Neural Marker of Habituation at 5 Months of Age Associated with Deferred Imitation Performance at 12 Months: A Longitudinal Study in the UK and The Gambia
Laura Katus,
Bosiljka Milosavljevic,
Maria Rozhko,
Samantha McCann,
Luke Mason,
Ebrima Mbye,
Ebou Touray,
Sophie E. Moore,
Clare E. Elwell,
Sarah Lloyd-Fox,
Michelle de Haan,
The BRIGHT Study Team
Affiliations
Laura Katus
Centre for Family Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3RQ, UK
Bosiljka Milosavljevic
Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK
Maria Rozhko
Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore 639798, Singapore
Samantha McCann
Department of Women and Children’s Health, Kings College London, London SE1 7EH, UK
Luke Mason
Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck College, London WC1E 7HX, UK
Ebrima Mbye
Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keneba P.O. Box 273, The Gambia
Ebou Touray
Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keneba P.O. Box 273, The Gambia
Sophie E. Moore
Department of Women and Children’s Health, Kings College London, London SE1 7EH, UK
Clare E. Elwell
Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK
Sarah Lloyd-Fox
Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK
Michelle de Haan
Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, University College London, London WC1N 1EH, UK
Across cultures, imitation provides a crucial route to learning during infancy. However, neural predictors which would enable early identification of infants at risk of suboptimal developmental outcomes are still rare. In this paper, we examine associations between ERP markers of habituation and novelty detection measured at 1 and 5 months of infant age in the UK (n = 61) and rural Gambia (n = 214) and infants’ responses on a deferred imitation task at 8 and 12 months. In both cohorts, habituation responses at 5 months significantly predicted deferred imitation responses at 12 months of age in both cohorts. Furthermore, ERP habituation responses explained a unique proportion of variance in deferred imitation scores which could not be accounted for by a neurobehavioural measure (Mullen Scales of Early Learning) conducted at 5 months of age. Our findings highlight the potential for ERP markers of habituation and novelty detection measured before 6 months of age to provide insight into later imitation abilities and memory development across diverse settings.
