Campos, A.; Tuomainen, J.; Tuomainen, O. Mismatch Responses to Speech Contrasts in Preschoolers with and without Developmental Language Disorder. Brain Sci.2024, 14, 42.
Campos, A.; Tuomainen, J.; Tuomainen, O. Mismatch Responses to Speech Contrasts in Preschoolers with and without Developmental Language Disorder. Brain Sci. 2024, 14, 42.
Campos, A.; Tuomainen, J.; Tuomainen, O. Mismatch Responses to Speech Contrasts in Preschoolers with and without Developmental Language Disorder. Brain Sci.2024, 14, 42.
Campos, A.; Tuomainen, J.; Tuomainen, O. Mismatch Responses to Speech Contrasts in Preschoolers with and without Developmental Language Disorder. Brain Sci. 2024, 14, 42.
Abstract
This study compared cortical responses to speech in preschoolers with typical language development (TLD) and Developmental Language Disorder (DLD), and in adults. We investigated whether top-down language effects modulate speech perception in an adult-like manner. We compared cortical mismatch responses (MMR) during passive perception of speech differing in linguistic complexity in three groups of participants: preschoolers with TLD (n=11), preschoolers with DLD (n=16) and adults (n=20). We also measured children’s phonological skills and investigated if they are associated with the cortical responses. MMR results indicated top-down language effects in adults, with enhanced cortical discrimination of lexical stimuli but not of non-words. In preschoolers, the TLD and DLD groups did not differ on the MMR measures and no top-down effects were detected. Moreover, we found no association between MMRs and phonological awareness skills, even though the DLD group’s phonological skills were significantly lower. Our findings suggest that top-down language modulations on speech discrimination may not be present during early childhood, and that children with DLD may not exhibit cortical speech perception deficits. The lack of association between phonological and MMR measures indicates that further research is needed to understand the link between language skills and cortical activity in preschoolers.
Biology and Life Sciences, Neuroscience and Neurology
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