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Title: The influence of infant diet on early developmental changes in processing human voice speech stimuli: ERP variations in breast and milk formula-fed infants at three and six months after birth

Author
item PIVIK, RUDOLPH - ACNC/UALR
item DYKMAN, ROSCOE - UNIV OF LOUISVILLE
item JING, HONGKUI - ACNC/UAMS
item Gilchrist, Janet
item BADGER, THOMAS - ACNC/UAMS

Submitted to: Developmental Neuropsychology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/15/2007
Publication Date: 6/15/2007
Citation: Pivik, R.T., Dykman, R.A., Jing, H., Gilchrist, J.M., Badger, T.M. 2007. The influence of infant diet on early developmental changes in processing human voice speech stimuli: ERP variations in breast and milk formula-fed infants at three and six months after birth. Developmental Neuropsychology. 31(3):279-335.

Interpretive Summary: This is a report based on our long-term study that examines the effects of infant diet on brain development, brain function, and behavior. This is a longitudinal, prospective observational study of several hundred infants and follows them over many years. This report is on a small subgroup of infants fed either by breast feeding or milk-base formula. We studied brain responses to speech sounds at age 3 and 6 months. Feeding groups were alike in terms of gestation, mother's IQ, family socioeconomic status, and showed similar mental and motor skills at both test times. The groups showed many similarities in brain responses to speech sounds at these ages, but there were diet-related differences. These differences suggest advantages for BF infants in the processing of language sounds during the first 6 months of life, as compared with milk-based formula. These are early results, and we need more data to confirm these findings.

Technical Abstract: The purpose of this investigation was to determine if processing of language stimuli during the first half year of life in breast-fed infants differs from that of formula-fed infants. This question was addressed by examining the brain event-related potentials of healthy infants receiving breast milk (n = 15) or milk-based formula (n= 18) recorded in response to consonant vowel syllables presented in an oddball paradigm. The same infants were studied when they were 3 months and 6 months old. The two groups were comparable on several measures relating to biological and home environment variables previously reported to influence development, including gestation period, birth weight, mother's IQ and family socioeconomic status, and did not differ in weight or mental or motor development at the times of the visits. In general, ERP response features previously documented in studies of syllable processing in 3- to 6-month-old infants were observed in this study, including an positive components at approx. 190 ms (P1), approx. 370 ms (P2), and approx. 600 ms (P600), and negative components at approx. 250 ms (N250), approx. 450 ms (N450), and a late, negative going slow wave between 655 and 995 ms (LSW). For both groups there were instances where specific components were either poorly defined, e.g., P1 and N250 to the infrequent syllable at 3 months, N450 and P600 to/this syllable at both ages, or not present in many infants, e.g., the P600 to the frequent syllable at 6 months. These variations appeared to be related to individual differences in development or paradigm-related features, i.e., ISI and frequency of syllable occurrence. Developmental variations (changes from 3 to 6 months) common to both feeding groups included latency decreases for P1, decreased P2 amplitude, and increased amplitudes for N250 and LSW components. Within this framework, group differences were detected in areas involving the development of response components, the development of processing capabilities, and syllable discrimination. In all cases, these effects related to components following initial stimulus registration, i.e., to the processing of sound content rather than sound acoustic features. The pattern of these differences suggests advantages for BF infants in the development and processing of language stimuli during the first 6 months of life.