Infant mismatch responses to speech-sound changes predict language development in preschoolers at risk for dyslexia

Sergio Navarrete-Arroyo; Paula Virtala; Peixin Nie; Linda Kailaheimo-Lönnqvist; Satu Salonen; Teija Kujala

doi:10.1016/j.clinph.2024.02.032

Infant mismatch responses to speech-sound changes predict language development in preschoolers at risk for dyslexia

Clin Neurophysiol. 2024 Mar 5:S1388-2457(24)00059-2. doi: 10.1016/j.clinph.2024.02.032. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Sergio Navarrete-Arroyo¹, Paula Virtala², Peixin Nie², Linda Kailaheimo-Lönnqvist³, Satu Salonen³, Teija Kujala²

Affiliations

¹ Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland; Finnish Centre of Excellence in Music, Mind, Body and Brain, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland. Electronic address: sergio.navarretearroyo@helsinki.fi.
² Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland; Finnish Centre of Excellence in Music, Mind, Body and Brain, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland.
³ Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland.

PMID: 38492973
DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2024.02.032

Abstract

Objective: We investigated how infant mismatch responses (MMRs), which have the potential for providing information on auditory discrimination abilities, could predict subsequent development of pre-reading skills and the risk for familial dyslexia.

Methods: We recorded MMRs to vowel, duration, and frequency deviants in pseudo-words at birth and 28 months in a sample over-represented by infants with dyslexia risk. We examined MMRs' associations with pre-reading skills at 28 months and 4-5 years and compared the results in subgroups with vs. without dyslexia risk.

Results: Larger positive MMR (P-MMR) at birth was found to be associated with better serial naming. In addition, increased mismatch negativity (MMN) and late discriminative negativity (LDN), and decreased P-MMR at 28 months overall, were shown to be related to better pre-reading skills. The associations were influenced by dyslexia risk, which was also linked to poor pre-reading skills.

Conclusions: Infant MMRs, providing information about the maturity of the auditory system, are associated with the development of pre-reading skills. Speech-processing deficits may contribute to deficits in language acquisition observed in dyslexia.

Significance: Infant MMRs could work as predictive markers of atypical linguistic development during early childhood. Results may help in planning preventive and rehabilitation interventions in children at risk of learning impairments.

Keywords: Dyslexia risk; Language development; Late discriminative negativity (LDN); Mismatch negativity (MMN); Positive mismatch response (P-MMR); Speech-sound processing.