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Measuring Statistical Learning Across Modalities and Domains in School-Aged Children Via an Online Platform and Neuroimaging Techniques
Published on: June 30, 2020
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Phoneme processing skills are reflected in children's MMN responses.
Tanja Linnavalli1, Vesa Putkinen2, Minna Huotilainen3
1Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Institute of Psychology and Logopedics, University of Helsinki, P.O.Box 9, FI-00014 Helsingin yliopisto, Finland.
Neuropsychologia
|May 17, 2017
Summary
Children
Area of Science:
- Child development
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive psychology
Background:
- Phonological awareness (PA) is crucial for reading skills.
- The neural basis of PA and auditory discrimination is not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the neurocognitive underpinnings of phonological awareness in children.
- To examine the relationship between phoneme processing, auditory discrimination, and brain responses.
Main Methods:
- Event-related potential (ERP) methodology and neuropsychological testing were used.
- Seventy typically developing 5-6-year-old children participated.
- Children's phoneme processing, word completion, and perceptual reasoning skills were assessed and compared to their brain responses to phonemic changes.
Main Results:
- Children with higher phoneme processing scores exhibited larger mismatch negativity (MMN) brain responses.
- No significant correlation was found between auditory closure test scores and brain responses.
Conclusions:
- Automatic auditory change detection, as indicated by MMN, is associated with phoneme awareness in preschoolers.
- These findings contribute to understanding the neurocognitive basis of early literacy development.
