title: Electrocortical Dynamics in Children with a Language-Learning Impairment Before and After Audiovisual Training.
abstract: Detecting and discriminating subtle and rapid sound changes in the speech environment is a fundamental prerequisite of language processing, and deficits in this ability have frequently been observed in individuals with language-learning impairments (LLI). One approach to studying associations between dysfunctional auditory dynamics and LLI, is to implement a training protocol tapping into this potential while quantifying pre- and post-intervention status. Event-related potentials (ERPs) are highly sensitive to the brain correlates of these dynamic changes and are therefore ideally suited for examining hypotheses regarding dysfunctional auditory processes. In this study, ERP measurements to rapid tone sequences (standard and deviant tone pairs) along with behavioral language testing were performed in 6- to 9-year-old LLI children (n = 21) before and after audiovisual training. A non-treatment group of children with typical language development (n = 12) was also assessed twice at a comparable time interval. The results indicated that the LLI group exhibited considerable gains on standardized measures of language. In terms of ERPs, we found evidence of changes in the LLI group specifically at the level of the P2 component, later than 250 ms after the onset of the second stimulus in the deviant tone pair. These changes suggested enhanced discrimination of deviant from standard tone sequences in widespread cortices, in LLI children after training.
authors.affiliation: Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, Rutgers University-Newark, 197 University Avenue, Newark, NJ, 07102, USA. sabine.heim@rutgers.edu.|School of Natural Sciences & Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool, L3 3AF, UK. sabine.heim@rutgers.edu.
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Heim
authors.affiliation: Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, Rutgers University-Newark, 197 University Avenue, Newark, NJ, 07102, USA.|School of Social Science and Human Services, Ramapo College of New Jersey, 505 Ramapo Valley Road, Mahwah, NJ, 07430, USA.
authors.forename: Naseem
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Choudhury
authors.affiliation: Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, Rutgers University-Newark, 197 University Avenue, Newark, NJ, 07102, USA.
authors.forename: April A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Benasich
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D001296:Audiovisual Aids; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D002648:Child; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D007807:Language Tests; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D007859:Learning Disabilities / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D010898:Pitch Perception / Q000502:physiology; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Auditory sequential processing; Computerized training; Electroencephalography (EEG); Event-related potential (ERP); Specific language impairment (SLI)