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Weiss Y, Huber E, Ferjan Ramírez N, Corrigan NM, Yarnykh VL, Kuhl PK. Language input in late infancy scaffolds emergent literacy skills and predicts reading related white matter development. Front Hum Neurosci 2022; 16:922552. [PMID: 36457757 PMCID: PMC9705348 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.922552] [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: 04/18/2022] [Accepted: 10/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Longitudinal studies provide the unique opportunity to test whether early language provides a scaffolding for the acquisition of the ability to read. This study tests the hypothesis that parental language input during the first 2 years of life predicts emergent literacy skills at 5 years of age, and that white matter development observed early in the 3rd year (at 26 months) may help to account for these effects. We collected naturalistic recordings of parent and child language at 6, 10, 14, 18, and 24 months using the Language ENvironment Analysis system (LENA) in a group of typically developing infants. We then examined the relationship between language measures during infancy and follow-up measures of reading related skills at age 5 years, in the same group of participants (N = 53). A subset of these children also completed diffusion and quantitative MRI scans at age 2 years (N = 20). Within this subgroup, diffusion tractography was used to identify white matter pathways that are considered critical to language and reading development, namely, the arcuate fasciculus (AF), superior and inferior longitudinal fasciculi, and inferior occipital-frontal fasciculus. Quantitative macromolecular proton fraction (MPF) mapping was used to characterize myelin density within these separately defined regions of interest. The longitudinal data were then used to test correlations between early language input and output, white matter measures at age 2 years, and pre-literacy skills at age 5 years. Parental language input, child speech output, and parent-child conversational turns correlated with pre-literacy skills, as well as myelin density estimates within the left arcuate and superior longitudinal fasciculus. Mediation analyses indicated that the left AF accounted for longitudinal relationships between infant home language measures and 5-year letter identification and letter-sound knowledge, suggesting that the left AF myelination at 2 years may serve as a mechanism by which early language experience supports emergent literacy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yael Weiss
- Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
- Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
| | - Elizabeth Huber
- Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
- Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
| | - Naja Ferjan Ramírez
- Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
- Department of Linguistics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
| | - Neva M. Corrigan
- Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
- Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
| | - Vasily L. Yarnykh
- Department of Radiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
| | - Patricia K. Kuhl
- Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
- Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
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