PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Improving babies' language skills before they're even old enough to speak

A Rutgers researcher focuses infants on noticing the sounds that are most important

Improving babies' language skills before they're even old enough to speak
2014-10-01
(Press-News.org) In the first months of life, when babies begin to distinguish sounds that make up language from all the other sounds in the world, they can be trained to more effectively recognize which sounds "might" be language, accelerating the development of the brain maps which are critical to language acquisition and processing, according to new Rutgers research.

The study by April Benasich and colleagues of Rutgers University-Newark is published in the October 1 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience. The researchers found that when 4-month-old babies learned to pay attention to increasingly complex non-language audio patterns and were rewarded for correctly shifting their eyes to a video reward when the sound changed slightly, their brain scans at 7 months old showed they were faster and more accurate at detecting other sounds important to language than babies who had not been exposed to the sound patterns.

"Young babies are constantly scanning the environment to identify sounds that might be language," says Benasich, who directs the Infancy Studies Laboratory at the University's Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience. "This is one of their key jobs -- as between 4 and 7 months of age they are setting up their pre-linguistic acoustic maps. We gently guided the babies' brains to focus on the sensory inputs which are most meaningful to the formation of these maps."

Acoustic maps are pools of interconnected brain cells that an infant brain constructs to allow it to decode language both quickly and automatically – and well-formed maps allow faster and more accurate processing of language, a function that is critical to optimal cognitive functioning. Benasich says babies of this particular age may be ideal for this kind of training.

"If you shape something while the baby is actually building it," she says, "it allows each infant to build the best possible auditory network for his or her particular brain. This provides a stronger foundation for any language (or languages) the infant will be learning. Compare the baby's reactions to language cues to an adult driving a car. You don't think about specifics like stepping on the gas or using the turn signal. You just perform them. We want the babies' recognition of any language-specific sounds they hear to be just that automatic."

Benasich says she was able to accelerate and optimize the construction of babies' acoustic maps, as compared to those of infants who either passively listened or received no training, by rewarding the babies with a brief colorful video when they responded to changes in the rapidly varying sound patterns. The sound changes could take just tens of milliseconds, and became more complex as the training progressed.

"While playing this fun game we can convey to the baby, 'Pay attention to this. This is important. Now pay attention to this. This is important,'" says Benasich, "This process helps the baby to focus tightly on sounds in the environment that 'may' have critical information about the language they are learning. Previous research has shown that accurate processing of these tens-of-milliseconds differences in infancy is highly predictive of the child's language skills at 3, 4 and 5 years."

The experiment has the potential to provide lasting benefits. The EEG (electroencephalogram) scans showed the babies' brains processed sound patterns with increasing efficiency at 7 months of age after six weekly training sessions. The research team will follow these infants through 18 months of age to see whether they retain and build upon these abilities with no further training. That outcome would suggest to Benasich that once the child's earliest acoustic maps are formed in the most optimal way, the benefits will endure.

Benasich says this training has the potential to advance the development of typically developing babies as well as children at higher risk for developmental language difficulties. For parents who think this might turn their babies into geniuses, the answer is – not necessarily. Benasich compares the process of enhancing acoustic maps to some people's wishes to be taller. "There's a genetic range to how tall you become – perhaps you have the capacity to be 5'6" to 5'9,"' she explains. "If you get the right amounts and types of food, the right environment, the right exercise, you might get to 5'9" but you wouldn't be 6 feet. The same principle applies here."

Benasich says it's very likely that one day parents at home will be able to use an interactive toy-like device – now under development – to mirror what she accomplished in the baby lab and maximize their babies' potential. For the 8 to 15 percent of infants at highest risk for poor acoustic processing and subsequent delayed language, this baby-friendly behavioral intervention could have far-reaching implications and may offer the promise of improving or perhaps preventing language difficulties.

INFORMATION: END

[Attachments] See images for this press release:
Improving babies' language skills before they're even old enough to speak

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

New genetic 'operating system' facilitated evolution of 'bilateral' animals

2014-10-01
The evolution of worms, insects, vertebrates and other "bilateral" animals—those with distinct left and right sides—from less complex creatures like jellyfish and sea anemones with "radial" symmetry may have been facilitated by the emergence of a completely new "operating system" for controlling genetic instructions in the cell. That's the hypothesis of molecular biologists at UC San Diego. They report in the October 1 issue of the journal Genes & Development that this new system of controlling gene networks, analogous to a new computer operating system, paved the way ...

First comprehensive meshfree numerical simulation of skeletal muscle tissue achieved

First comprehensive meshfree numerical simulation of skeletal muscle tissue achieved
2014-10-01
Engineers at the University of California, San Diego, have completed the first comprehensive numerical simulation of skeletal muscle tissue using a method that uses the pixels in an image as data points for the computer simulation—a method known as mesh-free simulation. The researchers, led by J.S. Chen, the William Prager Professor of structural engineering at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego, presented their findings on the development of this method at the CompIMAGE'14 conference in Pittsburgh this month. Chen also gave a keynote speech about the work. ...

Low social support linked to poor health in young heart attack survivors

2014-09-30
Having few friends, family and a general lack of social support is associated with poor health and quality of life and depression in young men and women a year after having a heart attack, according to new research in the Journal of the American Heart Association. Social support is the perception of having friends or family who serve as confidants and companions, offer advice and information, show emotional concern, or provide financial or material support, said Emily Bucholz, lead researcher and a student in the School of Medicine and the Department of Chronic Disease ...

Study finds acupuncture does not improve chronic knee pain

2014-09-30
Among patients older than 50 years with moderate to severe chronic knee pain, neither laser nor needle acupuncture provided greater benefit on pain or function compared to sham laser acupuncture, according to a study in the October 1 issue of JAMA. Chronic knee pain affects many people older than 50 years and is the most common pain concern among older people consulting family physicians. Nonpharmacological approaches are central to managing chronic knee pain, and patients with joint pain frequently use complementary and alternative medicine. Acupuncture is the most ...

Use of a 'virtual ward' model of care does not reduce hospital readmissions, risk of death

2014-09-30
In a trial involving patients at high risk of hospital readmission or death, use of a virtual ward model of care (using some elements of hospital care in the community) after hospital discharge did not significantly reduce the rate of readmission or death up to a year following discharge, according to a study in the October 1 issue of JAMA. Hospital readmissions are common and costly, and no single intervention or bundle of interventions has reliably reduced readmissions. The virtual ward model of care is a way of providing care to patients with complex needs who are ...

Study compares long-term outcomes for types of aortic valve replacements

2014-09-30
Among patients ages 50 to 69 years who underwent aortic valve replacement with bioprosthetic (made primarily with tissue) compared with mechanical prosthetic valves, there was no significant difference in 15-year survival or stroke, although patients in the bioprosthetic valve group had a greater likelihood of reoperation but a lower likelihood of major bleeding, according to a study in the October 1 issue of JAMA. Approximately 50,000 patients undergo aortic valve replacement annually in the United States. In older patients, bioprosthetic valves pose a low lifetime ...

Medical professional liability claims and esophageal cancer screening

2014-09-30
An analysis of liability claims related to esophageal cancer screening finds that the risks of claims arising from acts of commission (complications from screening procedure) as well as acts of omission (failure to screen) are similarly low, according to a study in the October 1 issue of JAMA. Endoscopic screening for esophageal cancer has been recommended for patients with chronic symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease, but only if they have additional risk factors. Surveys of gastroenterologists indicate that concern about litigation for missing a cancer may drive ...

Biodiversity in the Mediterranean is threatened by alien species

2014-09-30
Millions of tourists visit the Mediterranean each year, but its deep-blue waters host the largest invasion currently underway on Earth. Almost 1,000 alien species, including fish, crustaceans, and algae are now established from other seas through human activities. In the open-access journal Frontiers in Marine Science, a multinational team of researchers analyzed data from a new information system developed by the European Commission to show how the introduction of alien species has changed the native biodiversity within the Mediterranean. A hotspot for marine biodiversity, ...

Clinical trial finds virtual ward does not reduce hospital readmissions

Clinical trial finds virtual ward does not reduce hospital readmissions
2014-09-30
TORONTO — A virtual ward, a new model of care that provides support to high-risk and complex patients in the community for a few weeks after discharge from hospital, did not prevent hospital readmissions as hoped in a clinical trial in Toronto. Hospital readmissions are common and costly and no intervention has reliably reduced them. Virtual wards, pioneered in Britain 10 years ago, were thought to have the potential to reduce readmissions, but had not been rigorously evaluated by researchers. Dr. Irfan Dhalla, a physician at St. Michael's Hospital, led a randomized trial ...

Researchers show EEG's potential to reveal depolarizations following TBI

2014-09-30
CINCINNATI—The potential for doctors to measure damaging "brain tsunamis" in injured patients without opening the skull has moved a step closer to reality, thanks to pioneering research at the University of Cincinnati (UC) Neuroscience Institute. The research team, led by Jed Hartings, PhD, research associate professor in the department of neurosurgery at the UC College of Medicine, has shown that spreading depolarizations—electrical disturbances that spread through an injured brain like tsunami waves—can be measured by the placement of electroencephalograph (EEG) electrodes ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Training to improve memory

Are patients undergoing surgery for early-stage cancer at risk of persistent opioid use?

Black youth, especially Black girls, use mental health services less than their White peers

Canada must protect youth from sports betting advertising

First-in-human trial shows promising results for DLL3-targeted antibody-drug conjugate SHR-4849 in relapsed small cell lung cancer

Ifinatamab deruxtecan demonstrates high response rate in previously treated extensive-stage small cell lung cancer: Phase 2 IDeate-Lung01 trial

Higher blood pressure in childhood linked to earlier death from heart disease in adulthood

AI helped older adults report accurate blood pressure readings at home

High blood pressure in childhood and premature cardiovascular disease mortality

Zidesamtinib shows durable responses in ROS1 TKI pre-treated NSCLC, including patients with CNS disease and ROS1 G2032R mutations

Crizotinib fails to improve disease-free survival in resected early-stage ALK+ NSCLC

Ivonescimab plus chemotherapy improves progression-free survival in patients with EGFR+ NSCLC following 3rd-generation EGFR-TKI therapy

FLAURA2 trial shows osimertinib plus chemotherapy improves overall survival in eGFR-mutated advanced NSCLC

Aumolertinib plus chemotherapy improves progression-free survival in NSCLC with EGFR and concomitant tumor suppressor genes: ACROSS 2 phase III study

New antibody-drug conjugate shows promising efficacy in EGFR-mutated NSCLC patients

Iza-Bren in combination with osimertinib shows 100% response rate in EGFR-mutated NSCLC, phase II study finds

COMPEL study shows continuing osimertinib treatment through progression with the addition of chemotherapy improves progression-free survival in EGFR-mutated NSCLC

CheckMate 77T: Nivolumab maintains quality of life and reduces symptom deterioration in resectable NSCLC

Study validates AI lung cancer risk model Sybil in predominantly Black population at urban safety-net hospital

New medication lowered hard-to-control high blood pressure in people with chronic kidney disease

Innovative oncolytic virus and immunotherapy combinations pave the way for advanced cancer treatment

New insights into energy metabolism and immune dynamics could transform head and neck cancer treatment

Pennington Biomedical’s Dr. Steven Heymsfield named LSU Boyd Professor – LSU’s highest faculty honor

Study prompts new theory of human-machine communication

New method calculates rate of gene expression to understand cell fate

Researchers quantify rate of essential evolutionary process in the ocean

Innovation Crossroads companies join forces, awarded U.S. Air Force contract

Using new blood biomarkers, USC researchers find Alzheimer’s disease trial eligibility differs among various populations

Pioneering advances in in vivo CAR T cell production

Natural medicines target tumor vascular microenvironment to inhibit cancer growth

[Press-News.org] Improving babies' language skills before they're even old enough to speak
A Rutgers researcher focuses infants on noticing the sounds that are most important