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Cortical gray matter density at age five associated with preceding early longitudinal language profiles: A Voxel-based morphometry analysis of the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study
Poster Session E, Friday, October 2, 11:00 am - 1:00 pm, Wangari Maathai
Essi Saloranta1,2, Jetro J Tuulari2,3,4,5,6,7, Elmo P Pulli2,3, Hilyatushalihah K Audah2,3,4,7, Aaron Barron2,3,7, Ashmeet Jolly1,2,7,8, Aylin Rosberg2, Isabella L.C. Mariani Wigley2,3,7, Kiia Kurila1,2, Akie Yada1,4,9,10, Aura Yli-Savola1,2, Satu Savo1,2,4, Eeva Eskola1,2,4, Michelle Fernandes11,12,13, Riikka Korja1,2,3,4, Harri Merisaari7,14, Ekaterina Saukko2,14, Venla Kumpulainen2, Anni Copeland2, Eero Silver2, Hasse Karlsson2,3,15, Linnea Karlsson2,3,15,16, Elina Mainela-Arnold1,2,4; 1Department of Psychology and Speech-Language Pathology, University of Turku, 2FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, 3Centre for Population Health Research, Turku University Hospital and University of Turku, 4Centre of Excellence in Learning Dynamics and Intervention Research (InterLearn), University of Jyväskylä and University of Turku, 5Clinical Neurosciences, University of Turku, 6Neurocenter, Turku University Hospital, 7Turku Brain and Mind Center, University of Turku, 8Department of Teacher Education, University of Turku, 9Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, 10Department of Education, University of Jyväskylä, 11Department of Paediatrics, Institute of Developmental and Regenerative Medicine, University of Oxford, 12Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, 13Nuffield Department of Women's and Reproductive Health, University of Oxford, 14Department of Radiology, Turku University and Turku University Hospital, 15Turku University Hospital and University of Turku, 16Department of Public Health, University of Turku and Turku University Hospital
Previous studies exploring the connection between early language development and brain anatomy have shown that cortical areas relating to individual differences in language skills are diverse and vary depending on the age of child. However, due to lack of large longitudinal samples, current literature is limited in answering the extent to which individual differences in language development prior to school age are reflected in areas of the cortex. To fill this gap, we compared gray matter density between participants that belonged to different longitudinally defined language profiles from 14 months to five years of age in a large population-based sample. Participants were 166 children from the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study who had longitudinal language data from 14 months to five years of age and magnetic resonance imaging data at five years of age. Three groups of language development were used as per our prior study: persistent low, stable average, and stable high. Voxel-based morphometry metrics were calculated using SPM12 and the three language profile groups were compared to one another. Covariates included sex and age at brain scan. The statistics were thresholded at p < 0.01 and false discovery rate corrected at the cluster level. Of the three longitudinal language profiles, the stable high group had higher gray matter density than the persistent low group in the right superior frontal gyrus. No differences were found between the stable average and stable high groups, nor persistent low and stable average groups. The identified superior frontal cortical area belongs to executive functions neural network. This finding adds to the cumulating evidence that individual differences in language development are reflected in growth of gray matter supporting general processing ability rather than specialized language regions. The results suggest that cognitive development and early language development are linked through shared principles of neural growth, identifiable already at age five.
Topic Areas: Language Development/Acquisition,