Learning problems, delayed development, and puberty

Wright, Beverly A.; Zecker, Steven G.

doi:10.1073/pnas.0401825101

Cited by 73 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 49 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Of course, this attentional difference could also be a result of delayed maturation, but of the attentional system. The hypothesis that slower brain maturation contributes to learning disabilities is gaining support, and these data are consistent with this view (e.g., Wright & Zecker, 2004).…”

Section: Maturational Delaysupporting

confidence: 56%

Neurophysiological indices of attention to speech in children with specific language impairment

Shafer

Ponton²,

Datta

et al. 2007

Clinical Neurophysiology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objective-The aim was to determine whether children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) differed from children with typical language development (TLD) in their allocation of attention to speech sounds.Methods-Event-related potentials were recorded to nontarget speech sounds in two tasks (passivewatch a video and attend to target tones among speech sounds) in two experiments, one using 50-ms duration vowels and the second using 250-ms vowels. The difference in ERPs across tasks was examined in the latency range of the early Negative difference wave (Nd) found in adults. Analyses of the data using selected superior and inferior sites were compared to those using electrical field power (i.e., global field power or GFP). The topography of the ERP at the maximum GFP was also examined.Results-A negative difference, comparable to the adult Nd, was observed in the attend compared to the passive task for both types of analysis, suggesting allocation of attentional resources to processing the speech stimuli in the attend task. Children with TLD also showed greater negativity than those with SLI in the passive task for the long vowels, suggesting that they allocated more attentional resources to processing the speech in this task than the SLI group. This effect was only significant using the GFP analysis and was seen as smaller GFP for the TLD than SLI group. The SLI group also showed significantly later latency than the TLD group in reaching the maximum GFP. In addition, a significantly greater proportion of children with SLI compared to those with typical language showed left-greater-than-right fronto-central amplitude at the latency determined from each child's maximum GFP peak.Conclusions-Children generally showed greater attention to speech sounds when attention is directed to the auditory modality compared to the visual modality. However, children with TLD, unlike SLI, also appear to devote some attentional resources to speech even in a task in which they are instructed to attend to visual information and ignore the speech.Significance-These findings suggest that children with SLI have limited attentional resources, that they are poorer at dividing attention, or that they are less automatic in allocating resources to speech compared to children with typically developing language skills.

show abstract

Section: Maturational Delaysupporting

confidence: 56%

Neurophysiological indices of attention to speech in children with specific language impairment

Shafer

Ponton²,

Datta

et al. 2007

Clinical Neurophysiology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In early childhood, native language environment starts to shape the perception of speech sounds (Kuhl et al, 1992;Kuhl et al, 2006;Ortiz-Mantilla et al, 2013), and improvements in speech perception accuracy are still seen during the first three grades . Further, longitudinal studies have found that the differences in speech perception ability between children with and without dyslexia vary depending on age , and suggestions have been made of different developmental trajectory of the perceptual abilities of children with language related difficulties Wright and Zecker, 2004). Similar changes in perceptual abilities during development have been found using non-linguistic stimuli as well (Stefanics et al, 2011).…”

Section: Atypical Quantity Perceptionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Enhancement of brain event-related potentials to speech sounds is associated with compensated reading skills in dyslexic children with familial risk for dyslexia

Lohvansuu

Hämäläinen

Tanskanen

et al. 2014

International Journal of Psychophysiology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Second, hormone-associated changes in brain plasticity such as neurite outgrowth, spinogenesis, synaptogenesis, and expression of neurotransmitter receptors are observed during puberty in neuroendocrine brain regions (Anderson, 1982;Cottrell et al, 2006;Gore et al, 1996;Matsumoto & Arai, 1976;Reier et al, 1977); however such analyses have not been systematically studied in hippocampal brain regions. Third, puberty is associated with alterations in learning and memory (Kanit et al, 2000;Romeo, 2003;Wright & Zecker, 2004), phenomena that are likely to be related to dendritic spine number and density in hippocampus in adults Woolley & McEwen, 1992;Woolley et al, 1990;Woolley et al, 1996). Thus, we predict that both developmental age-as well as hormonal changes occurring during puberty will alter synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Postpubertal decrease in hippocampal dendritic spines of female rats

Yıldırım

Mapp

Janssen

et al. 2008

Experimental Neurology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Hippocampal dendritic spine and synapse numbers in female rats vary across the estrous cycle and following experimental manipulation of hormone levels in adulthood. Based on behavioral studies demonstrating that learning patterns are altered following puberty, we hypothesized that dendritic spine number in rat hippocampal CA1 region would change post-pubertally. Female SpragueDawley rats were divided into prepubertal (postnatal day (P) 22), peripubertal (P35) and postpubertal (P49) groups, with the progression of puberty evaluated by vaginal opening, and estrous cyclicity subsequently assessed by daily vaginal smears. Spinophilin immunoreactivity in dendritic spines was used as an index of spinogenesis in area CA1 stratum radiatum (CA1sr) of hippocampus. First, electron microscopy analyses confirmed the presence of spinophilin specifically in dendritic spines of CA1sr, supporting spinophilin as a reliable marker of hippocampal spines in young female rats. Second, stereologic analysis was performed to assess the total number of spinophilin-immunoreactive puncta (i.e. spines) and CA1sr volume in developing rats. Our results indicated that the number of spinophilin-immunoreactive spines in CA1sr was decreased 46% in the post-pubertal group compared to the two younger groups, whereas the volume of the hippocampus underwent an overall increase during this same developmental time frame. Third, to determine a potential role of estradiol in this process, an additional group of rats was ovariectomized (OVX) prepubertally at P22, then treated with estradiol or vehicle at P35, and spinophilin quantified as above in rats perfused on P49. No difference in spinophilin puncta number was found in OVX rats between the two hormone groups, suggesting that this developmental decrease is independent of peripheral estradiol. These changes in spine density coincident with puberty may be related to altered hippocampal plasticity and synaptic consolidation at this phase of maturity.

show abstract

Learning problems, delayed development, and puberty

Cited by 73 publications

References 49 publications

Neurophysiological indices of attention to speech in children with specific language impairment

Neurophysiological indices of attention to speech in children with specific language impairment

Enhancement of brain event-related potentials to speech sounds is associated with compensated reading skills in dyslexic children with familial risk for dyslexia

Postpubertal decrease in hippocampal dendritic spines of female rats

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About