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Kruchinina O, Stankova E, Guillemard D, Galperina E. Passive Voice Comprehension during Thematic-Role Assignment in Russian-Speaking Children Aged 4-6 Is Reflected in the Sensitivity of ERP to Noun Inflections. Brain Sci 2022; 12:693. [PMID: 35741579 PMCID: PMC9220815 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci12060693] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2022] [Revised: 05/21/2022] [Accepted: 05/24/2022] [Indexed: 01/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Children tend to rely on semantics rather than syntax during sentence comprehension. In transitive sentences, with no reliance on semantics, the syntax-based strategy becomes critical. We aimed to describe developmental changes of brain mechanisms for syntax processing in typically developing (TD) four to six year old’s. A specially designed sentence-picture matching task using active (AV) and passive (PV) voice enforced children to use grammar cues for sentence comprehension. Fifty children with above >60% level of accuracy in PV sentences comprehension demonstrated brain sensitivity to voice grammar markers-inflections of the second noun phrase (NP2), which was expressed in a greater event-related potentials (ERP) amplitude to PV vs. AV sentences in four-, five-, and six-year-old children. The biphasic positive-negative component at 200−400 ms was registered in the frontocentral and bilateral temporoparietal areas. Only in six-year-old children P600 was registered in the right temporoparietal area. LAN-like negativity seems to be a mechanism for distinguishing AV from PV in the early stages of mastering syntax processing of transitive sentences in four to five year old children. Both behavioral and ERP results distinguished six-year-olds from four-year-old’s and five-year-old’s, reflecting the possible transition to the “adult-like” syntax-based thematic role assignment.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Elizaveta Galperina
- Sechenov Institute of Evolutionary Physiology and Biochemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 194223 Saint-Petersburg, Russia; (O.K.); (E.S.); (D.G.)
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Kruchinina OV, Stankova EP, Guillemard DM, Galperina EI. The Level of Passive Voice Comprehension in the 4–5 Years Old Russian Children Reflects in the ERP’s. J EVOL BIOCHEM PHYS+ 2022. [DOI: 10.1134/s0022093022020089] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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Schwab J, Liu M, Mueller JL. On the Acquisition of Polarity Items: 11- to 12-Year-Olds' Comprehension of German NPIs and PPIs. JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLINGUISTIC RESEARCH 2021; 50:1487-1509. [PMID: 34424452 PMCID: PMC8660713 DOI: 10.1007/s10936-021-09801-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/19/2021] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
Existing work on the acquisition of polarity-sensitive expressions (PSIs) suggests that children show an early sensitivity to the restricted distribution of negative polarity items (NPIs), but may be delayed in the acquisition of positive polarity items (PPIs). However, past studies primarily targeted PSIs that are highly frequent in children's language input. In this paper, we report an experimental investigation on children's comprehension of two NPIs and two PPIs in German. Based on corpus data indicating that the four tested PSIs are present in child-directed speech but rare in young children's utterances, we conducted an auditory rating task with adults and 11- to 12-year-old children. The results demonstrate that, even at 11-12 years of age, children do not yet show a completely target-like comprehension of the investigated PSIs. While they are adult-like in their responses to one of the tested NPIs, their responses did not demonstrate a categorical distinction between licensed and unlicensed PSI uses for the other tested expressions. The effect was led by a higher acceptance of sentences containing unlicensed PSIs, indicating a lack of awareness for their distributional restrictions. The results of our study pose new questions for the developmental time scale of the acquisition of polarity items.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juliane Schwab
- Institute of Cognitive Science, Osnabrück University, Wachsbleiche 27, 49090, Osnabrück, Germany.
| | - Mingya Liu
- Department of English and American Studies, Humboldt University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Jutta L Mueller
- Department of Linguistics, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
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Qi T, Schaadt G, Friederici AD. Associated functional network development and language abilities in children. Neuroimage 2021; 242:118452. [PMID: 34358655 PMCID: PMC8463838 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118452] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2021] [Revised: 07/14/2021] [Accepted: 08/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
During childhood, the brain is gradually converging to the efficient functional architecture observed in adults. How the brain's functional architecture evolves with age, particularly in young children, is however, not well understood. We examined the functional connectivity of the core language regions, in association with cortical growth and language abilities, in 175 young children in the age range of 4 to 9 years. We analyzed the brain's developmental changes using resting-state functional and T1-weighted structural magnetic resonance imaging data. The results showed increased functional connectivity strength with age between the pars triangularis of the left inferior frontal gyrus and left temporoparietal regions (cohen's d = 0.54, CI: 0.24 - 0.84), associated with children's language abilities. Stronger functional connectivity between bilateral prefrontal and temporoparietal regions was associated with better language abilities regardless of age. In addition, the stronger functional connectivity between the left inferior frontal and temporoparietal regions was associated with larger surface area and thinner cortical thickness in these regions, which in turn was associated with superior language abilities. Thus, using functional and structural brain indices, coupled with behavioral measures, we elucidate the association of functional language network development, language ability, and cortical growth, thereby adding to our understanding of the neural basis of language acquisition in young children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ting Qi
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Gesa Schaadt
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany; Department of Education and Psychology, Free University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Angela D Friederici
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
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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: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [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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Leminen M, Leminen A, Smolander S, Arkkila E, Shtyrov Y, Laasonen M, Kujala T. Quick reorganization of memory traces for morphologically complex words in young children. Neuropsychologia 2019; 138:107309. [PMID: 31857117 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.107309] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2018] [Revised: 10/10/2019] [Accepted: 12/15/2019] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
Formation of neural mechanisms for morphosyntactic processing in young children is still poorly understood. Here, we addressed neural processing and rapid online acquisition of familiar and unfamiliar combinations of morphemes. Three different types of morphologically complex words - derived, inflected, and novel (pseudostem + real suffix) - were presented in a passive listening setting to 16 typically developing 3-4-year old children (as part of a longitudinal Helsinki SLI follow-up study). The mismatch negativity (MMN) component of event-related potentials (ERP), an established index of long-term linguistic memory traces in the brain, was analysed separately for the initial and final periods of the exposure to these items. We found MMN response enhancement for the inflected words towards the end of the recording session, whereas no response change was observed for the derived or novel complex forms. This enhancement indicates rapid build-up of a new memory trace for the combination of real morphemes, suggesting a capacity for online formation of whole-form lexicalized representations as one of the morphological mechanisms in the developing brain. Furthermore, this enhancement increased with age, suggesting the development of automatic morphological processing circuits in the age range of 3-4 years.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miika Leminen
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Phoniatrics, Helsinki University Hospital and University of Helsinki, PO Box 250, FIN-00029, HUS, Finland; Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, PO Box 21, FIN-00014, University of Helsinki, Finland.
| | - Alina Leminen
- Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, PO Box 21, FIN-00014, University of Helsinki, Finland; Cognitive Science, Department of Digital Humanitiers, Faculty of Arts, PO Box 9, FIN-00014, University of Helsinki, Finland.
| | - Sini Smolander
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Phoniatrics, Helsinki University Hospital and University of Helsinki, PO Box 250, FIN-00029, HUS, Finland; Research Unit of Logopedics, PO Box 8000, FIN-90014, University of Oulu, Finland.
| | - Eva Arkkila
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Phoniatrics, Helsinki University Hospital and University of Helsinki, PO Box 250, FIN-00029, HUS, Finland.
| | - Yury Shtyrov
- Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience (CFIN), Institute for Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, DK-8000, Aarhus C, Denmark; Laboratory of Behavioural Neurodynamics, St.Petersburg State University, Makarova emb, 6, St.Petersburg, 199034, Russian Federation.
| | - Marja Laasonen
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Phoniatrics, Helsinki University Hospital and University of Helsinki, PO Box 250, FIN-00029, HUS, Finland; Department of Psychology and Speech-Language Pathology, Faculty of Social Sciences, FIN-20014, University of Turku, Finland; Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Clinical Medicine, PO Box 63, FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland.
| | - Teija Kujala
- Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, PO Box 21, FIN-00014, University of Helsinki, Finland.
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Qi T, Schaadt G, Cafiero R, Brauer J, Skeide MA, Friederici AD. The emergence of long-range language network structural covariance and language abilities. Neuroimage 2019; 191:36-48. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.02.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2018] [Revised: 01/28/2019] [Accepted: 02/05/2019] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
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Strotseva-Feinschmidt A, Schipke CS, Gunter TC, Brauer J, Friederici AD. Young children's sentence comprehension: Neural correlates of syntax-semantic competition. Brain Cogn 2018; 134:110-121. [PMID: 30442450 PMCID: PMC6565862 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2018.09.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2018] [Revised: 07/24/2018] [Accepted: 09/13/2018] [Indexed: 10/30/2022]
Abstract
Sentence comprehension requires the assignment of thematic relations between the verb and its noun arguments in order to determine who is doing what to whom. In some languages, such as English, word order is the primary syntactic cue. In other languages, such as German, case-marking is additionally used to assign thematic roles. During development children have to acquire the thematic relevance of these syntactic cues and weigh them against semantic cues. Here we investigated the processing of syntactic cues and semantic cues in 2- and 3-year-old children by analyzing their behavioral and neurophysiological responses. Case-marked subject-first and object-first sentences (syntactic cue) including animate and inanimate nouns (semantic cue) were presented auditorily. The semantic animacy cue either conflicted with or supported the thematic roles assigned by syntactic case-marking. In contrast to adults, for whom semantics did not interfere with case-marking, children attended to both syntactic and to semantic cues with a stronger reliance on semantic cues in early development. Children's event-related brain potentials indicated sensitivity to syntactic information but increased processing costs when case-marking and animacy assigned conflicting thematic roles. These results demonstrate an early developmental sensitivity and ongoing shift towards the use of syntactic cues during sentence comprehension.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Strotseva-Feinschmidt
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Stephanstraße 1A, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Christine S Schipke
- Research Focus Cognitive Sciences, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24/25, 14476 Potsdam, Germany
| | - Thomas C Gunter
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Stephanstraße 1A, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Jens Brauer
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Stephanstraße 1A, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Angela D Friederici
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Stephanstraße 1A, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
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