Anwyl-Irvine Alexander L, Dalmaijer Edwin S, Quinn Andrew J, Johnson Amy, Astle Duncan E
MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 7EF, UK.
Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7JX, UK.
Cereb Cortex Commun. 2020 Dec 4;2(1):tgaa092. doi: 10.1093/texcom/tgaa092. eCollection 2021.
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.
语言和阅读能力的获得与儿童的社会经济地位（SES）密切相关。对于这种关系有多种潜在的解释。我们探讨其中一种潜在解释——儿童的社会经济地位与儿童辨别类似单词的声音（即语音处理）的方式有关，语音处理是阅读能力获得的一项基础技能。我们使用来自71名儿童（年龄在6岁11个月至12岁3个月之间）样本的脑磁图数据，这些数据来自一个包含单词和非单词偏差的被动听觉oddball任务，以测试任何关联可能发生的“位置”（哪些传感器）和“时间”（何时）。我们还研究了认知、教育与这种神经生理反应之间的关联。我们报告了在早期N200成分（可能代表早期感觉处理）和后期P300成分（可能代表注意力和/或语义处理）中，单词和非单词偏差音调的神经处理差异。更有趣的是，我们发现“父母主观”社会经济地位（父母对自己相对富裕程度的评分）与后期反应有令人信服的关联，但与等值收入没有显著关联。这表明父母评定的社会经济地位与潜在的语音检测技能有关。此外，这种相关性可能发生在信息处理的后期，与语义和注意力过程相关。相比之下，家庭收入与这些技能没有显著关联。一种可能性是，社会经济地位的主观评估对语音处理的神经机制的影响比家庭收入这种不太复杂且更客观的衡量标准更大。
