Children’s syntax is supported by the maturation of BA44 at 4 years, but of the posterior STS at 3 years of age

Abstract

Within the first years of life, children learn major aspects of their native language. However, the ability to process complex sentence structures, a core faculty in human language called syntax, has been found to emerge only slowly. A milestone in the acquisition of syntax is reached around the age of 4, when children learn a variety of syntactic concepts, including, for example, subordinate clauses. Here, we ask which maturational changes in the child's brain underlie the emergence of syntactic abilities around this critical age. We relate markers of cortical brain maturation to 3- and 4-year-olds' syntactic in contrast to other language abilities. Our results show that distinct cortical brain areas support syntax in the two age groups: While 3-year-old children's syntactic abilities were associated with increased surface area in the most posterior part of the left superior temporal sulcus, 4-year-old children showed an association with cortical thickness in the left posterior part of Broca's area, i.e. BA44. The present findings suggest that syntactic abilities rely on the maturation of distinct cortical regions in 3- compared to 4-year-olds. The observed shift to more mature regions involved in syntax may underlie the behavioral milestones in syntax acquisition around 4 years of age.