OBJECTIVE Language experience can develop long-term memory traces for speech units in the brain, to ensure efficient processing of speech sounds. However, prelingually deafened children lack sufficient auditory input before cochlear implantation. Whether the experience-dependent long-term memory traces exist in prelingually deafened children with cochlear implants (CIs) remains unclear. METHODS We presented CI and normal hearing (NH) children with Mandarin Chinese spoken disyllables in an oddball paradigm and recorded event-related potentials. Each disyllable was defined as a meaningful word or a meaningless pseudoword by the tonal information in the second syllable. RESULTS The amplitude of mismatch negativity (MMN) elicited by words was larger than that elicited by pseudowords in NH children. However, this enhancement of the MMN amplitude was not found in CI children. Behavioral results showed later recognition points for words and lower accuracies for speech comprehension in CI children than in NH children. Furthermore, increased theta power for words compared with pseudowords was only found in NH children. CONCLUSIONS Our findings indicate a deficit of long-term memory traces for words in prelingually deafened children with cochlear implants. SIGNIFICANCE Early speech input may be crucial to the formation of long-term memory traces for speech units.

中文翻译：

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人工耳蜗植入儿童单词的长期记忆痕迹缺失

目的语言体验可以为大脑中的语音单元开发长期记忆痕迹，以确保对语音的有效处理。然而，语言前聋儿童在人工耳蜗植入前缺乏足够的听觉输入。使用人工耳蜗 (CI) 的语前耳聋儿童是否存在依赖于经验的长期记忆痕迹仍不清楚。方法 我们以奇怪的范式向 CI 和正常听力 (NH) 儿童展示普通话双音节，并记录事件相关电位。每个双音节被第二个音节中的声调信息定义为有意义的词或无意义的伪词。结果 NH儿童单词引起的错配负性（MMN）幅度大于伪词引起的幅度。然而，在 CI 儿童中没有发现这种 MMN 振幅的增强。行为结果显示，CI 儿童的单词识别点晚，语音理解的准确率低于 NH 儿童。此外，仅在 NH 儿童中发现与伪词相比，词的 theta 功率增加。结论 我们的研究结果表明，在植入人工耳蜗的语前耳聋儿童中，单词的长期记忆痕迹存在缺陷。意义 早期语音输入对于语音单元的长期记忆痕迹的形成可能是至关重要的。结论 我们的研究结果表明，在植入人工耳蜗的语前耳聋儿童中，单词的长期记忆痕迹存在缺陷。意义 早期语音输入对于语音单元的长期记忆痕迹的形成可能是至关重要的。结论 我们的研究结果表明，在植入人工耳蜗的语前耳聋儿童中，单词的长期记忆痕迹存在缺陷。意义 早期语音输入对于语音单元的长期记忆痕迹的形成可能是至关重要的。