Lack of neural evidence for implicit language learning in 9-month-old infants at high risk for autism

Word segmentation is a fundamental aspect of language learning, since identification of word boundaries in continuous speech must occur before the acquisition of word meanings can take place. We previously used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to show that youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are less sensitive to statistical and speech cues that guide implicit word segmentation. However, little is known about the neural mechanisms underlying this process during infancy and how this may be associated with ASD risk. Here, we examined early neural signatures of language-related learning in 9-month-old infants at high (HR) and low familial risk (LR) for ASD. During natural sleep, infants underwent fMRI while passively listening to three speech streams containing strong statistical and prosodic cues, strong statistical cues only, or minimal statistical cues to word boundaries. Compared to HR infants, LR infants showed greater activity in the left amygdala for the speech stream containing statistical and prosodic cues. While listening to this same speech stream, LR infants also showed more learning-related signal increases in left temporal regions as well as increasing functional connectivity between bilateral primary auditory cortex and right anterior insula. Importantly, learning-related signal increases at 9 months positively correlated with expressive language outcome at 36 months in both groups. In the HR group, greater signal increases were additionally associated with less severe ASD symptomatology at 36 months. These findings suggest that early differences in the neural networks underlying language learning may predict subsequent language development and altered trajectories associated with ASD risk.