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Splenium development and early spoken language in human infants
Author(s) -
Swanson Meghan R.,
Wolff Jason J.,
Elison Jed T.,
Gu Hongbin,
Hazlett Heather C.,
Botteron Kelly,
Styner Martin,
Paterson Sarah,
Gerig Guido,
Constantino John,
Dager Stephen,
Estes Annette,
Vachet Clement,
Piven Joseph
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
developmental science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.801
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 1467-7687
pISSN - 1363-755X
DOI - 10.1111/desc.12360
Subject(s) - splenium , corpus callosum , psychology , fractional anisotropy , language development , developmental psychology , language acquisition , white matter , diffusion mri , audiology , neuroscience , magnetic resonance imaging , medicine , mathematics education , radiology
The association between developmental trajectories of language‐related white matter fiber pathways from 6 to 24 months of age and individual differences in language production at 24 months of age was investigated. The splenium of the corpus callosum, a fiber pathway projecting through the posterior hub of the default mode network to occipital visual areas, was examined as well as pathways implicated in language function in the mature brain, including the arcuate fasciculi, uncinate fasciculi, and inferior longitudinal fasciculi. The hypothesis that the development of neural circuitry supporting domain‐general orienting skills would relate to later language performance was tested in a large sample of typically developing infants. The present study included 77 infants with diffusion weighted MRI scans at 6, 12 and 24 months and language assessment at 24 months. The rate of change in splenium development varied significantly as a function of language production, such that children with greater change in fractional anisotropy ( FA ) from 6 to 24 months produced more words at 24 months. Contrary to findings from older children and adults, significant associations between language production and FA in the arcuate, uncinate, or left inferior longitudinal fasciculi were not observed. The current study highlights the importance of tracing brain development trajectories from infancy to fully elucidate emerging brain–behavior associations while also emphasizing the role of the splenium as a key node in the structural network that supports the acquisition of spoken language.