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. 2021 Aug:50:100973.
doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2021.100973. Epub 2021 Jun 5.

White matter in infancy is prospectively associated with language outcomes in kindergarten

Jennifer Zuk  1 , Xi Yu  2 , Joseph Sanfilippo  3 , Michael Joseph Figuccio  4 , Jade Dunstan  3 , Clarisa Carruthers  3 , Georgios Sideridis  5 , Ted K Turesky  5 , Borjan Gagoski  6 , Patricia Ellen Grant  6 , Nadine Gaab  7
Affiliations

White matter in infancy is prospectively associated with language outcomes in kindergarten

Jennifer Zuk et al. Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2021 Aug.

Abstract

Language acquisition is of central importance to child development. Although this developmental trajectory is shaped by experience postnatally, the neural basis for language emerges prenatally. Thus, a fundamental question remains: do structural foundations for language in infancy predict long-term language abilities? Longitudinal investigation of 40 children from infancy to kindergarten reveals that white matter in infancy is prospectively associated with subsequent language abilities, specifically between: (i) left arcuate fasciculus and phonological awareness and vocabulary knowledge, (ii) left corticospinal tract and phonological awareness, and bilateral corticospinal tract with phonological memory; controlling for age, cognitive, and environmental factors. Findings link white matter in infancy with school-age language abilities, suggesting that white matter organization in infancy sets a foundation for long-term language development.

Keywords: DTI; Early childhood; Infancy; Language; Neuroimaging; White matter.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Structural organization of the left arcuate fasciculus in infancy is prospectively associated with phonological awareness and vocabulary knowledge skills in kindergarten. Note: Significant associations between FA of the posterior segment of the left arcuate in infancy and language skills in kindergarten are displayed in terms of the centered residuals produced from partial correlations with the average FA across significant nodes indicated. Nodes in the posterior segment of the left arcuate that show significant effects are indicated on the rendered tract displayed in the upper left panel of each plot (p < 0.05, FWE-corrected).
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Structural organization of the corticospinal tract in infancy is prospectively associated with subsequent phonological awareness and phonological memory in kindergarten. Note: FA of the left corticospinal tract in infancy is prospectively associated with subsequent phonological awareness, and both left and right (bilateral) corticospinal tract in infancy are prospectively associated with phonological memory in kindergarten. Significant associations between FA of bilateral corticospinal tract in infancy and phonological skills in kindergarten are displayed in terms of the centered residuals produced from partial correlations with the average FA across significant nodes indicated. Nodes of the corticospinal tract that show significant effects are indicated on the rendered tract displayed in the upper left panel of each plot (p < 0.05, FWE-corrected).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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