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bioRxiv · 10.64898/2026.03.08.710292

Atypical cortical encoding of the low-frequency temporal dynamics of natural speech identifies children with Developmental Language Disorder

Zheng, X.·Araujo, J.·Keshavarzi, M.·Feltham, G.·Richards, S.·Parvez, L.·Goswami, U.
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Abstract

Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) is a neurodevelopmental condition that causes significant difficulties in understanding and using spoken language. Here we use electroencephalography (EEG) recorded during natural speech listening with 9-year-old children to identify dynamic neural processing patterns that characterize children with DLD compared to typically-developing age-matched controls. We applied Principal Components Analysis (PCA) to identify spatial ensembles of channels that represented distinct (uncorrelated) sources of cortical activity, and explored phase-amplitude coupling (PAC) between delta (0.5-4 Hz), theta (4-8 Hz) and low-gamma (25-40 Hz) oscillations. We then isolated EEG common spatial patterns (CSP) that identified children with DLD. The PAC analyses identified the delta band as a key source of group differences, and only delta-low gamma PAC differed significantly between participant groups. The CSP analyses also identified the delta band as a key mechanistic source of group differences. The findings are suggestive of distinct atypical low-frequency neural dynamics during speech encoding for children with DLD, which could be targeted by novel interventions.

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Zheng, X., Araujo, J., Keshavarzi, M., Feltham, G., Richards, S., Parvez, L., Goswami, U.. 2026-03-10. Atypical cortical encoding of the low-frequency temporal dynamics of natural speech identifies children with Developmental Language Disorder. https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.03.08.710292

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