HOW LANGUAGE AND SOCIAL STATUS CHANGE THE DEVELOPING BRAIN

The brain requires sensory experiences to grow properly, such as exposure to language. Research shows that a child's early environment and socioeconomic status (SES) impact their language development and processing skills. New research finds that higher levels of adult-child interaction and exposure to language were associated with increased myelin concentration in language-related white matter tracts.

Brain development is a highly complex process that is strongly influenced by the environment in which a child is raised, with the earliest years of life being especially important for the emergence of language and other cognitive abilities. The brain needs sensory experiences to grow properly, and the richness of a child's surroundings is an important determinant of their neurodevelopmental trajectory.