Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

To learn spoken language, young children must process an important sound: speech. I study how childrens brains process sounds, and how their ability to do this impacts how easy or hard it is for them to develop spoken language. We know that children of the same age vary in the exact sophistication of their language skills. My prior NSERC-funded research and the research of others has revealed that children of the same age also vary in the exact sophistication of their brain responses to simple sounds such as beeps. Moreover, the maturity of these two processes (auditory and language) seems to be linked. This prior research has led many of us in the field to assume that the brains ability to process simple sounds contributes to or influences how children learn language. However, no research has attempted to confirm this assumed direction of influence. It is possible that instead, greater maturity of auditory processing in the brain is a consequence of the childs growing sophistication in and experience with spoken language, and that our assumptions have been wrong. The equipment I am requesting will support my new program of research in which I will longitudinally examine the direction of influence between auditory and language maturation during the early and very dynamic period of childrens language acquisition occurring between 18-48 months. To measure the processing of sounds in childrens brains, I use electroencephalography (EEG) and high-quality auditory stimulus presentation equipment. While my lab is already equipped with most of the equipment I will require, three elements must be replaced prior to commencing this new research, namely, new EEG head nets, a new EEG software and support licence, and new in-the-ear earphones. Understanding the direction of influence matters. If auditory maturation does indeed impact language maturation, we would be justified in dedicating future research efforts to better understanding what influences auditory maturity in the brain (e.g., environmental exposures and experiences, genetic contributions, etc.), the timing of these influences, and whether manipulating them (where possible) impacts language development. If our approach to auditory brain measurement shows promise in predicting the future trajectory of childrens language development, future research could examine clinical translation of this approach into predicting which children are at risk for later problems in language development when, or even before, they begin talking.