PDF(Pubmed)
Abstract：
Reading acquisition is a prolonged learning process relying on language development starting in utero. Behavioral longitudinal studies reveal prospective associations between infant language abilities and preschool/kindergarten phonological development that relates to subsequent reading performance. While recent pediatric neuroimaging work has begun to characterize the neural network underlying language development in infants, how this neural network scaffolds long-term language and reading acquisition remains unknown. We addressed this question in a 7-year longitudinal study from infancy to school-age. Seventy-six infants completed resting-state fMRI scanning, and underwent standardized language assessments in kindergarten. Of this larger cohort, forty-one were further assessed on their emergent word reading abilities after receiving formal reading instructions. Hierarchical clustering analyses identified a modular infant language network in which functional connectivity (FC) of the inferior frontal module prospectively correlated with kindergarten-age phonological skills and emergent word reading abilities. These correlations were obtained when controlling for infant age at scan, nonverbal IQ and parental education. Furthermore, kindergarten-age phonological skills mediated the relationship between infant FC and school-age reading abilities, implying a critical mid-way milestone for long-term reading development from infancy. Overall, our findings illuminate the neurobiological mechanisms by which infant language capacities could scaffold long-term reading acquisition.
摘要：
阅读习得是一个长期的学习过程，它依赖于从子宫开始的语言发展。行为纵向研究揭示了婴儿语言能力与学龄前/幼儿园语音发展之间的前瞻性关联，这与随后的阅读表现有关。虽然最近的儿科神经影像学工作已经开始表征婴儿语言发育的神经网络，这个神经网络如何支持长期的语言和阅读习得仍然未知。我们在从婴儿期到学龄期的7年纵向研究中解决了这个问题。76名婴儿完成了静息状态功能磁共振成像扫描，并在幼儿园接受了标准化的语言评估。在这个更大的群体中，在接受正式阅读指导后，进一步评估了41名学生的紧急单词阅读能力。分层聚类分析确定了一个模块化的婴儿语言网络，其中下额叶模块的功能连通性（FC）与幼儿园年龄的语音技能和紧急单词阅读能力相关。这些相关性是在扫描时控制婴儿年龄时获得的，非语言智商和父母教育。此外，幼儿园年龄语音技能介导了婴儿FC和学龄期阅读能力之间的关系，暗示着从婴儿期开始的长期阅读发展的关键中间里程碑。总的来说,我们的发现阐明了婴儿语言能力可以支撑长期阅读习得的神经生物学机制。
