Electrophysiological Correlates of Speech Perception in Young Children: Associations Among ERP, Nonword Repetition and Language

Event Related Potentials (ERP) recorded during infancy and early childhood have been used to predict future language outcomes in children. Furthermore, there is recent evidence that nonword repetition (NWR) can be used to identify language delay in toddlers. This investigation assesses the relationships among ERP markers of sensitivity to phonemic stimuli, nonword repetition, and language to determine if the aforementioned methodologies could improve diagnostic measures for young children. Forty children between the ages of 24 to 48 months participated in a series of behavioral speech and language measures including the mCDI-2, the PLS-5, the GFTA-2 and conventional language sampling. ERPs were recorded during an “oldnew” paradigm to examine sensitivity to phonological changes. A nonword repetition task was also administered as a compliment to the ERP recordings to determine the independent and combined contribution of phonological working memory in predicting language ability. Results reveal that ERP markers of phonemic processing are strongly correlated with clinical assessments and are able to predict language skill independently from nonword repetition. These findings suggest that phonological sensitivity as measured by ERP and phonological working memory as measured by nonword repetition have a fundamental yet distinct relationship to general language ability in young children. Both clinical implications and fundamental questions regarding the underlying mechanisms of language disorders are addressed. Archival abstract submitte