Speed of Information Processing

Research at the Infancy Studies Lab employs sensitive measures tapping information processing, derived from perceptual-cognitive paradigms, that can be used to systematically examine an infant's ability to discriminate, categorize, and abstract information, and have been shown to predict to later cognitive delays or deficits and to specific linguistic outcomes [e.g., 1,2].

Importantly, research findings that perceptual-cognitive abilities in infants are predictive of neurocognitive and language outcomes may be specifically related to the ability of these measures to assess "speed of processing." Similarly, studies in children with developmental learning disorders  (DLDs) implicate a specific deficit in the rate of sensory and perceptual information processing. Therefore, we are particularly interested in examining the role of speed of processing and attention in infant neurocognitive status and its subsequent impact on later neurological, cognitive, and linguistic functioning.

References

  1. Choudhury, N., Leppänen, P.H.T., Leevers, H.J. & Benasich, A.A. (2007). Infant information processing and family history of specific language impairment: Converging evidence for RAP deficits from two paradigms. Developmental Science, 10, (2), 213-236.

  2. Paterson, S.J., Heim, S., Friedman, J.T., Choudhury, N., & Benasich, A.A. (2006). Development of structure and function in the infant brain: Implications for cognition, language and social behaviour. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 30, 1087-1105

  3. Choudhury, N., & Benasich, A.A. (2011). Maturation of Auditory Evoked Potentials from 6 to 48 months: Prediction to 3 and 4 year Language and Cognitive Abilities.  Clinical Neurophysiology, 122(2), 320-338. doi:10.1016/j.clinph.2010.05.035