ERP measures of syllable processing in 1 year olds: infant diet‐ and gender‐related differences

Abstract

Language skills are generally better in females than males, but the basis for these differences has not been determined. To investigate whether variations in infant diet contribute to these differences, cortical responses to the syllable /pa/ (ERPs;124 sites) were examined in healthy 12‐month old, full‐term infants enrolled in a longitudinal study of infant diet on development (Beginnings study). Infants were breastfed exclusively through 4 months and predominantly through 12 months (BF: n = 66, 33 males) or fed commercially produced formulas [milk‐based (MF: n = 65, 37 males) or soy‐based (SF: n = 61, 31 males)] exclusively from at least age 2 through 4 months, and remained on the same formula type through 12 months. ERPs were recorded in awake infants and analyzed using ANOVAs with post‐hoc t‐tests. Amplitude data for central and temporal cortical areas are reported for responses reflecting sensory registration (P150) and later language feature processing (P370). Group by gender interactions (p < .05) in both brain regions for the P370 reflected higher amplitudes for males than females in BF and MF groups, but not in the SF group. Across groups P370 amplitude was similar for males, but greater in SF females relative to females in other groups (p < .02). Whether these diet‐ and gender‐related differences in syllable processing relate to later language development will be determined as this longitudinal study progresses. (Supported by USDA CRIS 6251‐51000‐002‐03S)