynamics that shape these interactions by shaping the environment and population structure. A cultural evolutionary approach can explain, for example, how factors such as rates of innovation and diffusion, density of cultural sub-groups, and tolerance for behavioral diversity impact heritability estimates, thus yielding predictions for different social contexts. Moreover, when cumulative culture functionally overlaps with genes, genetic effects become masked, unmasked, or even reversed, and the causal effects of an identified gene become confounded with features of the cultural environment. The manner of confounding is specific to a particular society at a particular time, but a WEIRD (Western, educated, industrialized, rich, democratic) sampling problem obscures this boundedness. Cultural evolutionary dynamics are typically missing from models of gene-to-phenotype causality, hindering generalizability of genetic effects across societies and across time. We lay out a reconciled framework and use it to predict the ways in which heritability should differ between societies, between socioeconomic levels and other groupings within some societies but not others, and over the life course. An integrated cultural evolutionary behavioral genetic approach cuts through the nature-nurture debate and helps resolve controversies in topics such as IQ.
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122
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Zhang M, Riecke L, Bonte M. Neurophysiological tracking of speech-structure learning in typical and dyslexic readers. Neuropsychologia 2021; 158:107889. [PMID: 33991561 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.107889] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2020] [Revised: 05/03/2021] [Accepted: 05/10/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Statistical learning, or the ability to extract statistical regularities from the sensory environment, plays a critical role in language acquisition and reading development. Here we employed electroencephalography (EEG) with frequency-tagging measures to track the temporal evolution of speech-structure learning in individuals with reading difficulties due to developmental dyslexia and in typical readers. We measured EEG while participants listened to (a) a structured stream of repeated tri-syllabic pseudowords, (b) a random stream of the same isochronous syllables, and (c) a series of tri-syllabic real Dutch words. Participants' behavioral learning outcome (pseudoword recognition) was measured after training. We found that syllable-rate tracking was comparable between the two groups and stable across both the random and structured streams of syllables. More importantly, we observed a gradual emergence of the tracking of tri-syllabic pseudoword structures in both groups. Compared to the typical readers, however, in the dyslexic readers this implicit speech structure learning seemed to build up at a slower pace. A brain-behavioral correlation analysis showed that slower learners (i.e., participants who were slower in establishing the neural tracking of pseudowords) were less skilled in phonological awareness. Moreover, those who showed stronger neural tracking of real words tended to be less fluent in the visual-verbal conversion of linguistic symbols. Taken together, our study provides an online neurophysiological approach to track the progression of implicit learning processes and gives insights into the learning difficulties associated with dyslexia from a dynamic perspective.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manli Zhang
- Maastricht Brain Imaging Center, Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands.
| | - Lars Riecke
- Maastricht Brain Imaging Center, Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands
| | - Milene Bonte
- Maastricht Brain Imaging Center, Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands
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123
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van Atteveldt N, Vandermosten M, Weeda W, Bonte M. How to capture developmental brain dynamics: gaps and solutions. NPJ SCIENCE OF LEARNING 2021; 6:10. [PMID: 33941785 PMCID: PMC8093270 DOI: 10.1038/s41539-021-00088-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2020] [Accepted: 03/25/2021] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
Capturing developmental and learning-induced brain dynamics is extremely challenging as changes occur interactively across multiple levels and emerging functions. Different levels include the (social) environment, cognitive and behavioral levels, structural and functional brain changes, and genetics, while functions include domains such as math, reading, and executive function. Here, we report the insights that emerged from the workshop “Capturing Developmental Brain Dynamics”, organized to bring together multidisciplinary approaches to integrate data on development and learning across different levels, functions, and time points. During the workshop, current main gaps in our knowledge and tools were identified including the need for: (1) common frameworks, (2) longitudinal, large-scale, multisite studies using representative participant samples, (3) understanding interindividual variability, (4) explicit distinction of understanding versus predicting, and (5) reproducible research. After illustrating interactions across levels and functions during development, we discuss the identified gaps and provide solutions to advance the capturing of developmental brain dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nienke van Atteveldt
- Dept. of Clinical Developmental Psychology & Institute Learn!, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
| | - Maaike Vandermosten
- Dept. of Neuroscience, and Leuven Brain Institute, Experimental ORL, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Wouter Weeda
- Dept. of Methodology & Statistics, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Milene Bonte
- Dept. of Cognitive Neuroscience, and Maastricht Brain Imaging Center, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
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124
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Singh L. Evidence for an Early Novelty Orientation in Bilingual Learners. CHILD DEVELOPMENT PERSPECTIVES 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/cdep.12407] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
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125
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Abstract
Critical periods-brief intervals during which neural circuits can be modified by activity-are necessary for proper neural circuit assembly. Extended critical periods are associated with neurodevelopmental disorders; however, the mechanisms that ensure timely critical period closure remain poorly understood1,2. Here we define a critical period in a developing Drosophila motor circuit and identify astrocytes as essential for proper critical period termination. During the critical period, changes in activity regulate dendrite length, complexity and connectivity of motor neurons. Astrocytes invaded the neuropil just before critical period closure3, and astrocyte ablation prolonged the critical period. Finally, we used a genetic screen to identify astrocyte-motor neuron signalling pathways that close the critical period, including Neuroligin-Neurexin signalling. Reduced signalling destabilized dendritic microtubules, increased dendrite dynamicity and impaired locomotor behaviour, underscoring the importance of critical period closure. Previous work defined astroglia as regulators of plasticity at individual synapses4; we show here that astrocytes also regulate motor circuit critical period closure to ensure proper locomotor behaviour.
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126
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Zhao TC, Boorom O, Kuhl PK, Gordon R. Infants' neural speech discrimination predicts individual differences in grammar ability at 6 years of age and their risk of developing speech-language disorders. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2021; 48:100949. [PMID: 33823366 PMCID: PMC8047161 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2021.100949] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2020] [Revised: 03/23/2021] [Accepted: 03/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The 'sensitive period' for phonetic learning posits that between 6 and 12 months of age, infants' discrimination of native and nonnative speech sounds diverge. Individual differences in this dynamic processing of speech have been shown to predict later language acquisition up to 30 months of age, using parental surveys. Yet, it is unclear whether infant speech discrimination could predict longer-term language outcome and risk for developmental speech-language disorders, which affect up to 16 % of the population. The current study reports a prospective prediction of speech-language skills at a much later age-6 years-old-from the same children's nonnative speech discrimination at 11 months-old, indexed by MEG mismatch responses. Children's speech-language skills at 6 were comprehensively evaluated by a speech-language pathologist in two ways: individual differences in spoken grammar, and the presence versus absence of speech-language disorders. Results showed that the prefrontal MEG mismatch response at 11 months not only significantly predicted individual differences in spoken grammar skills at 6 years, but also accurately identified the presence versus absence of speech-language disorders, using a machine-learning classification. These results represent new evidence that advance our theoretical understanding of the neurodevelopmental trajectory of language acquisition and early risk factors for developmental speech-language disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- T Christina Zhao
- Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA; Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
| | - Olivia Boorom
- Department of Hearing & Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Patricia K Kuhl
- Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA; Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Reyna Gordon
- Department of Otolaryngology and Head & Neck Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA; Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA; Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
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127
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Reh RK, Hensch TK, Werker JF. Distributional learning of speech sound categories is gated by sensitive periods. Cognition 2021; 213:104653. [PMID: 33752869 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104653] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2020] [Revised: 02/28/2021] [Accepted: 03/01/2021] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
Perceptual attunement to the native phonetic repertoire occurs over the first year of life: an infant's discrimination of non-native phonetic contrasts declines while their discrimination of native phonetic contrasts improves, with the timing of change consistent with sensitive periods. The statistics of speech sound distributions is one source of input used to collapse non-native phonetic category boundaries, while sharpening native ones. Distributional learning can be a domain-general mechanism, yet given the timing of perceptual attunement, we hypothesized that this learning mechanism may be maturationally delimited in the content domain of phonetic categories. Here, we assessed whether sensitivity to the distribution of speech sounds in the environment declines as the period of perceptual attunement closes. We used electroencephalography (EEG) to investigate whether neuronal responses to native 'ra' and 'la' phones are modulated differently in older vs young infants by exposure to either a bimodal or unimodal sound distribution spanning the [r] ~ [l] phoneme space. The native contrast, ra-la, is discriminable at all three ages, ensuring that we were testing the distributional learning mechanism, rather than confounding it with a decline in discrimination to a non-native distinction. English monolingual infants (n = 131) at 5-, 9- and 12-months-old were familiarized to either a unimodal or bimodal distribution of /ra/-/la/ speech sounds. Immediately following familiarization, an ERP oddball task was used to assess discrimination. Results showed that brief exposure to a bi- vs uni-modal distribution is sufficient to alter neuronal responses to subsequent /ra/ vs /la/ speech sounds at 5-months and 9-months, but not at 12-months. These results are the first to capture a progressive decline in sensitivity to distributional statistics in the environment. A potential mechanistic explanation based on critical period biology is discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca K Reh
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Canada
| | - Takao K Hensch
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, USA; International Research Center for Neurointelligence, University of Tokyo, Japan
| | - Janet F Werker
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Canada.
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128
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Dorn K, Cauvet E, Weinert S. A cross‐linguistic study of multisensory perceptual narrowing in German and Swedish infants during the first year of life. INFANT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT 2021. [DOI: 10.1002/icd.2217] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Katharina Dorn
- Department of Developmental Psychology Otto‐Friedrich University Bamberg Germany
| | - Elodie Cauvet
- Department of Women's and Children's health Karolinska Institute of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (KIND) Stockholm Sweden
| | - Sabine Weinert
- Department of Developmental Psychology Otto‐Friedrich University Bamberg Germany
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Delcenserie A, Genesee F, Trudeau N, Champoux F. The development of phonological memory and language: A multiple groups approach. JOURNAL OF CHILD LANGUAGE 2021; 48:285-324. [PMID: 32524936 DOI: 10.1017/s0305000920000343] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Pierce et al. (2017) have proposed that variations in the timing, quality and quantity of language input during the earliest stages of development are related to variations in the development of phonological working memory and, in turn, to later language learning outcomes. To examine this hypothesis, three groups of children who are at-risk for language learning were examined: children with cochlear implants (CI), children with developmental language disorder (DLD), and internationally-adopted (IA) children, Comparison groups of typically-developing monolingual (MON) children and second language (L2) learners were also included. All groups were acquiring French as a first or second language and were matched on age, gender, and socioeconomic status, as well as other group-specific factors; they were between 5;0-7;3 years of age at time of testing. The CI and DLD groups scored significantly more poorly on the memory measures than the other groups; while the IA and L2 groups did not differ from one another. While the IA group performed more poorly than the MON group, there was no difference between the L2 and MON groups. We also found differential developmental relationships between phonological memory and language among the groups of interest in comparison to the typically-developing MON and L2 groups supporting the hypothesis that language experiences early in life are consequential for language development because of their effects on the development of phonological memory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Audrey Delcenserie
- Université de Montréal, Department of Psychology, Canada
- Université de Montréal, École d'orthophonie et d'audiologie, Canada
| | - Fred Genesee
- McGill University, Department of Psychology, Canada
| | - Natacha Trudeau
- Université de Montréal, École d'orthophonie et d'audiologie, Canada
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131
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Pierce LJ, Carmody Tague E, Nelson CA. Maternal stress predicts neural responses during auditory statistical learning in 26-month-old children: An event-related potential study. Cognition 2021; 213:104600. [PMID: 33509600 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104600] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2020] [Revised: 11/25/2020] [Accepted: 01/11/2021] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
Abstract
Exposure to high levels of early life stress have been associated with long-term difficulties in learning, behavior, and health, with particular impact evident in the language domain. While some have proposed that the increased stress of living in a low-income household mediates observed associations between socioeconomic status (SES) and child outcomes, considerable individual differences have been observed. The extent to which specific variables associated with socioeconomic status - in particular exposure to stressful life events - influence the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying language acquisition are not well understood. Auditory statistical learning, or the ability to segment a continuous auditory stream based on its statistical properties, develops during early infancy and is one mechanism thought to underlie language learning. The present study used an event-related potential (ERP) paradigm to test whether maternal stress, adjusting for socioeconomic variables (e.g., family income, maternal education) was associated with neurocognitive processes underlying statistical learning in a sample of 26-month-old children (n = 23) from predominantly low- to middle-income backgrounds. Event-related potentials were recorded while children listened to a continuous stream of tri-tone "words" in which tone elements varied in transitional probability. "Tone-words" were presented in random order, such that Tone 1 always predicted Tones 2 and 3 (transitional probability for Tone 3 = 1.0), but Tone 1 appeared randomly. A larger P2 amplitude was observed in response to Tone 3 compared to Tone 1, demonstrating that children implicitly tracked differences in transitional probabilities during passive listening. Maternal reports of stress at 26 months, adjusting for SES, were negatively associated with difference in P2 amplitude between Tones 1 and 3. These findings suggest that maternal stress, within a low-SES context, is associated with the manner in which children process statistical properties of auditory input.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lara J Pierce
- Department of Pediatrics, Division of Developmental Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, 1 Autumn Street, Boston, MA 02115, United States; Harvard Medical School, 25 Shattuck St., Boston, MA 02115, United States.
| | - Erin Carmody Tague
- Department of Pediatrics, Division of Developmental Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, 1 Autumn Street, Boston, MA 02115, United States.
| | - Charles A Nelson
- Department of Pediatrics, Division of Developmental Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, 1 Autumn Street, Boston, MA 02115, United States; Harvard Medical School, 25 Shattuck St., Boston, MA 02115, United States; Harvard Graduate School of Education, 13 Appian Way, Cambridge, MA 02138, United States.
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Ortiz Barajas MC, Guevara R, Gervain J. The origins and development of speech envelope tracking during the first months of life. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2021; 48:100915. [PMID: 33515956 PMCID: PMC7847966 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2021.100915] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2020] [Revised: 11/25/2020] [Accepted: 01/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
The adult brain tracks the modulation of the amplitude of speech, i.e. its envelope. We tested if preverbal infants, i.e. newborns & 6-month-olds, track the speech envelope. Infants track the envelope phase at both ages in the native language & in unfamiliar languages. Infants track the envelope amplitude in the native language at birth but not at 6 months. This suggests that phase tracking is unrelated to language experience, whereas amplitude tracking is shaped by experience.
When humans listen to speech, their neural activity tracks the slow amplitude fluctuations of the speech signal over time, known as the speech envelope. Studies suggest that the quality of this tracking is related to the quality of speech comprehension. However, a critical unanswered question is how envelope tracking arises and what role it plays in language development. Relatedly, its causal role in comprehension remains unclear, as some studies have found it to be present even for unintelligible speech. Using electroencephalography, we investigated whether the neural activity of newborns and 6-month-olds is able to track the speech envelope of familiar and unfamiliar languages in order to explore the developmental origins and functional role of envelope tracking. Our results show that amplitude and phase tracking take place at birth for familiar and unfamiliar languages alike, i.e. independently of prenatal experience. However, by 6 months language familiarity modulates the ability to track the amplitude of the speech envelope, while phase tracking continues to be universal. Our findings support the hypothesis that amplitude and phase tracking could represent two different neural mechanisms of oscillatory synchronisation and may thus play different roles in speech perception.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ramón Guevara
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
| | - Judit Gervain
- Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center, CNRS & Université de Paris, Paris, France; Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialization, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
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133
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Cummings AE, Ogiela DA, Wu YC. Evidence for [Coronal] Underspecification in Typical and Atypical Phonological Development. Front Hum Neurosci 2021; 14:580697. [PMID: 33414710 PMCID: PMC7782969 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2020.580697] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2020] [Accepted: 11/30/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The Featurally Underspecified Lexicon (FUL) theory predicts that [coronal] is the language universal default place of articulation for phonemes. This assumption has been consistently supported with adult behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) data; however, this underspecification claim has not been tested in developmental populations. The purpose of this study was to determine whether children demonstrate [coronal] underspecification patterns similar to those of adults. Two English consonants differing in place of articulation, [labial] /b/ and [coronal] /d/, were presented to 24 children (ages 4-6 years) characterized by either a typically developing phonological system (TD) or a phonological disorder (PD). Two syllables, /bɑ/ and /dɑ/, were presented in an ERP oddball paradigm where both syllables served as the standard and deviant stimulus in opposite stimulus sets. Underspecification was examined with three analyses: traditional mean amplitude measurements, cluster-based permutation tests, and single-trial general linear model (GLM) analyses of single-subject data. Contrary to previous adult findings, children with PD demonstrated a large positive mismatch response (PMR) to /bɑ/ while the children with TD exhibited a negative mismatch response (MMN); significant group differences were not observed in the /dɑ/ responses. Moreover, the /bɑ/ deviant ERP response was significantly larger in the TD children than in the children with PD. At the single-subject level, more children demonstrated mismatch responses to /dɑ/ than to /bɑ/, though some children had a /bɑ/ mismatch response and no /dɑ/ mismatch response. While both groups of children demonstrated similar responses to the underspecified /dɑ/, their neural responses to the more specified /bɑ/ varied. These findings are interpreted within a proposed developmental model of phonological underspecification, wherein children with PD are functioning at a developmentally less mature stage of phonological acquisition than their same-aged TD peers. Thus, phonological underspecification is a phenomenon that likely develops over time with experience and exposure to language.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alycia E Cummings
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Idaho State University, Meridian, ID, United States
| | - Diane A Ogiela
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Idaho State University, Meridian, ID, United States
| | - Ying C Wu
- Swartz Center for Computational Neuroscience, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, United States
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134
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Abstract
Social groups are a pervasive feature of human life. One factor that is often understudied in the literature on person perception and social categorization is language. Yet, someone's language (and accent) provides a tremendous amount of social information to a listener. Disciplines across the social and behavioral sciences-ranging from linguistics to anthropology to economics-have exposed the social significance of language. Less social psychological research has historically focused on language as a vehicle for social grouping. Yet, new approaches in psychology are reversing this trend. This article first reviews evidence, primarily from psycholinguistics, documenting how speech provides social information. Next it turns to developmental psychology, showing how young humans begin to see others' language as conveying social group information. It then explores how the tendency to see language as a social cue has vast implications for people's psychological processes (e.g., psychological essentialism and trust) and also for society, including education and the law.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katherine D Kinzler
- Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA;
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135
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Conway LJ, Cook F, Cahir P, Brown S, Reilly S, Gartland D, Mensah F, Giallo R. Children's language abilities at age 10 and exposure to intimate partner violence in early childhood: Results of an Australian prospective pregnancy cohort study. CHILD ABUSE & NEGLECT 2021; 111:104794. [PMID: 33160647 DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104794] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2019] [Revised: 08/15/2020] [Accepted: 10/21/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Approximately one in four children in Australia have mothers who experience intimate partner violence (IPV). These children are at risk of poor mental health. Less is known about their language outcomes, despite evidence that childhood adversity threatens neurodevelopment, and the home environment effects language development. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to examine the relationship between early childhood IPV exposure and language outcomes (receptive vocabulary, general language, pragmatic language) at age 10, including the influence of maternal depressive symptoms. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING Participants were 615 mothers and their first-born child participating in a prospective, community-based pregnancy cohort study in Melbourne. METHODS Mothers reported their experience of IPV and depressive symptoms in the first and fourth year postpartum. At 10 years postpartum, children's receptive vocabulary was directly assessed and mothers reported on their child's general and pragmatic language skills. RESULTS Exposure to IPV was related to scores indicating poorer abilities in receptive vocabulary (d=-0.26, p = .009), general language (d = 0.23, p = .047) and pragmatic language skills (d = 0.41, p < .001) at age 10. After adjusting for maternal depressive symptoms, evidence remained for the relationship with pragmatic language (d=-0.32, p = .006), and a trend for receptive vocabulary (d=-0.20, p = .052). CONCLUSIONS At a community-level, children whose mothers experienced IPV during the child's first four years had poorer language skills in middle childhood than children whose mothers did not experience IPV. This is important because poor child language skills are associated with adverse outcomes across the lifespan including academic under-achievement and mental health problems. Clinical implications are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura J Conway
- Murdoch Children's Research Institute, 50 Flemington Rd, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia; Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, 50 Flemington Rd, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia.
| | - Fallon Cook
- Murdoch Children's Research Institute, 50 Flemington Rd, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia; Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, 50 Flemington Rd, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia
| | - Petrea Cahir
- Murdoch Children's Research Institute, 50 Flemington Rd, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia; Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, 50 Flemington Rd, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia
| | - Stephanie Brown
- Murdoch Children's Research Institute, 50 Flemington Rd, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia; Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, 50 Flemington Rd, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia; South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, Adelaide, Australia
| | - Sheena Reilly
- Murdoch Children's Research Institute, 50 Flemington Rd, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia; Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, 50 Flemington Rd, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia; Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD 4222, Australia
| | - Deirdre Gartland
- Murdoch Children's Research Institute, 50 Flemington Rd, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia; Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, 50 Flemington Rd, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia
| | - Fiona Mensah
- Murdoch Children's Research Institute, 50 Flemington Rd, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia; Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, 50 Flemington Rd, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia
| | - Rebecca Giallo
- Murdoch Children's Research Institute, 50 Flemington Rd, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia; Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, 50 Flemington Rd, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia; La Trobe University, Bundoora, Australia
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136
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Ouyang M, Peng Q, Jeon T, Heyne R, Chalak L, Huang H. Diffusion-MRI-based regional cortical microstructure at birth for predicting neurodevelopmental outcomes of 2-year-olds. eLife 2020; 9:58116. [PMID: 33350380 PMCID: PMC7755384 DOI: 10.7554/elife.58116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2020] [Accepted: 12/06/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Cerebral cortical architecture at birth encodes regionally differential dendritic arborization and synaptic formation. It underlies behavioral emergence of 2-year-olds. Brain changes in 0-2 years are most dynamic across the lifespan. Effective prediction of future behavior with brain microstructure at birth will reveal structural basis of behavioral emergence in typical development and identify biomarkers for early detection and tailored intervention in atypical development. Here we aimed to evaluate the neonate whole-brain cortical microstructure quantified by diffusion MRI for predicting future behavior. We found that individual cognitive and language functions assessed at the age of 2 years were robustly predicted by neonate cortical microstructure using support vector regression. Remarkably, cortical regions contributing heavily to the prediction models exhibited distinctive functional selectivity for cognition and language. These findings highlight regional cortical microstructure at birth as a potential sensitive biomarker in predicting future neurodevelopmental outcomes and identifying individual risks of brain disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Minhui Ouyang
- Radiology Research, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, United States
| | - Qinmu Peng
- Radiology Research, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, United States.,Department of Radiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, United States
| | - Tina Jeon
- Radiology Research, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, United States
| | - Roy Heyne
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, United States
| | - Lina Chalak
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, United States
| | - Hao Huang
- Radiology Research, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, United States.,Department of Radiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, United States
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137
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Gee DG. Caregiving influences on emotional learning and regulation: Applying a sensitive period model. Curr Opin Behav Sci 2020; 36:177-184. [PMID: 33718534 DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2020.11.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Early caregiving experiences play a central role in shaping corticolimbic development and emotional learning and regulation. Given dynamic changes in corticolimbic maturation, the effects of caregiving experiences are likely to depend on the developmental timing of exposure. Cross-species evidence has identified timing-related differences in the effects of caregiving adversity. However, the extent to which developmental differences in associations between caregiving adversity and corticolimbic circuitry align with a sensitive period model has remained unclear. Converging evidence from studies of caregiver deprivation points to a sensitive period for caregiving influences on corticolimbic circuitry and emotional development during infancy. By contrast, differential associations between maltreatment and corticolimbic circuitry at specific ages in childhood and adolescence may reflect experience-dependent mechanisms of plasticity. Delineating sensitive periods of development and the precise experience-related mechanisms by which caregiving experiences influence corticolimbic development is essential for refining conceptual models and understanding risk and resilience following early adversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dylan G Gee
- Yale University, Department of Psychology, 2 Hillhouse Avenue, New Haven, CT 06511
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138
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How massive online experiments (MOEs) can illuminate critical and sensitive periods in development. Curr Opin Behav Sci 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2020.09.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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139
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Cheng Q, Silvano E, Bedny M. Sensitive periods in cortical specialization for language: insights from studies with Deaf and blind individuals. Curr Opin Behav Sci 2020; 36:169-176. [PMID: 33718533 PMCID: PMC7945734 DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2020.10.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
Studies with Deaf and blind individuals demonstrate that linguistic and sensory experiences during sensitive periods have potent effects on neurocognitive basis of language. Native users of sign and spoken languages recruit similar fronto-temporal systems during language processing. By contrast, delays in sign language access impact proficiency and the neural basis of language. Analogously, early but not late-onset blindness modifies the neural basis of language. People born blind recruit 'visual' areas during language processing, show reduced left-lateralization of language and enhanced performance on some language tasks. Sensitive period plasticity in and outside fronto-temporal language systems shapes the neural basis of language.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qi Cheng
- University of California San Diego
- University of Washington
| | - Emily Silvano
- Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
- Johns Hopkins University
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140
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Pascalis O, Fort M, Quinn PC. Development of face processing: are there critical or sensitive periods? Curr Opin Behav Sci 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2020.05.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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141
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Abstract
Executive functions (EFs) are cognitive processes that support flexible goal pursuit. Healthy development of EFs during childhood is critical for later life outcomes including health, wealth and educational attainment. As such it is crucial to understand how EFs can be supported and protected against insult. Here we examine whether there are sensitive periods in the development of EFs, by drawing on deprivation and enrichment studies in humans. While there is suggestive evidence that pre-6 months of age constitutes a sensitive period for EF development, given the higher-order nature of EF, we argue for the possibility of multiple sensitive periods of constituent processes. We identify relevant future questions and outline a research agenda to systematically test for sensitive period in EF development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abigail Thompson
- Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, UCL, London, WC1H 0AP, UK
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142
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Penhune VB. A gene-maturation-environment model for understanding sensitive period effects in musical training. Curr Opin Behav Sci 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2020.05.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
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143
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Reh R, Williams LJ, Todd RM, Ward LM. Warped rhythms: Epileptic activity during critical periods disrupts the development of neural networks for human communication. Behav Brain Res 2020; 399:113016. [PMID: 33212087 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2020.113016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2020] [Revised: 11/06/2020] [Accepted: 11/09/2020] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
It is well established that temporal lobe epilepsy-the most common and well-studied form of epilepsy-can impair communication by disrupting social-emotional and language functions. In pediatric epilepsy, where seizures co-occur with the development of critical brain networks, age of onset matters: The earlier in life seizures begin, the worse the disruption in network establishment, resulting in academic hardship and social isolation. Yet, little is known about the processes by which epileptic activity disrupts developing human brain networks. Here we take a synthetic perspective-reviewing a range of research spanning studies on molecular and oscillatory processes to those on the development of large-scale functional networks-in support of a novel model of how such networks can be disrupted by epilepsy. We seek to bridge the gap between research on molecular processes, on the development of human brain circuitry, and on clinical outcomes to propose a model of how epileptic activity disrupts brain development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca Reh
- University of British Columbia, Department of Psychology, 2136 West Mall, Vancouver BC V6T 1Z4, Canada
| | - Lynne J Williams
- BC Children's Hospital MRI Research Facility, 4480 Oak Street, Vancouver, BC V6H 0B3, Canada
| | - Rebecca M Todd
- University of British Columbia, Department of Psychology, 2136 West Mall, Vancouver BC V6T 1Z4, Canada; University of British Columbia, Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, 2215 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3, Canada.
| | - Lawrence M Ward
- University of British Columbia, Department of Psychology, 2136 West Mall, Vancouver BC V6T 1Z4, Canada; University of British Columbia, Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, 2215 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3, Canada
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144
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Abstract
Humans develop in the context of environmental information that can be considered either experience-expectant or experience-dependent. Though the exact timing of sensitive period closures and consequences of environmental experiences have not been well delineated, early life is a period of increased vulnerability. While some forms of care (e.g., institutional care for children; representing the absence of experience-expectant caregiving) are not present in the evolutionary history of humans, it is likely that what is considered significant hardship today may have been more typical experience-dependent environmental information in the evolutionary timescale. Thus, assumptions that threatening or neglectful experiences are unexpected for the human child may not fit well in the scope of the broader timescale of human history. We argue that it is important to consider early caregiving experiences from the context of what has been expected in our evolutionary past rather than what is expected in modern sociocultural terms.
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145
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Junge C, Valkenburg PM, Deković M, Branje S. The building blocks of social competence: Contributions of the Consortium of Individual Development. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2020; 45:100861. [PMID: 32957027 PMCID: PMC7509192 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2020.100861] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2020] [Revised: 06/26/2020] [Accepted: 09/01/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Social competence refers to the ability to engage in meaningful interactions with others. It is a crucial skill potentially malleable to interventions. Nevertheless, it remains difficult to select which children, which periods in a child's life, and which underlying skills form optimal targets for interventions. Development of social competence is complex to characterize because (a) it is by nature context- dependent; (b) it is subserved by multiple relevant processes that develop at different times in a child's life; and (c) over the years multiple, possibly conflicting, ways have been coined to index a child's social competence. The current paper elaborates upon a theoretical model of social competence developed by Rose-Krasnor (Rose- Krasnor, 1997; Rose-Krasnor and Denham, 2009), and it makes concrete how underlying skills and the variety of contexts of social interaction are both relevant dimensions of social competence that might change over development. It then illustrates how the cohorts and work packages in the Consortium on Individual Development each provide empirical contributions necessary for testing this model on the development of social competence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caroline Junge
- Departments of Developmental and Experimental Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
| | - Patti M Valkenburg
- Amsterdam School of Communication Research ASCoR, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Maja Deković
- Department of Clinical Child and Family Studies, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - Susan Branje
- Department of Youth and Family, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands
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146
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Sanchez-Alonso S, Aslin RN. Predictive modeling of neurobehavioral state and trait variation across development. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2020; 45:100855. [PMID: 32942148 PMCID: PMC7501421 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2020.100855] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2020] [Revised: 08/26/2020] [Accepted: 09/04/2020] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
A key goal of human neurodevelopmental research is to map neural and behavioral trajectories across both health and disease. A growing number of developmental consortia have begun to address this gap by providing open access to cross-sectional and longitudinal 'big data' repositories. However, it remains challenging to develop models that enable prediction of both within-subject and between-subject neurodevelopmental variation. Here, we present a conceptual and analytical perspective of two essential ingredients for mapping neurodevelopmental trajectories: state and trait components of variance. We focus on mapping variation across a range of neural and behavioral measurements and consider concurrent alterations of state and trait variation across development. We present a quantitative framework for combining both state- and trait-specific sources of neurobehavioral variation across development. Specifically, we argue that non-linear mixed growth models that leverage state and trait components of variance and consider environmental factors are necessary to comprehensively map brain-behavior relationships. We discuss this framework in the context of mapping language neurodevelopmental changes in early childhood, with an emphasis on measures of functional connectivity and their reliability for establishing robust neurobehavioral relationships. The ultimate goal is to statistically unravel developmental trajectories of neurobehavioral relationships that involve a combination of individual differences and age-related changes.
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147
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Di Nardo AA, Joliot A, Prochiantz A. Homeoprotein transduction in neurodevelopment and physiopathology. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2020; 6:6/44/eabc6374. [PMID: 33115744 PMCID: PMC7608782 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abc6374] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2020] [Accepted: 09/11/2020] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
Homeoproteins were originally identified for embryonic cell-autonomous transcription activity, but they also have non-cell-autonomous activity owing to transfer between cells. This Review discusses transfer mechanisms and focuses on some established functions, such as neurodevelopmental regulation of axon guidance, and postnatal critical periods of brain plasticity that affect sensory processing and cognition. Homeoproteins are present across all eukaryotes, and intercellular transfer occurs in plants and animals. Proposed functions have evolutionary relevance, such as morphogenetic activity and sexual exchange during the mating of unicellular eukaryotes, while others have physiopathological relevance, such as regulation of mood and cognition by influencing brain compartmentalization, connectivity, and plasticity. There are more than 250 known homeoproteins with conserved transfer domains, suggesting that this is a common mode of signal transduction but with many undiscovered functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ariel A Di Nardo
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Biology (CIRB), Collège de France, CNRS UMR 7241, INSERM U1050, PSL University, Labex MemoLife, 75005 Paris, France.
| | - Alain Joliot
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Biology (CIRB), Collège de France, CNRS UMR 7241, INSERM U1050, PSL University, Labex MemoLife, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Alain Prochiantz
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Biology (CIRB), Collège de France, CNRS UMR 7241, INSERM U1050, PSL University, Labex MemoLife, 75005 Paris, France.
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148
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Reh RK, Dias BG, Nelson CA, Kaufer D, Werker JF, Kolb B, Levine JD, Hensch TK. Critical period regulation across multiple timescales. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2020; 117:23242-23251. [PMID: 32503914 PMCID: PMC7519216 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1820836117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 203] [Impact Index Per Article: 50.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Brain plasticity is dynamically regulated across the life span, peaking during windows of early life. Typically assessed in the physiological range of milliseconds (real time), these trajectories are also influenced on the longer timescales of developmental time (nurture) and evolutionary time (nature), which shape neural architectures that support plasticity. Properly sequenced critical periods of circuit refinement build up complex cognitive functions, such as language, from more primary modalities. Here, we consider recent progress in the biological basis of critical periods as a unifying rubric for understanding plasticity across multiple timescales. Notably, the maturation of parvalbumin-positive (PV) inhibitory neurons is pivotal. These fast-spiking cells generate gamma oscillations associated with critical period plasticity, are sensitive to circadian gene manipulation, emerge at different rates across brain regions, acquire perineuronal nets with age, and may be influenced by epigenetic factors over generations. These features provide further novel insight into the impact of early adversity and neurodevelopmental risk factors for mental disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca K Reh
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada
| | - Brian G Dias
- Division of Behavioral Neuroscience and Psychiatric Disorders, Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Atlanta, GA 30322
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30329
| | - Charles A Nelson
- Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115
- Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138
| | - Daniela Kaufer
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720
| | - Janet F Werker
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada
| | - Bryan Kolb
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB T1K 3M4, Canada
| | - Joel D Levine
- Department of Biology, University of Toronto at Mississauga, Mississauga, ON L5L 1C6, Canada
| | - Takao K Hensch
- Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115;
- Center for Brain Science, Department of Molecular Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138
- International Research Center for Neurointelligence, University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan
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149
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Cristia A, Farabolini G, Scaff C, Havron N, Stieglitz J. Infant-directed input and literacy effects on phonological processing: Non-word repetition scores among the Tsimane'. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0237702. [PMID: 32915785 PMCID: PMC7485875 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0237702] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2019] [Accepted: 07/31/2020] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Language input in childhood and literacy (and/or schooling) have been described as two key experiences impacting phonological processing. In this study, we assess phonological processing via a non-word repetition (NWR) group game, in adults and children living in two villages of an ethnic group where infants are rarely spoken to, and where literacy is variable. We found lower NWR scores than in previous work for both children (N = 17; aged 1-12 years) and adults (N = 13; aged 18-60 years), which is consistent with the hypothesis that there would be long-term effects on phonological processing of experiencing low levels of directed input in infancy. Additionally, we found some evidence that literacy and/or schooling increases NWR scores, although results should be interpreted with caution given the small sample size. These findings invite further investigations in similar communities, as current results are most compatible with phonological processing being influenced by aspects of language experience that vary greatly between and within populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alejandrina Cristia
- Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et de Psycholinguistique, Département d’Etudes cognitives, ENS, EHESS, CNRS, PSL University, Paris, France
| | - Gianmatteo Farabolini
- Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy
| | - Camila Scaff
- Institute of Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Naomi Havron
- Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et de Psycholinguistique, Département d’Etudes cognitives, ENS, EHESS, CNRS, PSL University, Paris, France
| | - Jonathan Stieglitz
- Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, Université Toulouse 1 Capitole, Toulouse, France
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150
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Cristia A. Language input and outcome variation as a test of theory plausibility: The case of early phonological acquisition. DEVELOPMENTAL REVIEW 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.dr.2020.100914] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
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