TY - JOUR
T1 - Experience-dependent effects of passive auditory exposure in infants impact theta phase synchrony and predict later language
AU - Ortiz-Mantilla, Silvia
AU - Roesler, Cynthia P.
AU - Realpe-Bonilla, Teresa
AU - Benasich, April A.
N1 - Funding Information: We thank our colleagues at the Infancy Studies Laboratory at the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience at Rutgers University-Newark for assistance during recruitment and data collection. Special thanks go to all the infants and families who participated in the study. The Elizabeth H. Solomon Center for Neurodevelopmental Research. Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
PY - 2023/6/15
Y1 - 2023/6/15
N2 - The establishment of cortical representations critical for mounting language is supported by both ongoing neural maturation and experience-expectant plasticity as infants increasingly recognize the linguistic events that occur most often in their surrounding environment. Previous research has demonstrated that enhanced efficiency of syllabic representation and discrimination is facilitated by interactive attention-driven, nonspeech auditory experience. However, experience-dependent effects on syllable processing as a function of nonspeech, passive auditory exposure (PAE), remain unclear. As theta band-specific activity has been shown to support syllabic processing, we chose theta inter-trial phase synchrony to examine the experience-dependent effects of PAE on the processing of a syllable contrast. Results demonstrated that infants receiving PAE increased syllabic processing efficiency. Specifically, compared with controls, the group receiving PAE showed more mature, efficient processing, exhibiting less theta phase synchrony for the standard syllable at 9 months, and at 18 months, for the deviant syllable. Furthermore, the PAE modulatory effect on theta phase synchrony at 7 and 9 months was associated with language scores at 12 and 18 months. These findings confirm that supporting emerging perceptual abilities during early sensitive periods impacts syllabic processing efficiency and aligns with literature demonstrating associations between infant auditory perceptual abilities and later language outcomes.
AB - The establishment of cortical representations critical for mounting language is supported by both ongoing neural maturation and experience-expectant plasticity as infants increasingly recognize the linguistic events that occur most often in their surrounding environment. Previous research has demonstrated that enhanced efficiency of syllabic representation and discrimination is facilitated by interactive attention-driven, nonspeech auditory experience. However, experience-dependent effects on syllable processing as a function of nonspeech, passive auditory exposure (PAE), remain unclear. As theta band-specific activity has been shown to support syllabic processing, we chose theta inter-trial phase synchrony to examine the experience-dependent effects of PAE on the processing of a syllable contrast. Results demonstrated that infants receiving PAE increased syllabic processing efficiency. Specifically, compared with controls, the group receiving PAE showed more mature, efficient processing, exhibiting less theta phase synchrony for the standard syllable at 9 months, and at 18 months, for the deviant syllable. Furthermore, the PAE modulatory effect on theta phase synchrony at 7 and 9 months was associated with language scores at 12 and 18 months. These findings confirm that supporting emerging perceptual abilities during early sensitive periods impacts syllabic processing efficiency and aligns with literature demonstrating associations between infant auditory perceptual abilities and later language outcomes.
KW - auditory plasticity
KW - development
KW - inter-trial phase locking
KW - speech perception
KW - training
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U2 - 10.1093/cercor/bhad063
DO - 10.1093/cercor/bhad063
M3 - Article
C2 - 36967114
SN - 1047-3211
VL - 33
SP - 7595
EP - 7607
JO - Cerebral Cortex
JF - Cerebral Cortex
IS - 12
ER -