Prenatal Volume in the Bilateral Superior Temporal Gyrus Associates With Children's Expressive Vocabulary at 24–36 Months

GW) and their association with English children's language skills, obtained longitudinally at two postnatal assessment points (n = 24 and n = 25) was examined. Prenatal bilateral STG volume was found to be associated with expressive vocabulary 2-3 years after birth (M = 139.1 weeks), as measured by the Communicative Development Inventory (CDI). These results highlight the relevance of prenatal brain development for language acquisition after birth. SUMMARY: Postnatal structural characteristics of neural language network, including IFG and STG, are known to be related to language skills in children and adults Structural characteristics of IFG and STG were assessed prenatally in this study and related to language outcomes in early childhood Bilateral STG volume at birth predicts vocabulary scores 2-3 years later Findings support the importance of prenatal brain development for postnatal language acquisition.

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Publication Details

Journal
Developmental Science
Published
2026-04-11
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.70187
Primary Topic
Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Prenatal Volume in the Bilateral Superior Temporal Gyrus Associates With Children's Expressive Vocabulary at 24–36 Months

Gesa Schaadt, John Suckling, Sarah Hampton, Simon Baron‐Cohen et al.
Developmental Science
Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
article

Prenatal Volume in the Bilateral Superior Temporal Gyrus Associates With Children's Expressive Vocabulary at 24–36 Months

Gesa Schaadt, John Suckling, Sarah Hampton, Simon Baron‐Cohen, Roger Tait, Topun Austin, Annika Werwach, Luca M. Villa, Alex Tsompanidis, Rosie Holt, Carrie Allison
article en

Abstract

GW) and their association with English children's language skills, obtained longitudinally at two postnatal assessment points (n = 24 and n = 25) was examined. Prenatal bilateral STG volume was found to be associated with expressive vocabulary 2-3 years after birth (M = 139.1 weeks), as measured by the Communicative Development Inventory (CDI). These results highlight the relevance of prenatal brain development for language acquisition after birth. SUMMARY: Postnatal structural characteristics of neural language network, including IFG and STG, are known to be related to language skills in children and adults Structural characteristics of IFG and STG were assessed prenatally in this study and related to language outcomes in early childhood Bilateral STG volume at birth predicts vocabulary scores 2-3 years later Findings support the importance of prenatal brain development for postnatal language acquisition.

Developmental ScienceVol. 29(3)
University of Cambridge (GB), Rosie Hospital (GB), Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (GB), Bridge University (SS), Max Planck Institute for Human Development (DE), Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences (DE), University College London (GB), University of York (GB), Freie Universität Berlin (DE)
Wellcome Trust, Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative, NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre
Quality Education
Openalex Percentile: Top 32%
Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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