Individual differences in neural mechanisms of selective auditory attention in preschoolers from lower socioeconomic status backgrounds: an event‐related potentials study

Abstract

Selective attention, the ability to enhance the processing of particular input while suppressing the information from other concurrent sources, has been postulated to be a foundational skill for learning and academic achievement. The neural mechanisms of this foundational ability are both vulnerable and enhanceable in children from lower socioeconomic status (SES) families. In the current study, we assessed individual differences in neural mechanisms of this malleable brain function in children from lower SES families. Specifically, we investigated the extent to which individual differences in neural mechanisms of selective auditory attention accounted for variability in nonverbal cognitive abilities in lower SES preschoolers. We recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) during a dichotic listening task and administered nonverbal IQ tasks to 124 lower SES children (77 females) between the ages of 40 and 67 months. The attention effect, i.e., the difference in ERP mean amplitudes elicited by identical probes embedded in stories when attended versus unattended, was significantly correlated with nonverbal IQ scores. Larger, more positive attention effects over the anterior and central electrode locations were associated with superior nonverbal IQ performance. Our findings provide initial evidence for prominent individual differences in neural indices of selective attention in lower SES children. Furthermore, our results indicate a noteworthy relationship between neural mechanisms of selective attention and nonverbal IQ performance in lower SES preschoolers. These findings provide the basis for future research to identify the factors that contribute to such individual differences in neural mechanisms of selective attention.

Neuroplasticity of selective attention: Research foundations and preliminary evidence for a gene by intervention interaction

“…However, it is also possible that this behavioral measure was not sensitive enough to capture individual differences in selective attention. As noted in our previous studies (17,35), we find our comprehension accuracy questions useful as they reinforce to children the goal of attending to a single story. Further, they provide a gross index that children included in the analysis were generally on task.…”

“…Further, in comparison with children from higher SES backgrounds, young children from lower SES backgrounds display both a maturational delay and divergent developmental pattern in neural mechanisms of selective attention (37). Despite these overall group differences, we also documented notable individual differences among children from lower SES backgrounds in the vulnerability of selective attention, and we linked greater effects of selective attention on neural processing to higher nonverbal intelligence (17).…”

“…The mean amplitudes of ERPs were measured between 100-200 ms poststimulus onset, collapsed across the linguistic and nonlinguistic probe types, consistent with previous studies using this paradigm with young children from lower SES backgrounds (7,17,35,36). The effect of selective attention on neural processing was operationalized as the mean amplitude difference between the ERPs to the probes in the attended versus unattended stories (attended minus unattended).…”

“…In this respect, we consider selective attention to act as a "force multiplier" that can have broad-reaching impacts on different aspects of cognition. In support of this, performance on selective attention tasks has been linked both to academic skills in general (9)(10)(11)(12) and to specific cognitive abilities, including speech segmentation, working memory, and nonverbal intelligence (13)(14)(15)(16)(17). Here, we briefly review the trajectory of our research program on selective attention, which has moved from basic research on the neural processes underlying selective attention to translational research studies using selective attention as a neurobiological target for evidence-based intervention.…”

Parasympathetic and Sympathetic Activity Are Associated with Individual Differences in Neural Indices of Selective Attention in Adults

“…However, it is unclear whether individual differences in physiological measures of arousal influence the pattern of selective attention effects classically observed in this ERP paradigm, nor are we aware of any ERP study of selective attention that has tested PNS and SNS contributions to effects of selective attention. Third, selective attention is a core cognitive skill implicated in a variety of higher-order processes (Cowan et al, 2005;Fukuda, Vogel, Mayr, & Awh, 2010;Garon, Bryson, & Smith, 2008), and the ERP measure of selective attention used here has been shown to predict higher-order cognitive function in preschool-aged children (Isbell, Wray, & Neville, 2015) and in adults (Giuliano, Karns, Neville, & Hillyard, 2014). Therefore, any observed relationship between neural mechanisms of selective attention and autonomic physiology would potentially be relevant for a large body of related cognitive mechanisms.…”