About the study:

The general aim of this study is to identify potential differences that may exist in the way the brain processes rapidly presented sounds, like those that occur in everyday speech, depending on whether a person is actively listening or not paying attention.
We are asking the following questions:

1. How does attention influence rapid auditory processing (RAP) in 6-9 year old children as compared to adults?
2. Does attention influence RAP differently in children with a language-based learning impairment (LLI, including dyslexia and Specific Language Impairment) as compared to children who have normally developing language skills?
3. Are rapidly presented sounds processed differently before and after an intervention program designed to drive neural plasticity and improve language skills?

Study procedures:

First, the brain’s electrophysiological signals in response to rapidly presented sounds will be examined in order to better understand the way attention affects auditory processing. Children will listen to sounds as event-related potentials (ERPs) are recorded. We use a Geodesic Sensor Net system, which looks a bit like a stretchy hairnet with lots of little sponges attached to it (see picture below). ERPs are obtained from a special analysis of the ongoing electroencephalogram (EEG, the brain’s ongoing electrical activity). These ERPs show us the brain's response to a particular stimulus or external event (in this case, sounds).

A child wearing the Geodesics sensor net.

Following the ERP session, children will receive a battery of standard language and cognitive assessments. Children with an LLI who receive intervention training will visit the lab before and after completing the intervention program (visits will be scheduled at least 6 – 8 weeks apart).

Who can particpate?

Children between the ages of 6 and 9 years who have been diagnosed with a Language Learning Impairment (LLI, including dyslexia and Specific Language Impairment), with no hearing impairment, autistic disorder, or other neurological problems are invited to participate. Children in the same age range with normally developing language skills are also invited to take part in this study as controls.

What are the costs, risks, and benefits of participation?

The procedures used in the study have no potential for physically or mentally harming children. The ERP procedure is comfortable and painless (wearing the net feels just like wearing a light cap), completely safe, and non-invasive. Nothing comes out of the sensor net. It is like a stethoscope for brain activation, which records this activation but does not affect it in any way. Using the Geodesic Net System, ERPs have been recorded from infants, children of all ages, and adults.

The behavioral assessments involve listening to sounds, talking to and listening to an experimenter, looking at and pointing to pictures, and manipulating small objects (i.e. blocks). There is no cost (aside from time spent at the lab) to the children and families participating in this study. All language and cognitive testing is free, and all results will be shared with parents at their written request. Finally, parents and children who agree to participate will be involved in exciting neuroscience research at a state-of-the-art facility, contributing to the understanding of the way the brain works.

Please contact:

Jennifer Friedman at (973) 353-1080 Ex. 3213 or Ex. 3216

thomas@axon.rutgers.edu