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Articles, Development/Plasticity/Repair

The Impoverished Brain: Disparities in Maternal Education Affect the Neural Response to Sound

Erika Skoe, Jennifer Krizman and Nina Kraus
Journal of Neuroscience 30 October 2013, 33 (44) 17221-17231; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2102-13.2013
Erika Skoe
1Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory,
3Department of Communication Sciences,
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Jennifer Krizman
1Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory,
2Bilingualism and Psycholinguistics Research Group,
3Department of Communication Sciences,
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Nina Kraus
1Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory,
3Department of Communication Sciences,
4Institute for Neuroscience,
5Department of Neurobiology and Physiology, and
6Department of Otolaryngology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208
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  • Figure 1.
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    Figure 1.

    Adolescents with low maternal education (black) have less consistent auditory brain responses (ABRs) than adolescents with high maternal education (red). A, For the low-MaternalEd group (top) and high-MaternalEd group (bottom), the ABR during the first half of the recording (black/red, respectively) is compared with the response during the second half of the recording (gray). For the high group, the two waveforms align more closely in morphology than for the low group (p = 0.01). B, The average correlation (r value) between the first and second halves of the recording is 0.44 for the low group versus 0.57 for the high group (r = 1, when the two halves are identical). Mean + 1 SEM are plotted.

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    Figure 2.

    Adolescents with lower maternal education (black) have smaller auditory brainstem responses (ABRs) to the speech stimulus than adolescents with higher maternal education (red). A, The speech frequency spectrum is plotted. The band of energy in the 264–656 Hz range corresponds to the first formant of the speech syllable. The first formant carries important phonological information regarding the identity of the speech sound. B, Bottom, The frequency spectrum of the ABR is plotted for the two groups. For the response to the first formant, the average energy is reduced in the low-MaternalEd group compared with the high-MaternalEd group (p = 0.03), suggesting that the speech stimulus is encoded less robustly in the low group. Mean + 1 SEM are plotted for both groups.

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    Figure 3.

    Adolescents with lower maternal education (black) have more spontaneous neural activity than those with higher maternal education (red). A, Neural activity is plotted for each participant in the low-MaternalEd (top) and high-MaternalEd (bottom) groups during the 15 ms of silence preceding each stimulus presentation. Time 0 refers to when the stimulus starts playing. B, The average energy is greater in the low group compared with the high group (p = 0.01). Increased energy during the absence of auditory input is argued to be indicative of greater neural noise.

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    Table 1.

    Distribution of maternal educational achievement within the low-MaternalEd and high-MaternalEd groups

    Maternal educationNumber of participants
    Low-MaternalEd33
        Less than high school diploma6
        High school diploma/GED27
    High-MaternalEd33
        Some college, no degree3
        Vocational degree2
        College degree (level not specified)4
        Associate's degree12
        Bachelor's degree5
        Master's degree6
        Doctoral degree1
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    Table 2.

    The low- and high-MaternalEd groups were matched with respect to age, hearing thresholds (pure tone average for right and left ear), and birth weight

    Low-MaternalEdHigh-MaternalEdtSignificance (two-tailed)
    Age (years)Mean, 14.52; SD, 0.51Mean, 14.58; SD, 0.50−0.490.63
    Hearing thresholds, (dB hearing level)Mean, 6.79; SD, 4.55Mean, 5.55; SD, 4.771.080.28
    Birth weight (lb)aMean, 7.15; SD, 1.22Mean, 7.47; SD, 1.48−0.850.40
    • ↵aInformation not available on 11 participants.

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    Table 3.

    Self-reported age of acquisition and extent of current exposure to English and Spanish for the low-MaternalEd and high-MaternalEd groupsa

    EnglishSpanish
    Age of acquisition (years)Current exposureAge of acquisition (years)Current exposure
    Low-MaternalEd3.13 (SD, 2.35)75.75% (SD, 1.21%)3.28 (SD, 2.42)20.33% (SD, 20.39%)
    High-MaternalEd2.31 (SD, 2.35)81.84% (SD, 1.17%)3.74 (SD, 2.96)14.67% (SD, 17.63%)
    • ↵aLanguage background was assessed using the Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire (LEAP-Q; Marian et al., 2007). The low and high groups did not differ in terms of their current daily exposure to English or Spanish, nor did they differ in the age that English and/or Spanish was acquired. All comparisons, p > 0.05.

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    Table 4.

    Group comparisons for the low- and high-MaternalEd groups on reading and cognitive measuresa

    Low-MaternalEdHigh-MaternalEdFSignificance (two-tailed)Effect size (η2)
    IQMean, 96.36; SD, 8.76Mean, 100.09; SD, 8.523.0710.0840.005
    TOSWRFMean, 97.12; SD, 11.50Mean, 103.06; SD, 11.294.4820.038*0.065
    TOWREMean, 92.03; SD, 12.56Mean, 99.00; SD, 10.535.9650.017*0.085
    Basic ReadingMean, 95.21; SD, 7.39Mean, 100.97; SD, 9.237.8300.007*0.109
    SpellingMean, 103.06; SD, 7.84Mean, 106.67; SD, 10.092.6300.1100.04
    Working Memory
        Numbers ReversedMean, 95.82; SD, 11.38Mean, 99.27; SD, 10.791.6010.2100.024
        Auditory Working MemoryMean, 100.55; SD, 9.71Mean, 106.76; SD, 10.476.2440.015*0.090
    • ↵aTests are reported as age-normed standard scores with 100 corresponding to 50th percentile.

    • ↵*p < 0.05.

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    Table 5.

    Correlations among brainstem, cognitive, and years of maternal education variablesa

    Response ConsistencySpeech EncodingSpontaneous ActivityIQTOSWRFTOWREBasic ReadingSpellingDigits ReversedAuditory Working MemoryYears of maternal education (n = 46)
    Response Consistency0.718**−0.445**0.0690.0090.1070.0710.1530.127−0.0310.430**
    Speech Encoding0.718**−0.093−0.051−0.0030.1080.0110.0010.1540.0220.336*
    Spontaneous Activity−0.445**−0.093−0.046−0.1190.045−0.075−0.175−0.0730.012−0.24
    IQ0.069−0.051−0.0460.2190.346**0.512**0.399**0.293*0.374**−0.053
    TOSWRF0.009−0.003−0.1190.2190.432**0.380**0.433**0.0060.1560.022
    TOWRE0.1070.1080.0450.346**0.432**0.699**0.641**0.1510.265*0.047
    Basic Reading0.0710.011−0.0750.512**0.380**0.699**0.743**0.248*0.399**0.133
    Spelling0.1530.001−0.1750.399**0.433**0.641**0.743**0.1550.350**0.063
    Digits Reversed0.1270.154−0.0730.293*0.0060.1510.248*0.1550.608**0.026
    Auditory Working Memory−0.0310.0220.0120.374**0.1560.265*0.399**0.350**0.608**−0.074
    Years of maternal education0.430**0.336*−0.24−0.0530.0220.0470.1330.0630.026−0.074
    • ↵aComparisons with years of maternal education was performed on a subset of the group (n = 46). All other comparisons included the full dataset (n = 66).

    • ↵*p < 0.05;

    • ↵**p < 0.01.

    • View popup
    Table 6.

    Binary logistic regression

    Independent variable(s)Standardized regression coefficientsOverall model, χ2Correct classification (%)
    Low-MaternalEdHigh-MaternalEdTotal
    Model 1aResponse ConsistencyB = −0.130, SE = 2.085, p = 0.950
    Speech EncodingB = 121.576, SE = 88.739, p = 0.171
    Spontaneous ActivityB = −66.152, SE = 34.298, p = 0.054
    Combinedχ2(3) = 10.905, p = 0.01260.669.765.2
    Model 2aBrainstem*: Response ConsistencyB = 3.553, SE = 1.409, p = 0.019
    Reading: Test of Sight Word ReadingB = 0.047, SE = 0.026, p = 0.067
    Working memory*: Auditory Working MemoryB = 0.070, SE = 0.031, p = 0.022
    Combinedχ2(3) = 17.118, p = 0.00178.872.775.8
    Model 3aBrainstem*: Response ConsistencyB = 3.683, SE = 1.464, p = 0.012
    Reading∼: Test of Sight Word ReadingB = 0.047, SE = 0.027, p = 0.082
    Working memory*: Auditory Working MemoryB = 0.069, SE = 0.032, p = 0.029
    Hearing threshold: pure tone averages for left and right earB = −0.034, SE = 0.072, p = 0.966
    English exposure: current exposure to EnglishB = 0.018, SE = 0.015, p = 0.225
    Combinedχ2(5) = 18.926, p = 0.002807577.4
    • ↵aDependent variable: maternal education category. ∼ p <0.1;

    • ↵* p <0.05

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The Journal of Neuroscience: 33 (44)
Journal of Neuroscience
Vol. 33, Issue 44
30 Oct 2013
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The Impoverished Brain: Disparities in Maternal Education Affect the Neural Response to Sound
Erika Skoe, Jennifer Krizman, Nina Kraus
Journal of Neuroscience 30 October 2013, 33 (44) 17221-17231; DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2102-13.2013

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The Impoverished Brain: Disparities in Maternal Education Affect the Neural Response to Sound
Erika Skoe, Jennifer Krizman, Nina Kraus
Journal of Neuroscience 30 October 2013, 33 (44) 17221-17231; DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2102-13.2013
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