title: Reduced Sensory Oscillatory Activity during Rapid Auditory Processing as a Correlate of Language-Learning Impairment.
abstract: Successful language acquisition has been hypothesized to involve the ability to integrate rapidly presented, brief acoustic cues in sensory cortex. A body of work has suggested that this ability is compromised in language-learning impairment (LLI). The present research aimed to examine sensory integration during rapid auditory processing by means of electrophysiological measures of oscillatory brain activity using data from a larger longitudinal study. Twenty-nine children with LLI and control participants with typical language development (n=18) listened to tone doublets presented at a temporal interval that is essential for accurate speech processing (70-ms interstimulus interval). The children performed a deviant (pitch change of second tone) detection task, or listened passively. The electroencephalogram was recorded from 64 electrodes. Data were source-projected to the auditory cortices and submitted to wavelet analysis, resulting in time-frequency representations of electrocortical activity. Results show significantly reduced amplitude and phase-locking of early (45-75 ms) oscillations in the gamma-band range (29-52 Hz), specifically in the LLI group, for the second stimulus of the tone doublet. This suggests altered temporal organization of sensory oscillatory activity in LLI when processing rapid sequences.
authors.affiliation: Center for Research on Individual Development and Adaptive Education, German Institute for International Educational Research (DIPF), Frankfurt/M., Germany.
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Heim
authors.forename: Jennifer Thomas
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Friedman
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Keil
authors.forename: April A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Benasich