Neural and environmental mechanisms of language development during the first three years of life

项目总结/摘要 这项建议的目的是了解社会经济的神经和环境机制 (SES)36个月儿童语言发展的差异。在年龄较大的学龄儿童中， 父母语言输入的质量在统计学上介导了SES对大脑发育的影响， 影响孩子的语言成绩。尽管这些发现在年龄较大的儿童中得到了很好的表征， 在三岁以下的儿童中，大脑发育最快的时候，还没有进行过研究。的 本研究的主要目的是探讨社会经济地位、父母语言输入和大脑活动之间的关系 和行为指数的儿童语言在前三年的生活。努力审查环境 幼儿语言的神经机制受到小样本的阻碍， 方法挑战。例如，目前尚不清楚自动估计父母 语言输入在非白人和社会经济多样化人口中产生可靠估计。这 拟议的研究将通过对现有的 社会经济和种族多样化的母亲和儿童的纵向数据集（N=253）。我们的首要目标是 方法论，并将检查自动生成和手动编码的测量值之间的可靠性 父母的语言输入目标2-3涉及额外的转录和父母语言的手动编码 输入，以测试SES，语言输入，结构和功能脑之间的纵向联系 措施和语言成果。我们假设SES对36个月大的儿童语言的影响将是 在30个月时由父母语言输入和大脑区域的结构/连接介导。的 建议的工作是重要的，因为SES为基础的儿童语言能力的差异有长期的 影响教育程度下降，职业地位下降，身心健康状况恶化 健康，以及所有死亡原因的风险增加。通过识别起中介作用的近端体验 社会经济地位对三岁儿童语言结果的影响，我们可以确定预防措施的可行目标。 以及早期干预努力，以改善儿童和家庭的福祉。

PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT The objective of this proposal is to understand the neural and environmental mechanisms of socioeconomic (SES) differences in 36-month-old children’s language development. In older school-aged children, the quantity and quality of parental language input statistically mediates effects of SES on brain development, which in turn impacts children’s language outcomes. Although these findings are well-characterized in older children, they have yet to be examined in children under age three, the time when brain maturation is most rapid. The primary objective of this proposal is to examine the relation between SES, parental language input, and brain and behavioral indices of child language during the first three years of life. Efforts to examine environmental and neural mechanisms of language in young children have been hindered by small samples and methodological challenges. For instance, it is not clear whether approaches to automatically estimate parental language input produce reliable estimates in non-White and socioeconomically diverse populations. This proposed study will overcome previous challenges by employing secondary data analysis on an existing longitudinal dataset of socioeconomically and racially diverse mothers and children (N=253). Our first aim is methodological and will examine reliability between automatically generated and manually coded measures of parental language input. Aims 2-3 involve additional transcription and manual coding of parents’ language input to test the longitudinal association between SES, language input, structural and functional brain measures, and language outcomes. We hypothesize that SES effects on child language at 36 months will be mediated by parental language input and the structure/connectivity of brain regions at 30 months. The proposed work is important because SES-based differences in child language ability have long-term implications for decreased educational attainment, lower occupational status, poorer physical and mental health, and increased risk for all-causes of mortality. By identifying the proximal experiences that mediate effects of SES on child language outcomes at age three, we may identify actionable targets for preventative and early intervention efforts to improve child and family wellbeing.