NEUROBEHAVIORAL DEVELOPMENT IN NORMAL AND LI/RD CHILDREN

该项目的长期目标是研究生物学 的作用和经验在区分 与语言和认知处理相关的神经系统。我们的方法 将是比较语言和非语言时的大脑组织 在不同年龄的正常发育儿童（从4- 19岁）和语言和认知发展的阶段。额外 比较有特殊语言障碍（LI）的儿童和 阅读障碍（RD）将有助于分离与年龄相关的， 神经发育的语言特定方面，也将允许 评估神经行为功能， LI/RD受试者（Ss）表现出的缺陷。 我们将记录事件相关脑电位（ERP）， 大脑半球内部和之间的区域 感官，认知和语言信息的任务，旨在调节 不同的和特殊的处理。 三大系列 实验将评估几个假设，包括：I.语言：1.的 重要的神经系统分化的时间进程， 语法处理比语义处理要长 这些系统在LI/RD的子集中异常发展 孩子2.在语音处理过程中活跃的系统发展 在一个长期的发展时间过程中，LI/RD的子集 表现出听觉处理缺陷的受试者表现出异常 这些系统的发展。3.高度专业化，自动化 在LI/RD中，激活的语言系统缺失或功能异常 科目IL.视觉处理：1.内部的基本感官处理 在LI/RD儿童中，磁/背视通路选择性受损。2. LI/RD儿童表现出空间注意机制的缺陷， 背侧视觉通路3.面部感知的各个方面， 依赖于腹侧通路功能， 在LI/RD儿童中完好无损。4.神经系统的特化 在右半球内发生沿着一个延长的时间进程， 遵循并依赖于左半球的专门化， 语言伊利诺伊州听力：表现出听力的LI/RD儿童的子集 处理缺陷也具有缺陷的听觉注意能力。 由于这些研究将评估发展时期， 获得特定技能的影响最大， 长远来看，为发展提供具有实际意义的信息， 完善和评估教育方案， 和语言障碍的人。

The long term objectives of this project are to study biological constraints and the role of experience in the differentiation of the neural systems relevant to language and cognitive processing. Our approach will be to compare cerebral organization during language and non-language cognitive tasks in normally developing children at different ages (from 4- 19 years) and stages of language and cognitive development. Additional comparisons of children who are specifically language impaired (LI) and reading-disabled (RD) will aid in the separation of age-related and language-specific aspects of neural development and will also permit an assessment of the neurobehavioral functions that have been implicated in the deficits that LI/RD subjects (Ss) display. We will record event-related brain potentials (ERPs) from over several regions within and between the hemispheres as these children process sensory, cognitive and language information in tasks designed to modulate different and specific types of processing. The three series of experiments will assess several hypotheses including: I. Language: 1. The timecourse of differentiation of the neural systems important in grammatical proCessing is more prolonged than is that linked to semantic processing and these systems develop abnormally in a subset of LI/RD children. 2. The systems active during phonological processing develop over a protracted developmental timecourse and the subset of LI/RD subjects who display auditory processing deficits display anomalous development of these systems. 3. Highly specialized, automatically activated language systems are absent or function abnormally in LI/RD subjects. Il. Visual Processing: 1. Basic sensory processing within the magno/dorsal visual pathway are selectively impaired in LI/RD children. 2. LI/RD children display deficient mechanisms of spatial attention within the dorsal visual pathway. 3. Aspects of face perception that are dependent on ventral pathway function develop early in normal children and are intact in LI/RD children. 4. The specialization of neural systems within the right hemisphere occurs along a prolonged timecourse that follows and is dependent upon specialization of the left hemisphere for language. Ill. Audition: The subset of LI/RD children who display auditory processing deficits also have deficient auditory attentional capabilities. Since these studies will evaluate periods in development when the acquisition of specific skills has its greatest impact they will, in the long run, provide information of practical significance for developing, refining and evaluating educational programs for both normally developing and language-impaired individuals.