From CNTNAP2 to Early Expressive Language in Infancy: The Mediation Role of Rapid Auditory Processing. (11th May 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Riva, Valentina; Cantiani, Chiara; Benasich, April A; Molteni, Massimo; Piazza, Caterina; Giorda, Roberto; Dionne, Ginette; Marino, Cecilia
• Is Part Of: Cerebral cortex. Volume 28:Number 6(2018)
• Page Start: 2100
• Page End: 2108
• Publication Date: 2017-05-11
• Subjects: CNTNAP2 -- early language acquisition -- infants -- mediation -- rapid auditory processing; Cerebral cortex -- Periodicals; Brain -- Periodicals; 612.825
• DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhx115
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1047-3211

Abstract

Abstract: Although it is clear that early language acquisition can be a target of CNTNAP2, the pathway between gene and language is still largely unknown. This research focused on the mediation role of rapid auditory processing (RAP). We tested RAP at 6 months of age by the use of event-related potentials, as a mediator between common variants of the CNTNAP2 gene (rs7794745 and rs2710102) and 20-month-old language outcome in a prospective longitudinal study of 96 Italian infants. The mediation model examines the hypothesis that language outcome is explained by a sequence of effects involving RAP and CNTNAP2 . The ability to discriminate spectrotemporally complex auditory frequency changes at 6 months of age mediates the contribution of rs2710102 to expressive vocabulary at 20 months. The indirect effect revealed that rs2710102 C/C was associated with lower P3 amplitude in the right hemisphere, which, in turn, predicted poorer expressive vocabulary at 20 months of age. These findings add to a growing body of literature implicating RAP as a viable marker in genetic studies of language development. The results demonstrate a potential developmental cascade of effects, whereby CNTNAP2 drives RAP functioning that, in turn, contributes to early expressive outcome.