# Administrative Supplement for Continuity of Biomedical and Behavioral Research Among First-Time Recipients of NIH Research Project Grant Awards

> **NIH NIH R00** · UNIV OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK · 2024 · $97,594

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Children’s socioeconomic status (SES) is strongly associated with disparities in cognitive, linguistic, and
academic development. Understanding the precise environmental and neurodevelopmental mechanisms that
underlie these disparities is critical for developing maximally impactful interventions to reduce and ultimately
ameliorate achievement gaps. This proposal will test an innovative developmental model in which specific
features of children’s early language input engage the development of cascading frontotemporal neural
networks that ultimately scaffold multiple aspects of social-cognitive development, including children’s
language abilities as well as executive functioning and social cognition—critical school readiness skills that are
known to contribute to SES achievement gaps in school. The proposed research will leverage multimodal
assessments of children’s environments (real-world auditory language exposure and lab-based video-coding of
parent-child interaction) and brain development (MRI measures of structural brain development, and fNIRS
measures of brain function during domain-specific cognitive tasks) longitudinally across the preschool years
(ages 3;0-4;11 years) to address three specific aims. Aim 1 will investigate the how three dimensions of early
language experience (linguistic, social/interactive, and conceptual) influence structural and functional brain
development underlying receptive and expressive language development. Aim 2 will extend this investigation
beyond the language domain and evaluate whether these dimensions of language experience partially explain
SES-related differences in executive functioning and social cognition, either directly or indirectly through
developing language skills. Finally, Aim 3 will examine whether input-driven, longitudinal development of
frontotemporal language-related brain networks also scaffold the development of neural circuitry underlying the
emergence of executive functioning and social cognition. Results will help identify the precise components of
early language experience that drive development across multiple neurocognitive domains, and will help
determine the mechanisms by which exposures to specific social and environmental factors affect neural and
cognitive plasticity during a critical period of brain development. By identifying the most impactful, malleable
environmental factors that shape early neurocognitive development, this work has direct translational
implications to inform the development of interventions to ameliorate income-related achievement gaps.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11082861
- **Project number:** 3R00HD103873-04S2
- **Recipient organization:** UNIV OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK
- **Principal Investigator:** Rachel R. Romeo
- **Activity code:** R00 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $97,594
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2024-06-06 → 2026-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11082861

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11082861, Administrative Supplement for Continuity of Biomedical and Behavioral Research Among First-Time Recipients of NIH Research Project Grant Awards (3R00HD103873-04S2). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11082861. Licensed CC0.

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