Language Input as a Mechanism Underlying Socioeconomic Disparities in Neurocognitive Development

资助家长奖及建议补助金摘要 儿童的社会经济地位(SES)与认知、语言和学业上的差异有关 发展。1，2了解环境和神经发育的确切机制 这些差异对于制定最有效的干预措施以减少并最终改善至关重要 成就差距。家长奖提出并测试了一种创新的发展模式，其中具体 儿童早期语言输入的特点与额颞神经元级联发育 网络最终搭建了社会认知发展的多个方面。超越语言 能力，还包括执行功能(EF)和社会认知(SC)-关键的上学准备 已知的导致学校SES成绩差距的技能。3，4家长奖调查三个 语言输入质量的维度：语言(例如，语义和句法)、社交(例如，偶然性 话轮转换)和概念性特征(如去语境化语言)。5考察这三个维度 同时了解输入的哪些方面构成了神经认知的各个领域是必要的 发展以及以什么方式发展。值得注意的是，这项研究利用了儿童的多模式评估 环境(真实世界的听觉语言暴露和基于实验室的亲子互动视频编码) 和脑发育(结构脑发育的MRI测量和脑功能的fNIRS测量 在特定领域的认知任务期间)纵向跨越学龄前(3岁；0-4岁；11岁) 解决三个具体目标： 目标1：描述早期语言体验的三个维度(语言、社交/互动和 概念)影响潜在的接受性和表现性的结构和功能大脑发育 语言发展。 目标2：评估语言输入的特定特征是否是社会性别差异的一种机制 非语言认知领域(EF和SC)对入学准备至关重要，无论是直接还是间接的， 通过发展语言技能。 目标3：研究输入驱动的额颞部语言相关脑的纵向发育 网络还为神经系统的发展奠定了基础，这些神经系统是执行功能出现的基础 和社会认知。 影响：来自父母资助的结果有可能确定最有效、可延展的干预措施 帮助改善入学准备技能方面与收入相关的成就差距的目标。

Summary of Funded Parent Award and Proposed Supplement Childhood socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with disparities in cognitive, linguistic, and academic development.1,2 Understanding the precise environmental and neurodevelopmental mechanisms that underlie these disparities is critical for developing maximally impactful interventions to reduce and ultimately ameliorate achievement gaps. The parent award proposes and tests an innovative developmental model in which specific features of children’s early language input engage the cascading development of frontotemporal neural networks that ultimately scaffold multiple aspects of social-cognitive development. Beyond just language abilities, these also include executive functioning (EF) and social cognition (SC)— critical school readiness skills that are known to contribute to SES achievement gaps in school.3,4 The parent award investigates three dimensions of language input quality: linguistic (e.g., semantics and syntax), social-interactive (e.g., contingent turn-taking), and conceptual (e.g., decontextualized language) features.5 Investigating these three dimensions in parallel is necessary to understand which aspects of input scaffold various domains of neurocognitive development and in what way. Notably, this research leverages multi-modal assessments of children’s environments (real-world auditory language exposure and lab-based video-coding of parent-child interaction) and brain development (MRI measures of structural brain development and fNIRS measures of brain function during domain-specific cognitive tasks) longitudinally across the preschool years (ages 3;0-4;11 years) to address three specific aims: ● Aim 1: Characterize how three dimensions of early language experience (linguistic, social/interactive, and conceptual) influence structural and functional brain development underlying receptive and expressive language development. ● Aim 2: Evaluate whether specific features of language input serve as a mechanism of SES disparities in nonlinguistic cognitive domains (EF and SC) that are critical for school readiness, either directly or indirectly, through developing language skills. ● Aim 3: Examine whether input-driven, longitudinal development of frontotemporal language-related brain networks also scaffold the development of neural systems underlying the emergence of executive functioning and social cognition. Impact: Results from the parent grant have the potential to identify maximally impactful, malleable intervention targets to help ameliorate income-related achievement gaps in school readiness skills.