ERP dynamics of Language Learning Impaired Children

George Mason University, Fairfax VA

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Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This project will determine it language-learning impaired and non-impaired children demonstrate electrophysiological differences on two levels of auditory processing: subcortical preattentive (P50) and cortical mismatch negativity (at N200) levels. Elongated phoneme training and its effectiveness will also be evaluated via electrophysiological changes in children being trained with software that artificially elongates and amplifies the short phonemes of speech. The research design includes an EEG recording before and after training for each subject. Standard peak analysis and newer analytical methods such as principal component analysis (PCA) and independent component analysis (ICA) will be used to analyze the EEG data. Event-related potentials (ERP) for children will be evaluated to identify subjects that could benefit from such training. Finally, the performance of PCA and ICA in extracting ERP characteristics will be evaluated in terms of showing the correspondence between psychometrics and electrophysiology.