Distinct experience-dependent reorganization of rhythmic syllable tracking in 6-month-old term and preterm infants
- 1University of Geneva
Abstract
Preterm birth is associated with an increased risk of later language difficulties, yet whether and how prematurity alters the brain's ability to track the rhythmic structure of speech has remained understudied. Using EEG, we tracked neural entrainment to delta- and theta-rate syllable sequences produced by the infant's mother or an unfamiliar speaker in term and preterm 6-month-old infants, modeling how oscillatory responses evolved over the course of a testing session. Term infants progressively strengthened frequency-matched delta tuning over bilateral frontal regions; preterm infants did not. This divergence took two distinct forms: a change in frequency selectivity over left frontal channels, where term infants sharpened and preterm infants blurred, and a shift in band weighting in other regions. The frontal delta difference emerged only for the unfamiliar speaker. Preterm birth thus alters how frequency-specific tuning is refined during exposure, identifying a candidate neural pathway with implications for early language learning.
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BibTeX
@misc{rambosson2026distinct,
title = {{Distinct experience-dependent reorganization of rhythmic syllable tracking in 6-month-old term and preterm infants}},
author = {I. Rambosson and D. Benis and F. Barcos-Munoz and C. Kabdebon and L. Ceravolo and D. Grandjean and M. Filippa},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.23.753806},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.23.753806v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Distinct experience-dependent reorganization of rhythmic syllable tracking in 6-month-old term and preterm infants
AU - I. Rambosson
AU - D. Benis
AU - F. Barcos-Munoz
AU - C. Kabdebon
AU - L. Ceravolo
AU - D. Grandjean
AU - M. Filippa
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/23
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.23.753806
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.23.753806v1
AB - Preterm birth is associated with an increased risk of later language difficulties, yet whether and how prematurity alters the brain's ability to track the rhythmic structure of speech has remained understudied. Using EEG, we tracked neural entrainment to delta- and theta-rate syllable sequences produced by the infant's mother or an unfamiliar speaker in term and preterm 6-month-old infants, modeling how oscillatory responses evolved over the course of a testing session. Term infants progressively strengthened frequency-matched delta tuning over bilateral frontal regions; preterm infants did not. This divergence took two distinct forms: a change in frequency selectivity over left frontal channels, where term infants sharpened and preterm infants blurred, and a shift in band weighting in other regions. The frontal delta difference emerged only for the unfamiliar speaker. Preterm birth thus alters how frequency-specific tuning is refined during exposure, identifying a candidate neural pathway with implications for early language learning.
ER -