From CNTNAP2 to early expressive language in infancy: The mediation role of rapid auditory processing

TY - JOUR

T1 - From CNTNAP2 to early expressive language in infancy

T2 - The mediation role of rapid auditory processing

AU - Riva, Valentina

AU - Cantiani, Chiara

AU - Benasich, April A.

AU - Molteni, Massimo

AU - Piazza, Caterina

AU - Giorda, Roberto

AU - Dionne, Ginette

AU - Marino, Cecilia

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.

PY - 2018/6

Y1 - 2018/6

N2 - Although it is clear that early language acquisition can be a target of CNTNAP2, the pathway between gene and language is still largely unknown. This research focused on the mediation role of rapid auditory processing (RAP). We tested RAP at 6 months of age by the use of event-related potentials, as a mediator between common variants of the CNTNAP2 gene (rs7794745 and rs2710102) and 20-month-old language outcome in a prospective longitudinal study of 96 Italian infants. The mediation model examines the hypothesis that language outcome is explained by a sequence of effects involving RAP and CNTNAP2. The ability to discriminate spectrotemporally complex auditory frequency changes at 6 months of age mediates the contribution of rs2710102 to expressive vocabulary at 20 months. The indirect effect revealed that rs2710102 C/C was associated with lower P3 amplitude in the right hemisphere, which, in turn, predicted poorer expressive vocabulary at 20 months of age. These findings add to a growing body of literature implicating RAP as a viable marker in genetic studies of language development. The results demonstrate a potential developmental cascade of effects, whereby CNTNAP2 drives RAP functioning that, in turn, contributes to early expressive outcome.

AB - Although it is clear that early language acquisition can be a target of CNTNAP2, the pathway between gene and language is still largely unknown. This research focused on the mediation role of rapid auditory processing (RAP). We tested RAP at 6 months of age by the use of event-related potentials, as a mediator between common variants of the CNTNAP2 gene (rs7794745 and rs2710102) and 20-month-old language outcome in a prospective longitudinal study of 96 Italian infants. The mediation model examines the hypothesis that language outcome is explained by a sequence of effects involving RAP and CNTNAP2. The ability to discriminate spectrotemporally complex auditory frequency changes at 6 months of age mediates the contribution of rs2710102 to expressive vocabulary at 20 months. The indirect effect revealed that rs2710102 C/C was associated with lower P3 amplitude in the right hemisphere, which, in turn, predicted poorer expressive vocabulary at 20 months of age. These findings add to a growing body of literature implicating RAP as a viable marker in genetic studies of language development. The results demonstrate a potential developmental cascade of effects, whereby CNTNAP2 drives RAP functioning that, in turn, contributes to early expressive outcome.

KW - CNTNAP2

KW - Early language acquisition

KW - Infants

KW - Mediation

KW - Rapid auditory processing

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U2 - 10.1093/cercor/bhx115

DO - 10.1093/cercor/bhx115

M3 - Article

C2 - 28498932

SN - 1047-3211

VL - 28

SP - 2100

EP - 2108

JO - Cerebral Cortex

JF - Cerebral Cortex

IS - 6

ER -