title: Variability in lateralised blood flow response to language is associated with language development in children aged 1-5 years.
abstract: The developmental trajectory of language lateralisation over the preschool years is unclear. We explored the relationship between lateralisation of cerebral blood flow velocity response to object naming and cognitive performance in children aged 1-5 years. Functional transcranial Doppler ultrasound was used to record blood flow velocity bilaterally from middle cerebral arteries during a naming task in 58 children (59% male). At group level, the Lateralisation Index (LI) revealed a greater relative increase in cerebral blood flow velocity within the left as compared to right middle cerebral artery. After controlling for maternal IQ, left-lateralised children displayed lower expressive language scores compared to right- and bi-lateralised children, and reduced variability in LI. Supporting this, greater variability in lateralised response, rather than mean response, was indicative of greater expressive language ability. Findings suggest that a delayed establishment of language specialisation is associated with better language ability in the preschool years.
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, University of South Australia, GPO Box 2471, Adelaide, South Australia 5001, Australia. Electronic address: mark.kohler@unisa.edu.au.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kohler
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, University of South Australia, GPO Box 2471, Adelaide, South Australia 5001, Australia.
authors.forename: H A D
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Keage
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, University of South Australia, GPO Box 2471, Adelaide, South Australia 5001, Australia.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Spooner
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, University of South Australia, GPO Box 2471, Adelaide, South Australia 5001, Australia.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Flitton
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, University of South Australia, GPO Box 2471, Adelaide, South Australia 5001, Australia.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hofmann
authors.affiliation: Brain and Cognition Laboratory, School of Psychology, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia 5001, Australia.
authors.forename: O F
authors.initials: OF
authors.lastname: Churches
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, University of South Australia, GPO Box 2471, Adelaide, South Australia 5001, Australia.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Elliott
authors.affiliation: ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Department of Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia.
authors.forename: N A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Badcock
mesh_terms: D001783:Blood Flow Velocity / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply / Q000502:physiology*; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006439:Hemodynamics / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007802:Language; D007804:Language Development; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D017585:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Transcranial / Q000379:methods
keywords: Children; Cognitive performance; Development; Functional transcranial Doppler ultrasonography; Language lateralisation