TY - JOUR
T1 - Speech discrimination in infants at family risk of dyslexia
T2 - Group and individual-based analyses
AU - de Klerk, Maartje
AU - de Bree, Elise
AU - Veen, Duco
AU - Wijnen, Frank
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank the parents of our participants for their contributions to our study. We thank Sule Kurtçebe, Tinka Versteegh, Lorijn Zaadnoordijk and Joleen Zuidema for assistance in data collection and Annemarie Kerkhoff for assistance in the design of the study. This study was funded by The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO, grant nr. 360-70-270).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Author(s)
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/6
Y1 - 2021/6
N2 - Deficiencies in discriminating and identifying speech sounds have been widely attested in individuals with dyslexia as well as in young children at family risk (FR) of dyslexia. A speech perception deficit has been hypothesized to be causally related to reading and spelling difficulties. So far, however, early speech perception of FR infants has not been assessed at different ages within a single experimental design. Furthermore, a combination of group- and individual-based analyses has not been made. In this cross-sectional study, vowel discrimination of 6-, 8-, and 10-month-old Dutch FR infants and their nonrisk (no-FR) peers was assessed. Infants (N = 196) were tested on a native English /aː/–/eː/ and non-native English /ɛ/–/æ/ contrast using a hybrid visual habituation paradigm. Frequentist analyses were used to interpret group differences. Bayesian hierarchical modeling was used to classify individuals as speech sound discriminators. FR and no-FR infants discriminated the native contrast at all ages. However, individual classification of the no-FR infants suggests improved discrimination with age, but not for the FR infants. No-FR infants discriminated the non-native contrast at 6 and 10 months, but not at 8 months. FR infants did not show evidence of discriminating the contrast at any of the ages, with 0% being classified as discriminators. The group- and individual-based data are complementary and together point toward speech perception differences between the groups. The findings also indicate that conducting individual analyses on hybrid visual habituation outcomes is possible. These outcomes form a fruitful avenue for gaining more understanding of development, group differences, and prospective relationships.
AB - Deficiencies in discriminating and identifying speech sounds have been widely attested in individuals with dyslexia as well as in young children at family risk (FR) of dyslexia. A speech perception deficit has been hypothesized to be causally related to reading and spelling difficulties. So far, however, early speech perception of FR infants has not been assessed at different ages within a single experimental design. Furthermore, a combination of group- and individual-based analyses has not been made. In this cross-sectional study, vowel discrimination of 6-, 8-, and 10-month-old Dutch FR infants and their nonrisk (no-FR) peers was assessed. Infants (N = 196) were tested on a native English /aː/–/eː/ and non-native English /ɛ/–/æ/ contrast using a hybrid visual habituation paradigm. Frequentist analyses were used to interpret group differences. Bayesian hierarchical modeling was used to classify individuals as speech sound discriminators. FR and no-FR infants discriminated the native contrast at all ages. However, individual classification of the no-FR infants suggests improved discrimination with age, but not for the FR infants. No-FR infants discriminated the non-native contrast at 6 and 10 months, but not at 8 months. FR infants did not show evidence of discriminating the contrast at any of the ages, with 0% being classified as discriminators. The group- and individual-based data are complementary and together point toward speech perception differences between the groups. The findings also indicate that conducting individual analyses on hybrid visual habituation outcomes is possible. These outcomes form a fruitful avenue for gaining more understanding of development, group differences, and prospective relationships.
KW - Bayesian hierarchical modeling
KW - Dyslexia
KW - Individual analysis
KW - Infants
KW - Language development
KW - Speech sound discrimination
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85100516072&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jecp.2020.105066
DO - 10.1016/j.jecp.2020.105066
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85100516072
SN - 0022-0965
VL - 206
SP - 1
EP - 26
JO - Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
JF - Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
M1 - 105066
ER -