Early-Life Stress Impairs Perception and Neural Encoding of Rapid Signals in the Auditory Pathway.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Developmental Psychology
• Auditory Neuroscience

Background:

• Early-life stress (ELS) is linked to cognitive deficits, affecting learning, memory, and attention.
• Critical periods (CPs) in development are sensitive times when the brain is vulnerable to stress.
• Sensory processing, particularly auditory perception, matures over an extended period, suggesting vulnerability to ELS.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of ELS on temporal sound processing during critical developmental periods.
• To determine if ELS affects neural encoding of auditory information in the auditory pathway.
• To link sensory processing deficits to cognitive impairments caused by ELS.

Main Methods:

• Developed an early-life stress (ELS) model in Mongolian gerbils.
• Assessed behavioral detection of short gaps in sound.
• Measured neural responses to auditory stimuli in the auditory periphery, brainstem, and auditory cortex.

Main Results:

• ELS impaired behavioral detection of brief sound gaps, crucial for speech perception.
• Reduced neural responses to sound gaps were observed across multiple auditory pathway levels.
• ELS degraded the fidelity of sensory representations sent to higher brain regions.

Conclusions:

• Early-life stress (ELS) impairs auditory temporal processing and sensory encoding.
• Degraded sensory information due to ELS may contribute to cognitive deficits.
• ELS-induced auditory processing deficits could impact communication and cognitive functions.