Infants at high and low likelihood for autism show different EEG developmental trajectories in speech tracking and statistical learning.

Infants at high likelihood for autism show reduced neural speech tracking and altered statistical learning trajectories, with significant implications for early diagnosis.

• Why it matters: Understanding neural mechanisms of language development in autism can improve early detection and intervention, addressing delays in babbling and speech onset common in affected infants.
• What they did: Researchers recorded 83 longitudinal EEGs from 44 infants aged 2.5 to 22.6 months, analyzing speech tracking at syllable and word levels, and assessed verbal outcomes at 20 months.
• The result: High-likelihood infants exhibited decreased syllable-level tracking linked to language outcomes and reduced novelty responses during word recognition, highlighting disrupted speech processing pathways.