TY - JOUR
T1 - Modulation of Theta Phase Synchrony during Syllable Processing as a Function of Interactive Acoustic Experience in Infancy
AU - Ortiz-Mantilla, Silvia
AU - Roesler, Cynthia P.
AU - Realpe-Bonilla, Teresa
AU - Benasich, April A.
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: [email protected].
PY - 2022/3/1
Y1 - 2022/3/1
N2 - Plasticity, a prominent characteristic of the infant brain, supports formation of cortical representations as infants begin to interact with and adapt to environmental sensory events. Enhanced acoustic processing efficiency along with improved allocation of attentional resources at 7 months and establishment of well-defined phonemic maps at 9 months have been shown to be facilitated by early interactive acoustic experience (IAE). In this study, using an oddball paradigm and measures of theta phase synchrony at source level, we examined short- and long-term effects of nonspeech IAE on syllable processing. Results demonstrated that beyond maturation alone, IAE increased the efficiency of syllabic representation and discrimination, an effect that endured well beyond the immediate training period. As compared with naive controls, the IAE-trained group at 7, 9, and 18 months showed less theta phase synchrony for the standard syllable and at 7 and 18 months for the deviant syllable. The decreased theta phase synchrony exhibited by the trained group suggests more mature, efficient, acoustic processing, and thus, better cortical representation and discrimination of syllabic content. Further, the IAE modulatory effect observed on theta phase synchrony in left auditory cortex at 7 and 9 months was differentially associated with receptive and expressive language scores at 12 and 18 months of age.
AB - Plasticity, a prominent characteristic of the infant brain, supports formation of cortical representations as infants begin to interact with and adapt to environmental sensory events. Enhanced acoustic processing efficiency along with improved allocation of attentional resources at 7 months and establishment of well-defined phonemic maps at 9 months have been shown to be facilitated by early interactive acoustic experience (IAE). In this study, using an oddball paradigm and measures of theta phase synchrony at source level, we examined short- and long-term effects of nonspeech IAE on syllable processing. Results demonstrated that beyond maturation alone, IAE increased the efficiency of syllabic representation and discrimination, an effect that endured well beyond the immediate training period. As compared with naive controls, the IAE-trained group at 7, 9, and 18 months showed less theta phase synchrony for the standard syllable and at 7 and 18 months for the deviant syllable. The decreased theta phase synchrony exhibited by the trained group suggests more mature, efficient, acoustic processing, and thus, better cortical representation and discrimination of syllabic content. Further, the IAE modulatory effect observed on theta phase synchrony in left auditory cortex at 7 and 9 months was differentially associated with receptive and expressive language scores at 12 and 18 months of age.
KW - brain oscillations
KW - infants
KW - plasticity
KW - speech perception
KW - training
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U2 - 10.1093/cercor/bhab256
DO - 10.1093/cercor/bhab256
M3 - Article
C2 - 34403462
SN - 1047-3211
VL - 32
SP - 919
EP - 932
JO - Cerebral Cortex
JF - Cerebral Cortex
IS - 5
ER -