Meredith Pecukonis, Ph.D.
mpecukonis@mgh.harvard.edu
Research
My research focuses on studying the neurobiological and developmental mechanisms that contribute to individual differences in language abilities across neurotypical and neurodiverse populations. I employ a variety of methods, including neuropsychological assessments, natural language sampling, and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS).
I conduct high impact, interdisciplinary research with the following goals:
1. Characterize the neural bases of language processing and social cognition during live social interactions in neurotypical and autistic children.
My research has demonstrated that the brains of autistic children process language differently than the brains of neurotypical children, and that these differences in brain function influence children’s language development. In one study, I examined the neural bases of language processing in infants at low likelihood and elevated likelihood for autism based on family history. Through this work, I found that low likelihood infants showed greater activation than elevated likelihood infants in bilateral frontal and temporal regions of the brain when listening to speech sounds. Also, left-lateralized activation at 6 months positively predicted language abilities at 24 months. This was one of the first studies to demonstrate that brain response to language measured during the first year of life predicts children’s language abilities later in development.
My research has also shown that the brains of autistic and neurotypical children function differently during live social interactions. Most neuroimaging studies to date have measured children’s brain response to photos, videos, and audio recordings in social isolation, and thus little is known about how the developing brain processes language and other socially relevant information when children are interacting with a live social partner. To address this gap in the literature, I led a study investigating how the brains of neurotypical and autistic preschoolers function during live social interactions. I measured children’s brain activity while they listened to a story read by a live experimenter (shared book reading condition) versus a story played via an audio recording (control condition). Results showed that in neurotypical children, activation in the right temporal parietal junction (TPJ), a region of the brain involved in social cognition (i.e., joint attention, theory of mind), was greater during the shared book reading condition than the control condition. This differential brain response, however, was not found in autistic children. Together these findings suggest that neurotypical and autistic children engage in different social cognitive processes during live social interactions. This study was the first to establish that live social interaction modulates brain function in neurotypical children, but not in autistic children. Results also showed that children with greater right TPJ activation during the shared book reading condition had stronger language abilities, demonstrating that variability in brain function during live social interactions may help to explain individual differences in children’s language abilities.
2. Identify the environmental predictors of language abilities in autistic children.
Much of the research on language development in autism has focused on identifying predictors of language abilities that are internal, rather than external, to the child, such as their neurobiology, cognition, and behavior. In studying these internal factors, I have found that non-verbal cognitive skills and social communication behaviors (i.e., play, imitation, and gesture skills) are significant predictors of autistic children’s language abilities. While this work provided important insights into the developmental mechanisms shaping language development in autism, I became increasingly interested in exploring whether external, environmental factors also played a role in autistic children’s language development. Therefore, I established a new area of research to determine whether socioeconomic status (SES) and the home language and literacy environment were significant predictors of language abilities in autism. I conducted a series of studies showing that SES is a positive predictor of language abilities in autistic children and infants at elevated likelihood for autism. Findings from these studies indicate that autistic children from lower SES households are more likely to experience language delays, and may therefore need additional and/or different types of clinical services to support their language development.
I have also studied how more proximal environmental factors, such as the home language and literacy environment, impact language development in autism. In one study, I used natural language sampling to characterize the quantity and quality of language produced by parents of autistic children during remote/home-based parent-child interactions. I found that autistic children whose parents used longer utterances during parent-child interactions had stronger language abilities. In another study, I discovered that autistic preschoolers who experienced more frequency and higher quality shared book reading practices at home had stronger language abilities. Together these findings show that variability in parent language input and shared book reading practices contribute to individual differences in language abilities across the autism spectrum. Clinically, findings from these studies propose that autistic children may benefit from interventions that improve the quality of parent language input and the frequency and quality of shared book reading practices at home.
In my future research, I will:
1. Continue to advance our scientific understanding of how the brains of neurotypical and neurodiverse individuals function during live social interactions throughout different developmental periods, including early childhood and emerging adulthood.
2. Actively bridge my two areas of research by studying how distal and proximal environmental factors influence both language and brain development in neurotypical and autistic children.
My research is guided by Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Model, which argues that development is influenced by bi-directional interactions that occur between the child and a series of nested, interconnected environmental systems that surround them, from the macrosystem (distal factors within broader society; e.g., SES) to the microsystem (proximal factors within the immediate environment; e.g., home language and literacy environment). The overarching goal of my research program is to understand how distal and proximal environmental factors interact to shape both language and brain development in neurotypical and neurodiverse populations.
Publications:
Peer-Reviewed Manuscripts:
Book Chapters:
Pecukonis, M., Gaynor, C., Butler, L.K., & Tager-Flusberg, H. (in press). Neural Foundations of Language in Autism Spectrum Disorder. In E. Andrews & S. Kiran (Eds.), Cambridge Handbook of Language and the Brain. Cambridge University Press.
Manuscripts Under Review:
Thom, R., Renzi, D., Pecukonis, M., Mullett, J., Ravichandran, C., & McDougle, C. (under review). An Open-label Study of Buspirone for the Treatment of Anxiety in Williams Syndrome. Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology.
Manuscripts In Preparation:
Pecukonis, M., Yücel, M.A., Boas, D.A., & Tager-Flusberg, H. (in prep). Functional connectivity during parent-child shared book reading.
Geffin, A., & Pecukonis, M. (in prep). Associations between SES, shared book reading, screen time, and language in autism – A study of the National Survey of Children’s Health.
Pecukonis, M., Townsend, P., Sarnie, L., Birtwell, K., Mody, M., & McDougle, C., & Nowinski, L. (in prep). Predictors of expressive and receptive vocabulary abilities in minimally verbal autistic adults.
Pecukonis, M., Ferre, C., Perkins, G., Zhang, F., Barreto, C., Wijeakumar, S., Siddiqui, M., Highton, D., Varma, H., Durduran, T., & Hirsch, J. (in prep). Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion – Results from a diversity, equity, and inclusion survey of the SfNIRS community.