Subjective SES is Associated with Children's Neurophysiological Response to Auditory Oddballs.

Alexander L Anwyl-Irvine,Amy Johnson,Duncan E Astle,Edwin S Dalmaijer,Andrew J Quinn

doi:10.1093/texcom/tgaa092

Abstract

Language and reading acquisitions are strongly associated with a child’s socioeconomic status (SES). There are a number of potential explanations for this relationship. We explore one potential explanation—a child’s SES is associated with how children discriminate word-like sounds (i.e., phonological processing), a foundational skill for reading acquisition. Magnetoencephalography data from a sample of 71 children (aged 6 years and 11 months–12 years and 3 months), during a passive auditory oddball task containing word and nonword deviants, were used to test “where” (which sensors) and “when” (at what time) any association may occur. We also investigated associations between cognition, education, and this neurophysiological response. We report differences in the neural processing of word and nonword deviant tones at an early N200 component (likely representing early sensory processing) and a later P300 component (likely representing attentional and/or semantic processing). More interestingly we found “parental subjective” SES (the parents rating of their own relative affluence) was convincingly associated with later responses, but there were no significant associations with equivalized income. This suggests that the SES as rated by their parents is associated with underlying phonological detection skills. Furthermore, this correlation likely occurs at a later time point in information processing, associated with semantic and attentional processes. In contrast, household income is not significantly associated with these skills. One possibility is that the subjective assessment of SES is more impactful on neural mechanisms of phonological processing than the less complex and more objective measure of household income.

Highlights

The ability to decode sound structures within language— sometimes called phonological processing—is a key building block for language acquisition (Wagner and Torgesen 1987; Torgesen et al 1994; Vihman 1996) and becoming a skilled reader (Wagner et al 1997)
Our inverse model consisted of this one-layer boundary element model (BEM), and the method used to invert the evoked signals was the MNE toolbox’s implementation of dynamic statistical parametrical maps (DSPM), with empirical whitening done using a noise-covariance matrix taken from the baseline period, which we found to produce the most consistent results
The predictors working memory and executive factor, classic intelligence quotient (IQ) factor, verbal short term memory (STM) and WM factor, and equivalized income did not survive this testing, and we found no evidence for a relationship between these variables and the mismatch negativity (MMN) response

Summary

Introduction

The ability to decode sound structures within language— sometimes called phonological processing—is a key building block for language acquisition (Wagner and Torgesen 1987; Torgesen et al 1994; Vihman 1996) and becoming a skilled reader (Wagner et al 1997). Behavioral measures of language proficiency, reading ability, and phonological processing are all highly related to each other (Nation and Snowling 2004). This broad category of phonological processing can be subdivided into lower-level abilities: phonological awareness, phonological/verbal working memory, and phonological retrieval (Wagner and Torgesen 1987). We look at how the processing underlying phonological awareness is associated with socioeconomic status (SES) and behavioral measurements. SES is Associated with Phonological Processing, Reading and Language

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