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Farah R, Shchupak G, Holland S, Hutton J, Dudley J, DiFrancesco M, Altaye M, Horowitz-Kraus T. A greater modulation of the visual and fronto-parietal networks for children in a post-media versus pre-media exposure group. Acta Paediatr 2024; 113:1876-1883. [PMID: 38773283 DOI: 10.1111/apa.17276] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2023] [Revised: 05/02/2024] [Accepted: 05/07/2024] [Indexed: 05/23/2024]
Abstract
AIM Media use in children has exploded in the past several decades, most recently fuelled by portable electronic devices. This study aims to explore differences in functional brain connectivity in children during a story-listening functional MRI (fMRI) task using data collected before (1998) and after (2013) the widespread adoption of media. METHODS Cross-sectional data were collected from English-speaking 5- to 7-year-old children at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, USA, of a functional MRI narrative comprehension task completed in 1998 (n = 22) or 2013 (n = 25). Imaging data were processed using a graph theory approach, focusing on executive functions, language and visual processing networks supporting reading. RESULTS Group differences suggest more efficient processing in the fronto-parietal network in the pre-media group while listening to stories. A modulation of the visual and fronto-parietal networks for the post-media exposure group was found. CONCLUSION Further studies are needed to assess effects over time in the more exposed group to discern a causal effect of portable devices on cognitive networks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rola Farah
- Educational Neuroimaging Group, Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, Technion, Haifa, Israel
| | - George Shchupak
- Educational Neuroimaging Group, Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, Technion, Haifa, Israel
| | | | - John Hutton
- Reading and Literacy Discovery Center, General and Community Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
| | - Jonathan Dudley
- Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
| | - Mark DiFrancesco
- Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
| | - Mekibib Altaye
- Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
| | - Tzipi Horowitz-Kraus
- Educational Neuroimaging Group, Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, Technion, Haifa, Israel
- Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
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2
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Appel M, Hasin D, Farah R, Horowitz-Kraus T. Greater utilization of executive functions networks when listening to stories with visual stimulation is related to lower reading abilities in children. Brain Cogn 2024; 177:106161. [PMID: 38696928 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2024.106161] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2023] [Revised: 03/31/2024] [Accepted: 04/16/2024] [Indexed: 05/04/2024]
Abstract
Narrative comprehension relies on basic sensory processing abilities, such as visual and auditory processing, with recent evidence for utilizing executive functions (EF), which are also engaged during reading. EF was previously related to the "supporter" of engaging the auditory and visual modalities in different cognitive tasks, with evidence of lower efficiency in this process among those with reading difficulties in the absence of a visual stimulus (i.e. while listening to stories). The current study aims to fill out the gap related to the level of reliance on these neural circuits while visual aids (pictures) are involved during story listening in relation to reading skills. Functional MRI data were collected from 44 Hebrew-speaking children aged 8-12 years while listening to stories with vs without visual stimuli (i.e., pictures). Functional connectivity of networks supporting reading was defined in each condition and compared between the conditions against behavioral reading measures. Lower reading skills were related to greater functional connectivity values between EF networks (default mode and memory networks), and between the auditory and memory networks for the stories with vs without the visual stimulation. A greater difference in functional connectivity between the conditions was related to lower reading scores. We conclude that lower reading skills in children may be related to a need for greater scaffolding, i.e., visual stimulation such as pictures describing the narratives when listening to stories, which may guide future intervention approaches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michal Appel
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Technion - IIT, Haifa, Israel
| | - Daria Hasin
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Technion - IIT, Haifa, Israel
| | - Rola Farah
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Technion - IIT, Haifa, Israel; Educational Neuroimaging Group, Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, Technion - IIT, Haifa, Israel
| | - Tzipi Horowitz-Kraus
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Technion - IIT, Haifa, Israel; Educational Neuroimaging Group, Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, Technion - IIT, Haifa, Israel.
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Striftou A, Zygouris NC, Vlachos F, Patrikelis P, Messinis L. The effectiveness of a reading and cognitive task-based Web delivered intervention program for children with reading difficulties. APPLIED NEUROPSYCHOLOGY. CHILD 2024:1-12. [PMID: 38340140 DOI: 10.1080/21622965.2024.2313637] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/12/2024]
Abstract
The present study aimed to investigate the improvement of reading ability and cognitive performance of children with reading difficulties through a Web application named "Poke the Reading Ability" (PtRA). PtRA is designed to assist the intervention of reading difficulties in Greek, a language that is more transparent than English. Sixty (60) children between nine (9) to twelve (12) years old (mean age 10.18 years). The baseline assessment consisted of two batteries of reading and cognitive abilities tests. Test-A, a Greek standardized psychometric tool and Askisi, a newly developed neuropsychological battery of tests are adopted to assess reading and cognitive performance. Both tools, were used in order to screen children's reading and cognitive performance before and after implementing the PtRA. The PtRA Web intervention consists of (a) tasks that focus on improving visual and auditory working memory, (b) tasks that improve phonological awareness and decoding, (c) tasks that are adopted to strengthen visual discrimination ability and (d) tasks that improve reading comprehension ability. Following the Web delivered intervention program the results revealed that the reading and cognitive abilities of children with reading difficulties were statistically significant improved in all 9 reading and all 3 cognitive abilities tasks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aikaterini Striftou
- Laboratory of Digital Neuropsychological Assessment, Department of Informatics and Telecommunications, University of Thessaly, Lamia, Greece
| | - Nikolaos C Zygouris
- Laboratory of Digital Neuropsychological Assessment, Department of Informatics and Telecommunications, University of Thessaly, Lamia, Greece
| | - Filippos Vlachos
- Department of Special Education, University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece
| | - Panayiotis Patrikelis
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - Lambros Messinis
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
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Horowitz-Kraus T, Meri R, Holland SK, Farah R, Rohana T, Haj N. Language First, Cognition Later: Different Trajectories of Subcomponents of the Future-Reading Network in Processing Narratives from Kindergarten to Adolescence. Brain Connect 2024; 14:60-69. [PMID: 38265789 PMCID: PMC10890959 DOI: 10.1089/brain.2023.0012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Narrative comprehension is a linguistic ability that emerges early in life and has a critical role in language development, reading acquisition, and comprehension. According to the Simple View of Reading model, reading is acquired through word decoding and linguistic comprehension. Here, within and between networks, functional connectivity in several brain networks supporting both language and reading abilities was examined from prereading to proficient reading age in 32 healthy children, ages 5-18 years, scanned annually while listening to stories over 12 years. Functional connectivity changes within and between the networks were assessed and compared between the years using hierarchical linear regression and were related to reading abilities. At prereading age, the networks related to basic language processing accounted for 32.5% of the variation of reading ability at reading age (at 12-14 years) (R2 = 0.325, p = 0.05). At age 17, more complex cognitive networks were involved and accounted for 97.4% of the variation in reading ability (R2 = 0.974, p = 0.022). Overall, networks composing the future-reading network are highly involved in processing narratives along development; however, networks related to semantic, phonological, and syntactic processing predict reading ability earlier in life, and more complex networks predict reading proficiency later in life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tzipi Horowitz-Kraus
- Educational Neuroimaging Group, Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
- Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
- Department of Neuropsychology, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
| | - Raya Meri
- Educational Neuroimaging Group, Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
| | | | - Rola Farah
- Educational Neuroimaging Group, Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
| | - Tamara Rohana
- Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
| | - Narmeen Haj
- Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
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5
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Greenwood P, Hutton J, Dudley J, DiFrancesco M, Farah R, Altaye M, Horowitz-Kraus T. Maternal education as an environmental factor related to reading in children with reading difficulties: A functional magnetic resonance imaging study. DYSLEXIA (CHICHESTER, ENGLAND) 2023; 29:217-234. [PMID: 37264693 DOI: 10.1002/dys.1744] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2022] [Revised: 04/29/2023] [Accepted: 05/18/2023] [Indexed: 06/03/2023]
Abstract
The expanded simple view of reading (SVR) model suggests that word decoding, language comprehension and executive functions are necessary for reading comprehension. Children with reading difficulties (RDs) often have deficits in critical components of reading established in the expanded SVR model and alterations in brain function of reading-related regions. Maternal education could provide children with advantageous educational opportunities or resources that support reading acquisition. The primary goal of this study was to examine the contributions of maternal education to the behavioural and neurobiological correlates of the expanded SVR model. Seventy-two 8- to 12-year-old children with RDs and typical readers (TRs) completed reading, behavioural and an functional magnetic resonance imaging stories-listening task to determine the functional connectivity of the receptive language network to the whole brain in association with maternal education. Higher maternal education was associated with better vocabulary in children with RDs and positive functional connectivity between the receptive language network and regions related to visual processing in children with RDs versus TRs. These data suggest that maternal education supports the ability to comprehend oral language and engagement of neural networks that support imagination/visualization in children with RDs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paige Greenwood
- Reading and Literacy Discovery Center, Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium, Imaging Research Center, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
| | - John Hutton
- Reading and Literacy Discovery Center, Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium, Imaging Research Center, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
| | - Jonathan Dudley
- Reading and Literacy Discovery Center, Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium, Imaging Research Center, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
| | - Mark DiFrancesco
- Reading and Literacy Discovery Center, Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium, Imaging Research Center, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
- Department of Radiology, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
| | - Rola Farah
- Educational Neuroimaging Group, Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
| | - Mekibib Altaye
- Reading and Literacy Discovery Center, Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium, Imaging Research Center, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
| | - Tzipi Horowitz-Kraus
- Educational Neuroimaging Group, Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
- Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
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6
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Feng G, Yan X, Shen L, Perkins K, Mao J, Wu Y, Shi L, Cao F. Distinct neural correlates of poor decoding and poor comprehension in children with reading disability. Cereb Cortex 2023; 33:3239-3254. [PMID: 35848850 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac272] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2022] [Revised: 06/09/2022] [Accepted: 06/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Reading disability (RD) can manifest itself as a word decoding problem or a reading comprehension problem. In the current study, we identified 3 subtypes of RD: poor decoders (PD), poor comprehenders (PC), and poor-in-both (PB). We found that PD had greater deficits in meta-linguistic skills such as phonological awareness, orthographic skills, and morphological skills than PC, whereas PC had greater deficits in listening comprehension than PD. In the brain, we also found different patterns of deficits during an auditory rhyming judgment task using functional magnetic resonance imaging. PD showed less activation than PC and age controls in the left dorsal inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and pre-supplementary motor area (SMA), brain activation of which was correlated with phonological awareness and working memory. In contrast, PC showed less activation in the left fusiform gyrus than PD and age controls, which was correlated with reading comprehension fluency and morphological skill. Last, PB showed both PD's and PC's deficits, as well as additional deficits in the bilateral lingual gyri. Our findings contribute to revealing different neural signatures of poor decoding and poor comprehension, which are distinct disorders but co-occur very often. These findings implicate possibility and necessity of precise diagnosis and individualized intervention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guoyan Feng
- Department of Psychology, Sun Yat-Sen University, 132 East Outer Ring Road, University Town, Panyu Ddiatrict, Guangzhou, 510006, China
- School of Management, Guangzhou Xinhua University, 19 Huamei Road, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, 510520, China
| | - Xiaohui Yan
- School of Education Science, Xinyang Normal University, 237 Nanhu Road, Xinyang, 464000, China
| | - Linling Shen
- Department of Psychology, Sun Yat-Sen University, 132 East Outer Ring Road, University Town, Panyu Ddiatrict, Guangzhou, 510006, China
| | - Kyle Perkins
- Department of Teaching and Learning, College of Arts, Sciences and Education, Florida International University (retired professor), Miami, FL 33199, USA
| | - Jiaqi Mao
- Department of Psychology, Sun Yat-Sen University, 132 East Outer Ring Road, University Town, Panyu Ddiatrict, Guangzhou, 510006, China
| | - Yu Wu
- Department of Psychology, Sun Yat-Sen University, 132 East Outer Ring Road, University Town, Panyu Ddiatrict, Guangzhou, 510006, China
| | - Liping Shi
- Department of Psychology, Sun Yat-Sen University, 132 East Outer Ring Road, University Town, Panyu Ddiatrict, Guangzhou, 510006, China
| | - Fan Cao
- Department of Psychology, the University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, China
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7
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Zivan M, Vaknin S, Peleg N, Ackerman R, Horowitz-Kraus T. Higher theta-beta ratio during screen-based vs. printed paper is related to lower attention in children: An EEG study. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0283863. [PMID: 37200288 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0283863] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2022] [Accepted: 03/17/2023] [Indexed: 05/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Reading is considered a non-intuitive, cognitively demanding ability requiring synchronization between several neural networks supporting visual, language processing and higher-order abilities. With the involvement of technology in our everyday life, reading from a screen has become widely used. Several studies point to challenges in processing written materials from the screen due to changes in attention allocation when reading from a screen compared to reading from a printed paper. The current study examined the differences in brain activation when reading from a screen compared to reading from a printed paper focusing on spectral power related to attention in fifteen 6-8-year-old children. Using an electroencephalogram, children read two different age-appropriate texts, without illustrations, presented randomly on the screen and on a printed paper. Data were analyzed using spectral analyses in brain regions related to language, visual processing, and cognitive control, focusing on theta vs. beta waveforms. Results indicated that while reading from a printed paper was accompanied by higher energy in high-frequency bands (beta, gamma), reading from the screen was manifested by a higher power in the lower frequency bands (alpha, theta). Higher theta compared to the beta ratio, representing challenges in allocating attention to a given task, was found for the screen reading compared to the printed paper reading condition. Also, a significant negative correlation was found between differences in theta/beta ratio for screen vs paper reading and accuracy level in the age-normalized Sky-Search task measuring attention and a positive correlation with performance time. These results provide neurobiological support for the greater cognitive load and reduced focused attention during screen-based compared to print-based reading and suggest a different reliance on attention resources for the two conditions in children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michal Zivan
- Educational Neuroimaging Group, Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, Haifa, Israel
- Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, Haifa, Israel
| | - Sasson Vaknin
- Signal and Image Processing Lab, Faculty of electrical engineering, Haifa, Israel
| | - Nimrod Peleg
- Signal and Image Processing Lab, Faculty of electrical engineering, Haifa, Israel
| | - Rakefet Ackerman
- Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management, Technion, Haifa, Israel
| | - Tzipi Horowitz-Kraus
- Educational Neuroimaging Group, Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, Haifa, Israel
- Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, Haifa, Israel
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Garcia GDV. Executive Functions and English Reading Comprehension among Filipino Students. READING PSYCHOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1080/02702711.2022.2156950] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Glenda Darlene V. Garcia
- Department of Psychology and Human Development, University College London-Institute of Education and Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, Bloomsbury, London, United Kingdom
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9
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Farah R, Glukhovsky N, Rosch K, Horowitz-Kraus T. Structural white matter characteristics for working memory and switching/inhibition in children with reading difficulties: The role of the left superior longitudinal fasciculus. Netw Neurosci 2022; 6:897-915. [PMID: 36605413 PMCID: PMC9810373 DOI: 10.1162/netn_a_00257] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2021] [Accepted: 06/02/2022] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Reading difficulties (RDs) are characterized by slow and inaccurate reading as well as additional challenges in cognitive control (i.e., executive functions, especially in working memory, inhibition, and visual attention). Despite evidence demonstrating differences in these readers' language and visual processing abilities, white matter differences associated with executive functions (EFs) difficulties in children with RDs are scarce. Structural correlates for reading and EFs in 8- to 12-year-old children with RDs versus typical readers (TRs) were examined using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data. Results suggest that children with RDs showed significantly lower reading and EF abilities versus TRs. Lower fractional anisotropy (FA) in left temporo-parietal tracts was found in children with RDs, who also showed positive correlations between reading and working memory and switching/inhibition scores and FA in the left superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF). FA in the left SLF predicted working memory performance mediated by reading ability in children with RDs but not TRs. Our findings support alterations in white matter tracts related to working memory, switching/inhibition, and overall EF challenges in children with RDs and the linkage between working memory difficulties and FA alterations in the left SLF in children with RDs via reading.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rola Farah
- Educational Neuroimaging Group, Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
| | - Noam Glukhovsky
- Educational Neuroimaging Group, Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
| | - Keri Rosch
- Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA,Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Tzipi Horowitz-Kraus
- Educational Neuroimaging Group, Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel,Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA,Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA,* Corresponding Author:
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10
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Farah R, Dudley J, Hutton JS, Greenwood P, Holland S, Horowitz-Kraus T. Maternal depression is associated with decreased functional connectivity within semantics and phonology networks in preschool children. Depress Anxiety 2021; 38:826-835. [PMID: 34010495 DOI: 10.1002/da.23168] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2021] [Revised: 04/30/2021] [Accepted: 05/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Maternal depression is characterized by a lack of emotional responsiveness and engagement with their child, which may lead to the child's decreased cognitive, and language outcomes all related to the child's future reading outcomes. The relations between maternal depression and functional connectivity in neural circuits supporting language in the child was explored. METHODS Eleven 4-year-old girls completed language abilities assessment and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scan. Their mothers completed the Beck's Depression Inventory (BDI) to examine maternal depression when the child was 12 months old and at the age of 4. Functional connections within the child's resting-state phonology, semantics, language networks were correlated with maternal BDI scores at the age of 4 years. RESULTS Higher maternal depression was associated with the child's decreased within the semantic and phonological networks connectivity during rest. Higher maternal depression at 4 years moderated the relationship between early depression scores and functional connectivity within the phonological network. CONCLUSIONS Maternal depression in the first year of life is related to functional connections of phonological processing and enhanced by current maternal depression levels. We conclude that after a mother gives birth, resources should be provided to minimize depressive symptoms and interventions should be applied to support their child's language development for future reading acquisition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rola Farah
- Educational Neuroimaging Center, Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
| | - Jonathan Dudley
- Division of General and Community Pediatrics, Reading and Literacy Discovery Center, Cincinnati Children's Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
| | - John S Hutton
- Division of General and Community Pediatrics, Reading and Literacy Discovery Center, Cincinnati Children's Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
| | - Paige Greenwood
- Division of General and Community Pediatrics, Reading and Literacy Discovery Center, Cincinnati Children's Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
| | | | - Tzipi Horowitz-Kraus
- Educational Neuroimaging Center, Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.,Division of General and Community Pediatrics, Reading and Literacy Discovery Center, Cincinnati Children's Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
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Arbel R, Heimler B, Amedi A. The sound of reading: Color-to-timbre substitution boosts reading performance via OVAL, a novel auditory orthography optimized for visual-to-auditory mapping. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0242619. [PMID: 33237931 PMCID: PMC7688106 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0242619] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2020] [Accepted: 11/05/2020] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Reading is a unique human cognitive skill and its acquisition was proven to extensively affect both brain organization and neuroanatomy. Differently from western sighted individuals, literacy rates via tactile reading systems, such as Braille, are declining, thus imposing an alarming threat to literacy among non-visual readers. This decline is due to many reasons including the length of training needed to master Braille, which must also include extensive tactile sensitivity exercises, the lack of proper Braille instruction and the high costs of Braille devices. The far-reaching consequences of low literacy rates, raise the need to develop alternative, cheap and easy-to-master non-visual reading systems. To this aim, we developed OVAL, a new auditory orthography based on a visual-to-auditory sensory-substitution algorithm. Here we present its efficacy for successful words-reading, and investigation of the extent to which redundant features defining characters (i.e., adding specific colors to letters conveyed into audition via different musical instruments) facilitate or impede auditory reading outcomes. Thus, we tested two groups of blindfolded sighted participants who were either exposed to a monochromatic or to a color version of OVAL. First, we showed that even before training, all participants were able to discriminate between 11 OVAL characters significantly more than chance level. Following 6 hours of specific OVAL training, participants were able to identify all the learned characters, differentiate them from untrained letters, and read short words/pseudo-words of up to 5 characters. The Color group outperformed the Monochromatic group in all tasks, suggesting that redundant characters' features are beneficial for auditory reading. Overall, these results suggest that OVAL is a promising auditory-reading tool that can be used by blind individuals, by people with reading deficits as well as for the investigation of reading specific processing dissociated from the visual modality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roni Arbel
- Department of Medical Neurobiology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Hadassah Ein-Carem, Jerusalem, Israel
- Faculty of Medicine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Benedetta Heimler
- Department of Medical Neurobiology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Hadassah Ein-Carem, Jerusalem, Israel
- The Baruch Ivcher Institute For Brain, Cognition & Technology, The Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, Herzliya, Israel
| | - Amir Amedi
- Department of Medical Neurobiology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Hadassah Ein-Carem, Jerusalem, Israel
- The Baruch Ivcher Institute For Brain, Cognition & Technology, The Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, Herzliya, Israel
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12
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Distinct neural substrates of individual differences in components of reading comprehension in adults with or without dyslexia. Neuroimage 2020; 226:117570. [PMID: 33221445 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117570] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2020] [Revised: 11/11/2020] [Accepted: 11/14/2020] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Reading comprehension is a complex task that depends on multiple cognitive and linguistic processes. According to the updated Simple View of Reading framework, in adults, individual variation in reading comprehension can be largely explained by combined variance in three component abilities: (1) decoding accuracy, (2) fluency, and (3) language comprehension. Here we asked whether the neural correlates of the three components are different in adults with dyslexia as compared to typically-reading adults and whether the relative contribution of these correlates to reading comprehension is similar in the two groups. We employed a novel naturalistic fMRI reading task to identify the neural correlates of individual differences in the three components using whole-brain and literature-driven regions-of-interest approaches. Across all participants, as predicted by the Simple View framework, we found distinct patterns of associations with linguistic and domain-general regions for the three components, and that the left-hemispheric neural correlates of language comprehension in the angular and posterior temporal gyri made the largest contributions to explaining out-of-scanner reading comprehension performance. These patterns differed between the two groups. In typical adult readers, better fluency was associated with greater activation of left occipitotemporal regions, better comprehension with lesser activation in prefrontal and posterior parietal regions, and there were no significant associations with decoding. In adults with dyslexia, better fluency was associated with greater activation of bilateral inferior parietal regions, better comprehension was associated with greater activation in some prefrontal clusters and lower in others, and better decoding skills were associated with lesser activation of bilateral prefrontal and posterior parietal regions. Extending the behavioral findings of skill-level differences in the relative contribution of the three components to reading comprehension, the relative contributions of the neural correlates to reading comprehension differed based on dyslexia status. These findings reveal some of the neural correlates of individual differences in the three components and the underlying mechanisms of reading comprehension deficits in adults with dyslexia.
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13
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Farah R, Coalson RS, Petersen SE, Schlaggar BL, Horowitz-Kraus T. Children Use Regions in the Visual Processing and Executive Function Networks during a Subsequent Memory Reading Task. Cereb Cortex 2020; 29:5180-5189. [PMID: 30927366 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhz057] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2018] [Revised: 02/01/2019] [Accepted: 02/27/2019] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Memory encoding is a critical process for memory function, which is foundational for cognitive functioning including reading, and has been extensively studied using subsequent memory tasks. Research in adults using such tasks indicates the participation of visual and cognitive-control systems in remembered versus forgotten words. However, given the known developmental trajectories of these systems, the functional neuroanatomy of memory encoding in children may be different than in adults. We examined brain activation for silent word reading and checkerboard viewing during an event-related reading task in 8-12 year-old children. Results indicate greater activation for checkerboard viewing than lexical processing in early visual regions, as well as for lexical processing versus checkerboard viewing in regions in left sensorimotor mouth, cingulo-opercular and dorsal-attention networks. Greater activation for remembered than forgotten words was observed in bilateral visual system and left lateralized regions within the ventral- and dorsal-attention, cingulo-opercular and fronto-parietal networks. These findings suggest a relatively mature reliance on the cognitive-control system, but greater reliance on the visual system in children when viewing words subsequently remembered. The location of regions with greater activity for remembered words reinforces the involvement of the attention and cognitive-control systems in subsequent memory in reading.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rola Farah
- Educational Neuroimaging Center, Faculty of Biomedical Engineering.,Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, Technion, Haifa, Israel
| | | | - Steven E Petersen
- Division of Neuropsychology, Department of Psychology, Washington University Medical School, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Bradley L Schlaggar
- Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA.,Departments of Neurology and Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore MD, USA
| | - Tzipi Horowitz-Kraus
- Educational Neuroimaging Center, Faculty of Biomedical Engineering.,Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, Technion, Haifa, Israel.,Reading and Literacy Discovery Center, Division of General and Community Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA
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14
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Movies and narratives as naturalistic stimuli in neuroimaging. Neuroimage 2020; 224:117445. [PMID: 33059053 PMCID: PMC7805386 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117445] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2020] [Revised: 10/06/2020] [Accepted: 10/09/2020] [Indexed: 01/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Using movies and narratives as naturalistic stimuli in human neuroimaging studies has yielded significant advances in understanding of cognitive and emotional functions. The relevant literature was reviewed, with emphasis on how the use of naturalistic stimuli has helped advance scientific understanding of human memory, attention, language, emotions, and social cognition in ways that would have been difficult otherwise. These advances include discovering a cortical hierarchy of temporal receptive windows, which supports processing of dynamic information that accumulates over several time scales, such as immediate reactions vs. slowly emerging patterns in social interactions. Naturalistic stimuli have also helped elucidate how the hippocampus supports segmentation and memorization of events in day-to-day life and have afforded insights into attentional brain mechanisms underlying our ability to adopt specific perspectives during natural viewing. Further, neuroimaging studies with naturalistic stimuli have revealed the role of the default-mode network in narrative-processing and in social cognition. Finally, by robustly eliciting genuine emotions, these stimuli have helped elucidate the brain basis of both basic and social emotions apparently manifested as highly overlapping yet distinguishable patterns of brain activity.
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15
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Li C, Ding K, Zhang M, Zhang L, Zhou J, Yu D. Effect of Picture-Book Reading With Additive Audio on Bilingual Preschoolers' Prefrontal Activation: A Naturalistic Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Study. Front Psychol 2020; 11:1939. [PMID: 32849138 PMCID: PMC7419625 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01939] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2020] [Accepted: 07/13/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Acquiring a second language (L2) has the power to shape cognition and even the function and structure of the brain. Picture-book reading with additive audio (PRA) is a popular and convenient means of providing L2 exposure for non-balanced bilingual children; however, its contribution to bilingual children’s brain activity is unclear. This study conducted a rigorous bilingual word comprehension experiment and a naturalistic PRA task to explore the effect of L2 processing on brain activation among English as a foreign language (EFL) preschoolers, using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). We found that the two contexts of comprehending English words and bilingual switching (BS), which impose more cognitive control demands, activated the prefrontal cortex (PFC) more than did the condition of comprehending Chinese words. Furthermore, the effect of PFC activity in the condition of picture-book reading with additive English audio (English PRA) was also found to be greater than in the condition of picture-book reading with additive Chinese audio (Chinese PRA); moreover, the effect was modulated by story difficulty. Finally, a positive correlation was shown between EFL children’s English competence and PFC activation through English PRA. This study indicates that the experiences of hearing L2 auditory stories in a picture-book reading activity yielded significant changes to early bilinguals’ PFC functional for cognitive control and language processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chuanjiang Li
- Key Laboratory of Child Development and Learning Science of Ministry of Education, Research Center for Learning Science, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
| | - Keya Ding
- Key Laboratory of Child Development and Learning Science of Ministry of Education, Research Center for Learning Science, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
| | - Mingming Zhang
- School of Psychology, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Li Zhang
- Faculty of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Jing Zhou
- Faculty of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Dongchuan Yu
- Key Laboratory of Child Development and Learning Science of Ministry of Education, Research Center for Learning Science, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
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16
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Farah R, Greenwood P, Dudley J, Hutton J, Ammerman RT, Phelan K, Holland S, Horowitz-Kraus T. Maternal depression is associated with altered functional connectivity between neural circuits related to visual, auditory, and cognitive processing during stories listening in preschoolers. BEHAVIORAL AND BRAIN FUNCTIONS : BBF 2020; 16:5. [PMID: 32340619 PMCID: PMC7187503 DOI: 10.1186/s12993-020-00167-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2019] [Accepted: 04/19/2020] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Maternal depression can influence the early activity of a mother reading stories to a young child, as depressed mothers are less likely to read to their children. Here, maternal depression association to neurobiological circuitry of narrative comprehension, visualization, and executive functions during stories listening was examined in 21 4-year-old girls and their mothers. Maternal depression scores were collected from the mothers, and functional MRI during stories listening was collected from the children. RESULTS Increased maternal depression was related to decreased functional connectivity between visualization and auditory regions and increased connectivity between the right visual cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in the children. CONCLUSIONS This study highlights the need to monitor maternal depression and provide interventions to ensure positive linguistic outcomes in children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rola Farah
- Educational Neuroimaging Center, Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, Technion, Haifa, Israel
| | - Paige Greenwood
- Reading and Literacy Discovery Center, General and Community Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA
- Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, USA
| | - Johnathan Dudley
- Reading and Literacy Discovery Center, General and Community Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA
- Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, USA
| | - John Hutton
- Reading and Literacy Discovery Center, General and Community Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA
- Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, USA
| | - Robert T Ammerman
- Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, USA
| | - Kieran Phelan
- The Permanente Medical Group, San Rafael Pediatrics, San Rafael, CA, USA
| | - Scott Holland
- Department of Physics, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA
| | - Tzipi Horowitz-Kraus
- Educational Neuroimaging Center, Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, Technion, Haifa, Israel.
- Reading and Literacy Discovery Center, General and Community Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
- Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
- Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, 45229-3039, USA.
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17
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Del Tufo SN, Earle FS, Cutting LE. The impact of expressive language development and the left inferior longitudinal fasciculus on listening and reading comprehension. J Neurodev Disord 2019; 11:37. [PMID: 31838999 PMCID: PMC6912995 DOI: 10.1186/s11689-019-9296-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2019] [Accepted: 11/11/2019] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND During the first 3-years of life, as the brain undergoes dramatic growth, children begin to develop speech and language. Hallmarks of this progression are seen when children reach developmental milestones, forming the foundation of language. Expressive language milestones, such as the production of a child's first word, are delayed in 5-8% of children. While for some children delays in reaching these milestones are harbingers of developmental disorders, for others expressive language delays appear to resolve. Regardless of whether or not early language skills appear resolved, difficulty with later comprehension is a likely outcome. Whether this heightened risk for poor comprehension differs based on text features, individual characteristics, or receipt of intervention remains unknown. Moreover, this relationship between expressive language development and comprehension is not yet linked to neurobiology, though the inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF) is a potential neurobiological correlate. Therefore, we investigated the impact of, and interactions between, expressive language development, early intervention, and the ILF on comprehension. METHODS Longitudinal recurrent survival analyses predicted the risk of answering a comprehension question incorrectly. Predictors of comprehension included expressive language development, passage features, participant characteristics, fractional anisotropy, receipt of early intervention, and later diagnosis of speech or language disorders. RESULTS Children with later expressive language milestones had poorer comprehension. When comprehension text features were examined, children with later milestones had poorer listening and reading comprehension, and poorer narrative and expository comprehension. The left ILF acted as a neurodevelopmental correlate, one that moderated the relationship between expressive language milestones and comprehension. Specifically, the left ILF exacerbated the relationship for those who did not receive early intervention and buffered the relationship for those who received intervention services. Early intervention decreased the risk of poor comprehension by 39% for children later diagnosed with a speech or language disorder. CONCLUSIONS Early intervention should be provided for children with delayed expressive language milestones, particularly those who are at risk for speech or language disorders. The ILF plays a critical role in the relationship between expressive language development and comprehension, which may be that of a protective factor for children with the most severe early issues with speech and language.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephanie N Del Tufo
- Peabody College of Education and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, 416C One Magnolia Circle, Box 228, Nashville, TN, 37203, USA.,Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, 6133 Medical Research Building III, 465 21st Avenue South, Nashville, TN, 37232, USA.,Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, Vanderbilt University, 110 Magnolia Circle, Nashville, TN, 37203, USA.,College of Education and Human Development, University of Delaware, 106 Alison Hall West, Newark, DE, 19716, USA
| | - F Sayako Earle
- Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Delaware, 100 Discovery Boulevard, Newark, DE, 19713, USA
| | - Laurie E Cutting
- Peabody College of Education and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, 416C One Magnolia Circle, Box 228, Nashville, TN, 37203, USA. .,Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, 6133 Medical Research Building III, 465 21st Avenue South, Nashville, TN, 37232, USA. .,Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, Vanderbilt University, 110 Magnolia Circle, Nashville, TN, 37203, USA.
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18
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Farah R, Meri R, Kadis DS, Hutton J, DeWitt T, Horowitz-Kraus T. Hyperconnectivity during screen-based stories listening is associated with lower narrative comprehension in preschool children exposed to screens vs dialogic reading: An EEG study. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0225445. [PMID: 31756207 PMCID: PMC6874384 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0225445] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2019] [Accepted: 11/05/2019] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Dialogic reading (DR) is a shared storybook reading intervention previously shown to have a positive effect on both literacy and general language skills. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of DR compared to screen-based intervention on electrophysiological markers supporting narrative comprehension using EEG. METHODS Thirty-two typically developing preschoolers, ages 4 to 6 years, were assigned to one of two intervention groups: Dialogic Reading Group (DRG, n = 16) or Screen Story Group (SSG, n = 16). We examined the effect of intervention type using behavioral assessment and a narrative comprehension task with EEG. RESULTS The DRG showed improved vocabulary and decreased functional connectivity during the stories-listening task, whereas the SSG group showed no changes in vocabulary or connectivity. Significantly decreased network strength and transitivity and increased network efficiency were observed in the DRG following intervention. Greater network strength and transitivity at follow-up were correlated with increased vocabulary. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest the beneficial effect of DR in preschool-age children on vocabulary and EEG-bands related to attention in the ventral stream during narrative comprehension. Decreased functional connectivity may serve as a marker for language gains following reading intervention. SIGNIFICANCE DR intervention for preschool-age children may reduce interfering connections related to attention, which is related to better narrative comprehension.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rola Farah
- Educational Neuroimaging Center, Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, Technion, Haifa, Israel
| | - Raya Meri
- Educational Neuroimaging Center, Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, Technion, Haifa, Israel
| | - Darren S. Kadis
- Division of Neurology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
- Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
- Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
| | - John Hutton
- Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
- Reading and Literacy Discovery Center, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
| | - Thomas DeWitt
- Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
- Reading and Literacy Discovery Center, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
| | - Tzipi Horowitz-Kraus
- Educational Neuroimaging Center, Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, Technion, Haifa, Israel
- Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
- Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
- Reading and Literacy Discovery Center, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
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19
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Levinson O, Hershey A, Farah R, Horowitz-Kraus T. Altered Functional Connectivity of the Executive Functions Network During a Stroop Task in Children with Reading Difficulties. Brain Connect 2019; 8:516-525. [PMID: 30289278 DOI: 10.1089/brain.2018.0595] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Children with reading difficulties (RDs) often receive related accommodations in schools, such as additional time for examinations and reading aloud written material. Existing data suggest that these readers share challenges in executive functions (EFs). Our study was designed to determine whether children with RDs have specific challenges in EFs and define neurobiological signatures for such difficulties using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data. Reading and EFs abilities were assessed in 8-12-year-old children with RDs and age-matched typical readers. Functional MRI data were acquired during a Stroop task, and functional connectivity of the EFs defined network was calculated in both groups and related to reading ability. Children with RDs showed lower reading and EFs abilities and demonstrated greater functional connectivity between the EFs network and visual, language, and cognitive control regions during the Stroop task, compared to typical readers. Our results suggest that children with RDs utilize neural circuits supporting EFs more so than do typical readers to perform a cognitive task. These results also provide a neurobiological explanation for the challenges in EFs shared by children with RDs and explain challenges this group shares outside of the reading domain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ophir Levinson
- 1 Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, Educational Neuroimaging Center , Technion, Haifa, Israel
| | - Alexander Hershey
- 2 Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium, Reading and Literacy Discovery Center, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center , Cincinnati, Ohio
| | - Rola Farah
- 1 Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, Educational Neuroimaging Center , Technion, Haifa, Israel
| | - Tzipi Horowitz-Kraus
- 1 Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, Educational Neuroimaging Center , Technion, Haifa, Israel .,2 Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium, Reading and Literacy Discovery Center, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center , Cincinnati, Ohio
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20
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Vannest J, Maloney TC, Tenney JR, Szaflarski JP, Morita D, Byars AW, Altaye M, Holland SK, Glauser TA. Changes in functional organization and functional connectivity during story listening in children with benign childhood epilepsy with centro-temporal spikes. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2019; 193:10-17. [PMID: 28209266 PMCID: PMC5554735 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2017.01.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2015] [Revised: 12/28/2016] [Accepted: 01/26/2017] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
Children with Benign Epilepsy with Centrotemporal Spikes (BECTS), despite high likelihood for seizure remission, are reported to have subtle difficulties in language and other cognitive skills. We used functional MRI and a story listening task to examine the effect of BECTS on patterns of activation and connectivity. Language and cognitive skills were assessed using standardized measures. Twenty-four children with recently diagnosed BECTS and 40 typically-developing children participated. In a functionally-defined region of interest in right inferior frontal gyrus, BECTS patients showed a lower level of activation. Across both groups combined, increased activation in superior/middle temporal regions of interest was associated with better language scores. Connectivity in the story processing network was similar between groups, but connectivity within left inferior frontal gyrus was decreased in children with BECTS. These results suggest that language networks are largely maintained in new-onset BECTS, but some subtle changes in activation and connectivity can be observed.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Diego Morita
- Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, United States
| | - Anna W Byars
- Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, United States
| | - Mekibib Altaye
- Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, United States
| | - Scott K Holland
- Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, United States
| | - Tracy A Glauser
- Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, United States
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21
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Farah R, Horowitz-Kraus T. Increased Functional Connectivity Within and Between Cognitive-Control Networks from Early Infancy to Nine Years During Story Listening. Brain Connect 2019; 9:285-295. [PMID: 30777454 PMCID: PMC6479241 DOI: 10.1089/brain.2018.0625] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The cingulo-opercular (CO) and frontoparietal (FP) networks are part of the cognitive-control system of the brain. Evidence suggests that over the course of development, brain regions supporting cognitive-control functions become more integrated within their networks (i.e., have increased within-network connectivity), more separated from other networks, and, due to increased maturation along development, are more functionally connected between the networks. The focus of this study was to characterize the developmental trajectory of the CO and FP networks from early infancy (17 months) to 9 years of age in typically developing children while listening to stories, using functional connectivity analyses. Seventy-four children underwent a functional magnetic resonance imaging session while listening to stories inside the scanner. Within- and between-network functional connectivity and graph theory measures were compared during development. Developmental increase in functional connectivity within the CO network and between the CO and FP networks, as well as global efficiency of the CO network from 17 months to 9 years of age, was observed. These findings highlight the involvement of the CO and FP networks in story listening from early infancy, which increases along development. Future studies examining failures in language acquisition to further explore the role of these networks in story listening are warranted.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rola Farah
- Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, Educational Neuroimaging Center, Technion, Haifa, Israel
- Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, Educational Neuroimaging Center, Technion, Haifa, Israel
| | - Tzipi Horowitz-Kraus
- Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, Educational Neuroimaging Center, Technion, Haifa, Israel
- Division of General and Community Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio
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22
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Greenwood P, Hutton J, Dudley J, Horowitz-Kraus T. Maternal reading fluency is associated with functional connectivity between the child's future reading network and regions related to executive functions and language processing in preschool-age children. Brain Cogn 2018; 131:87-93. [PMID: 30553572 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2018.11.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2018] [Revised: 11/23/2018] [Accepted: 11/23/2018] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Abstract
Reading is an acquired skill that relies on cognitive-control and language abilities. Home reading environment has been positively correlated with activation in parietal-temporal-occipital association cortex supporting mental imagery and narrative comprehension during a story-listening task in preschool-age children. However, the degree to which maternal reading ability influences early brain development, specifically neural circuits involved with language and reading, is not well understood. The current study explored the relationship between maternal reading ability and functional connectivity within the language network, between the language network and networks related to cognitive control and visual processing, as well as between the language network and the entire brain (network-to-voxel analysis) of preschool-age children during a resting state. Thirteen 4-year-old girls and their mothers participated in this study, involving cognitive testing and functional magnetic resonance imaging, including a resting-state scan. Maternal reading ability was negatively correlated with functional connectivity within the child's language network at rest, and also with areas involved in visual processing, cognitive-control, and semantics. These results suggest that children whose mothers exhibit decreased reading ability may demonstrate a greater engagement of the language network and neural circuits related to visual word recognition, cognitive-control, and semantic processing, which later in life support reading.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paige Greenwood
- Reading and Literacy Discovery Center, Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA
| | - John Hutton
- Reading and Literacy Discovery Center, Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA
| | - Jon Dudley
- Reading and Literacy Discovery Center, Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA
| | - Tzipi Horowitz-Kraus
- Reading and Literacy Discovery Center, Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA; Educational Neuroimaging Center, Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, Technion, Haifa, Israel.
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23
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Horowitz-Kraus T, Brunst KJ, Cecil KM. Children With Dyslexia and Typical Readers: Sex-Based Choline Differences Revealed Using Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Acquired Within Anterior Cingulate Cortex. Front Hum Neurosci 2018; 12:466. [PMID: 30532701 PMCID: PMC6265437 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2018.00466] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2018] [Accepted: 11/05/2018] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Children with dyslexia exhibit slow and inaccurate reading, as well as problems in executive functions. Decreased signal activation in brain regions related to visual processing and executive functions has been observed with functional magnetic resonance imaging with reports of sex differences in brain patterns for visual processing regions. However, the underlying neurochemistry associated with deficits in executive functions for children with dyslexia has not been thoroughly evaluated. Reading ability and executive functions were assessed in fifty-three children [ages 8-12 years old, dyslexia (n = 24), and typical readers (n = 30)]. We employed short echo, single voxel, proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy to evaluate the perigenual anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Pearson correlations were calculated between metabolite concentrations and measures of reading, processing speed, and executive function. Logistic regression models were used to determine the effects of brain metabolite concentrations, processing speed, and reading scores on dyslexia status. Differences by child's sex were also examined. Compared to typical readers, higher global executive composite t-score is associated with greater odds for dyslexia (OR 1.14; 95% CI 1.05, 1.23); increased processing speed appears to be protective for dyslexia (OR 0.95; 95% 0.89-1.00). After adjustment for multiple comparisons, females with dyslexia showed strong and significant negative correlations between processing speed and myo-inositol (r = -0.55, p = 0.005) and choline (r = -0.54, p = 0.005) concentrations; effect modification by sex was confirmed in linear regression models (psex∗Cho = 0.0006) and (psex∗mI = 0.01). These associations were not observed for males or the group as a whole. These findings suggest that children with dyslexia share difficulty in one or more areas of executive function, specifically those related to response time. Also, metabolite changes in the ACC may be present in children with dyslexia, especially for females, and may hold value as possible markers for dyslexia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tzipi Horowitz-Kraus
- Educational Neuroimaging Center, Faculty of Biomedical Engineering – Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, Technicon – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
- Reading and Literacy Discovery Center, Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, United States
- Division of General and Community Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, United States
| | - Kelly J. Brunst
- Department of Environmental Health, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, United States
| | - Kim M. Cecil
- Imaging Research Center, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, United States
- Department of Radiology, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, United States
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24
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Ryherd K, Jasinska K, Van Dyke JA, Hung YH, Baron E, Mencl WE, Zevin J, Landi N. Cortical regions supporting reading comprehension skill for single words and discourse. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2018; 186:32-43. [PMID: 30212746 PMCID: PMC6447036 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2018.08.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2017] [Revised: 07/16/2018] [Accepted: 08/02/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
A substantial amount of variation in reading comprehension skill is explained by listening comprehension skill, suggesting tight links between printed and spoken discourse processing. In addition, both word level (e.g., vocabulary) and discourse-level sub-skills (e.g., inference-making) support overall comprehension. However, while these contributions to variation in comprehension skill have been well-studied behaviorally, the underlying neurobiological basis of these relationships is less well understood. In order to examine the neural bases of individual differences in reading comprehension as a function of input modality and processing level, we examined functional neural activation to both spoken and printed single words and passages in adolescents with a range of comprehension skill. Data driven Partial Least Squares Correlation (PLSC) analyses revealed that comprehension skill was positively related to activation in a number of regions associated with discourse comprehension and negatively related to activation in regions associated with executive function and memory across processing levels and input modalities.
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Affiliation(s)
- K Ryherd
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, United States; Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, CT, United States; CT Institute for the Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Storrs, CT, United States
| | - K Jasinska
- Department of Linguistics and Cognitive Science, University of Delaware, United States; Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, CT, United States
| | - J A Van Dyke
- Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, CT, United States; CT Institute for the Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Storrs, CT, United States
| | - Y-H Hung
- Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, CT, United States
| | - E Baron
- Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, CT, United States
| | - W E Mencl
- Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, CT, United States; Department of Linguistics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States
| | - J Zevin
- Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, CT, United States; Departments of Psychology and Linguistics, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States
| | - N Landi
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, United States; Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, CT, United States; Yale Child Study Center, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States; CT Institute for the Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Storrs, CT, United States.
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Twait E, Farah R, Horowitz-Kraus T. Decreased functional connectivity of the salience network during narrative comprehension in children with reading difficulties: An fMRI study. NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL 2018; 20:987-992. [PMID: 30316176 PMCID: PMC6190597 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2018.10.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2018] [Revised: 09/10/2018] [Accepted: 10/06/2018] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Dyslexia is a neurobiological learning disability, reflected through deficits in written (i.e. reading) but not in spoken language. Since written and spoken language rely on cognitive control abilities, we aimed to compare functional connectivity of the understudied salience network which is related to cognitive control in children with dyslexia vs. typical readers during a functional MRI narrative comprehension task. Although children with dyslexia showed similar comprehension levels as typical readers, neuroimaging data revealed children with dyslexia showed significantly decreased functional connectivity values of an independent component (IC) related to the salience network. The functional connectivity values in the salience network IC were negatively correlated with behavioral data of working memory in those with dyslexia. These findings further express that dyslexia is manifested through atypical involvement of neural circuits related to EF, specifically the salience network even when attending narratives. Since the salience network is related to switching abilities and error detection, future research should focus on strengthening these abilities early in life for better future reading outcomes. Behavioral data supports executive functioning and reading deficiencies in dyslexia Significant greater functional connectivity in the salience network IC in typical readers vs children with dyslexia Negative correlation between functional connectivity of the salience network, working memory abilities and processing speed
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Affiliation(s)
- Emma Twait
- Educational Neuroimaging Center, Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, Technion, Israel
| | - Rola Farah
- Educational Neuroimaging Center, Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, Technion, Israel
| | - Tzipi Horowitz-Kraus
- Educational Neuroimaging Center, Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, Technion, Israel; Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, Technion, Israel; Reading and Literacy Discovery Center, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, United States.
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Roe MA, Martinez JE, Mumford JA, Taylor WP, Cirino PT, Fletcher JM, Juranek J, Church JA. Control Engagement During Sentence and Inhibition fMRI Tasks in Children With Reading Difficulties. Cereb Cortex 2018; 28:3697-3710. [PMID: 30060152 PMCID: PMC6132278 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhy170] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2017] [Revised: 05/31/2018] [Accepted: 07/03/2018] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent reading research implicates executive control regions as sites of difference in struggling readers. However, as studies often employ only reading or language tasks, the extent of deviation in control engagement in children with reading difficulties is not known. The current study investigated activation in reading and executive control brain regions during both a sentence comprehension task and a nonlexical inhibitory control task in third-fifth grade children with and without reading difficulties. We employed both categorical (group-based) and individual difference approaches to relate reading ability to brain activity. During sentence comprehension, struggling readers had less activation in the left posterior temporal cortex, previously implicated in language, semantic, and reading research. Greater negative activity (relative to fixation) during sentence comprehension in a left inferior parietal region from the executive control literature correlated with poorer reading ability. Greater comprehension scores were associated with less dorsal anterior cingulate activity during the sentence comprehension task. Unlike the sentence task, there were no significant differences between struggling and nonstruggling readers for the nonlexical inhibitory control task. Thus, differences in executive control engagement were largely specific to reading, rather than a general control deficit across tasks in children with reading difficulties, informing future intervention research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mary Abbe Roe
- Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Joel E Martinez
- Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
| | - Jeanette A Mumford
- Center for Healthy Minds, The University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
| | | | - Paul T Cirino
- Department of Psychology, University of Houston, TX, USA
| | | | - Jenifer Juranek
- Department of Pediatrics, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, TX, USA
| | - Jessica A Church
- Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
- Imaging Research Center, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
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Horowitz-Kraus T, Hutton JS. Brain connectivity in children is increased by the time they spend reading books and decreased by the length of exposure to screen-based media. Acta Paediatr 2018; 107:685-693. [PMID: 29215151 DOI: 10.1111/apa.14176] [Citation(s) in RCA: 66] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2017] [Revised: 10/16/2017] [Accepted: 12/01/2017] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
AIM This study compared the time spent using screen-based media or reading on the functional connectivity of the reading-related brain regions in children aged 8-12. METHODS We recruited 19 healthy American children from a private school in Cincinnati, USA, in 2015-6 after advertising the study to parents. The parents completed surveys on how many hours their children spent on independent reading and screen-based media time, including smartphones, tablets, desktop or laptop computers and television. The children underwent magnetic resonance imaging that assessed their resting-state connectivity between the left visual word form area, as the seed area, and other brain regions, with screen time and reading time applied as predictors. RESULTS Time spent reading was positively correlated with higher functional connectivity between the seed area and left-sided language, visual and cognitive control regions. In contrast, screen time was related to lower connectivity between the seed area and regions related to language and cognitive control. CONCLUSION Screen time and time spent reading showed different effects on functional connectivity between the visual word form area and language, visual and cognitive control regions of the brain. These findings underscore the importance of children reading to support healthy brain development and literacy and limiting screen time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tzipi Horowitz-Kraus
- Faculty of Education in Science and Technology; Educational Neuroimaging Center; Technion Israel
- Division of General and Community Pediatrics; Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center; Cincinnati OH USA
- Reading and Literacy Discovery Center; Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center; Cincinnati OH USA
- Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium; Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center; Cincinnati OH USA
| | - John S. Hutton
- Division of General and Community Pediatrics; Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center; Cincinnati OH USA
- Reading and Literacy Discovery Center; Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center; Cincinnati OH USA
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Maternal reading fluency is positively associated with greater functional connectivity between the child’s future reading network and regions related to executive functions and language processing in preschool-age children. Brain Cogn 2018; 121:17-23. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2018.01.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2017] [Revised: 12/21/2017] [Accepted: 01/02/2018] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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fMRI as a Preimplant Objective Tool to Predict Postimplant Oral Language Outcomes in Children with Cochlear Implants. Ear Hear 2018; 37:e263-72. [PMID: 26689275 DOI: 10.1097/aud.0000000000000259] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Despite the positive effects of cochlear implantation, postimplant variability in speech perception and oral language outcomes is still difficult to predict. The aim of this study was to identify neuroimaging biomarkers of postimplant speech perception and oral language performance in children with hearing loss who receive a cochlear implant. The authors hypothesized positive correlations between blood oxygen level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) activation in brain regions related to auditory language processing and attention and scores on the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Preschool, Second Edition (CELF-P2) and the Early Speech Perception Test for Profoundly Hearing-Impaired Children (ESP), in children with congenital hearing loss. DESIGN Eleven children with congenital hearing loss were recruited for the present study based on referral for clinical MRI and other inclusion criteria. All participants were <24 months at fMRI scanning and <36 months at first implantation. A silent background fMRI acquisition method was performed to acquire fMRI during auditory stimulation. A voxel-based analysis technique was utilized to generate z maps showing significant contrast in brain activation between auditory stimulation conditions (spoken narratives and narrow band noise). CELF-P2 and ESP were administered 2 years after implantation. Because most participants reached a ceiling on ESP, a voxel-wise regression analysis was performed between preimplant fMRI activation and postimplant CELF-P2 scores alone. Age at implantation and preimplant hearing thresholds were controlled in this regression analysis. RESULTS Four brain regions were found to be significantly correlated with CELF-P2 scores. These clusters of positive correlation encompassed the temporo-parieto-occipital junction, areas in the prefrontal cortex and the cingulate gyrus. For the story versus silence contrast, CELF-P2 core language score demonstrated significant positive correlation with activation in the right angular gyrus (r = 0.95), left medial frontal gyrus (r = 0.94), and left cingulate gyrus (r = 0.96). For the narrow band noise versus silence contrast, the CELF-P2 core language score exhibited significant positive correlation with activation in the left angular gyrus (r = 0.89; for all clusters, corrected p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS Four brain regions related to language function and attention were identified that correlated with CELF-P2. Children with better oral language performance postimplant displayed greater activation in these regions preimplant. The results suggest that despite auditory deprivation, these regions are more receptive to gains in oral language development performance of children with hearing loss who receive early intervention via cochlear implantation. The present study suggests that oral language outcome following cochlear implant may be predicted by preimplant fMRI with auditory stimulation using natural speech.
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Horowitz-Kraus T. Familial history of reading difficulty is associated with diffused bilateral brain activation during reading and greater association with visual attention abilities. ANNALS OF DYSLEXIA 2017; 67:281-298. [PMID: 29098513 DOI: 10.1007/s11881-017-0144-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2016] [Accepted: 05/05/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Reading difficulty (RD; or dyslexia) is a heritable condition characterized by slow, inaccurate reading accompanied by executive dysfunction, specifically with respect to visual attention. The current study was designed to examine the effect of familial history of RD on the relationship between reading and visual attention abilities in children with RD using a functional MRI reading task. Seventy-one children with RD participated in the study. Based on parental reports of the existence of RD in one or both of each child's parents, children with RD were divided into two groups: (1) those with a familial history of RD and (2) those without a familial history of RD. Reading and visual attention measures were collected from all participants. Functional MRI data during word reading was acquired in 30 participants of the entire cohort. Children with or without a familial history of RD demonstrated below-average reading and visual attention scores, with greater interaction between these measures in the group with a familial history of RD. Greater bilateral and diffused activation during word reading also were found in this group. We suggest that a familial history of RD is related to greater association between lower reading abilities and visual attention abilities. Parental history of RD therefore may be an important preschool screener (before reading age) to prompt early intervention focused on executive functions and reading-related skills.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tzipi Horowitz-Kraus
- Educational Neuroimaging Center, Faculty of Eduucation in Science and Technology, Technion, Mt Carmel, Haifa, Israel.
- Reading and Literacy Discovery Center and the Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
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Hutton JS, Phelan K, Horowitz-Kraus T, Dudley J, Altaye M, DeWitt T, Holland SK. Story time turbocharger? Child engagement during shared reading and cerebellar activation and connectivity in preschool-age children listening to stories. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0177398. [PMID: 28562619 PMCID: PMC5451016 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0177398] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2016] [Accepted: 04/26/2017] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Expanding behavioral and neurobiological evidence affirms benefits of shared (especially parent-child) reading on cognitive development during early childhood. However, the majority of this evidence involves factors under caregiver control, the influence of those intrinsic to the child, such as interest or engagement in reading, largely indirect or unclear. The cerebellum is increasingly recognized as playing a "smoothing" role in higher-level cognitive processing and learning, via feedback loops with language, limbic and association cortices. We utilized functional MRI to explore the relationship between child engagement during a mother-child reading observation and neural activation and connectivity during a story listening task, in a sample of 4-year old girls. Children exhibiting greater interest and engagement in the narrative showed increased activation in right-sided cerebellar association areas during the task, and greater functional connectivity between this activation cluster and language and executive function areas. Our findings suggest a potential cerebellar "boost" mechanism responsive to child engagement level that may contribute to emergent literacy development during early childhood, and synergy between caregiver and child factors during story sharing.
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Affiliation(s)
- John S. Hutton
- Division of General and Community Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
- Reading and Literacy Discovery Center, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
| | - Kieran Phelan
- Division of General and Community Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
| | - Tzipi Horowitz-Kraus
- Division of General and Community Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
- Reading and Literacy Discovery Center, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
- Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
- Communication Sciences Research Center, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
- Education Neuroimaging Center, Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, Technion, Haifa, Israel
| | - Jonathan Dudley
- Reading and Literacy Discovery Center, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
- Communication Sciences Research Center, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
| | - Mekibib Altaye
- Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
- Communication Sciences Research Center, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
- Division of Radiology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
| | - Thomas DeWitt
- Division of General and Community Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
- Reading and Literacy Discovery Center, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
| | - Scott K. Holland
- Reading and Literacy Discovery Center, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
- Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
- Communication Sciences Research Center, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
- Division of Radiology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America
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Horowitz-Kraus T, Schmitz R, Hutton JS, Schumacher J. How to create a successful reader? Milestones in reading development from birth to adolescence. Acta Paediatr 2017; 106:534-544. [PMID: 28067419 DOI: 10.1111/apa.13738] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2016] [Revised: 12/19/2016] [Accepted: 12/30/2016] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
Reading is one of the most important academic abilities that establishes the foundation for a child's success in school. Therefore, early and accurate diagnosis of reading challenges is crucial for prevention of later academic failure. One challenge in early detection of reading difficulties is that the ability to read typically is acquired explicitly when a child is four to six years of age. However, reading ability relies on development of more basic abilities prior to reading acquisition, starting from birth. CONCLUSION Language, cognitive control and literacy milestones can be evaluated and trained from birth to better acquire reading later in life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tzipi Horowitz-Kraus
- Educational Neuroimaging Center; Faculty of Education in Science and Technology; Technion Haifa Israel
- Reading and Literacy Discovery Center; Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center; Cincinnati OH USA
- Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Center; Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center; Cincinnati OH USA
| | - Rachelle Schmitz
- Reading and Literacy Discovery Center; Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center; Cincinnati OH USA
| | - John S. Hutton
- Reading and Literacy Discovery Center; Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center; Cincinnati OH USA
| | - Jayna Schumacher
- Reading and Literacy Discovery Center; Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center; Cincinnati OH USA
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33
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Powers SJ, Wang Y, Beach SD, Sideridis GD, Gaab N. Examining the relationship between home literacy environment and neural correlates of phonological processing in beginning readers with and without a familial risk for dyslexia: an fMRI study. ANNALS OF DYSLEXIA 2016; 66:337-360. [PMID: 27550556 PMCID: PMC5061614 DOI: 10.1007/s11881-016-0134-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2016] [Accepted: 06/03/2016] [Indexed: 05/13/2023]
Abstract
Developmental dyslexia is a language-based learning disability characterized by persistent difficulty in learning to read. While an understanding of genetic contributions is emerging, the ways the environment affects brain functioning in children with developmental dyslexia are poorly understood. A relationship between the home literacy environment (HLE) and neural correlates of reading has been identified in typically developing children, yet it remains unclear whether similar effects are observable in children with a genetic predisposition for dyslexia. Understanding environmental contributions is important given that we do not understand why some genetically at-risk children do not develop dyslexia. Here, we investigate for the first time the relationship between HLE and the neural correlates of phonological processing in beginning readers with (FHD+, n = 29) and without (FHD-, n = 21) a family history of developmental dyslexia. We further controlled for socioeconomic status to isolate the neurobiological mechanism by which HLE affects reading development. Group differences revealed stronger correlation of HLE with brain activation in the left inferior/middle frontal and right fusiform gyri in FHD- compared to FHD+ children, suggesting greater impact of HLE on manipulation of phonological codes and recruitment of orthographic representations in typically developing children. In contrast, activation in the right precentral gyrus showed a significantly stronger correlation with HLE in FHD+ compared to FHD- children, suggesting emerging compensatory networks in genetically at-risk children. Overall, our results suggest that genetic predisposition for dyslexia alters contributions of HLE to early reading skills before formal reading instruction, which has important implications for educational practice and intervention models.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara J Powers
- Division of Developmental Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Yingying Wang
- Division of Developmental Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Sara D Beach
- Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology Program, Division of Medical Sciences, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Georgios D Sideridis
- Division of Developmental Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Nadine Gaab
- Division of Developmental Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
- Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA, USA.
- Department of Medicine, Division of Developmental Medicine, Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, Children's Hospital, Boston, 1 Autumn Street, Mailbox # 713, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
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Horowitz-Kraus T, Buck C, Dorrmann D. Altered neural circuits accompany lower performance during narrative comprehension in children with reading difficulties: an fMRI study. ANNALS OF DYSLEXIA 2016; 66:301-318. [PMID: 26987654 DOI: 10.1007/s11881-016-0124-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2015] [Accepted: 01/28/2016] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
Narrative comprehension is a linguistic ability that is foundational for future reading ability. The aim of the current study was to examine the neural circuitry of children with reading difficulties (RD) compared to typical readers during a narrative-comprehension task. We hypothesized that due to deficient executive functions, which support narrative comprehension abilities, children with RD would display altered activation and functional connectivity, as well as lower performance on a narrative-comprehension task. Children with RD and typical readers were scanned during a narrative-comprehension task and administered reading behavioral tests. Children with RD scored significantly lower on the narrative-comprehension task than did typical readers. Composite activation maps showed more diffused activation during narrative comprehension in the RD group. Maps comparing the two reading groups showed more activation in the frontal lobes (regions responsible for executive functions), and functional connectivity showed higher global efficiency in children with RD than in typical readers. Global efficiency was negatively correlated with phonological awareness and reading and executive function scores in the entire study group. Children with RD may suffer from narrative-comprehension difficulties due to diffused activation of language areas, as was observed during a narrative-comprehension task. Greater effort in this task may be reflected by the engagement of brain regions related to executive functions and higher functional connectivity or attributed to difficulties in phonological processing and reading and executive functions. Therefore, the accommodation given to children with RD of reading aloud may need to be revised due to the observed difficulty in this domain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tzipi Horowitz-Kraus
- Educational Neuroimaging Center, Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, Technion- Israel institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
- Reading and Literacy Discovery Center, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, 3333 Burnet Av., Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
- Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, 3333 Burnet Av., Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
| | - Catherine Buck
- Reading and Literacy Discovery Center, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, 3333 Burnet Av., Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
| | - Dana Dorrmann
- Reading and Literacy Discovery Center, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, 3333 Burnet Av., Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
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Right is not always wrong: DTI and fMRI evidence for the reliance of reading comprehension on language-comprehension networks in the right hemisphere. Brain Imaging Behav 2016; 9:19-31. [PMID: 25515348 DOI: 10.1007/s11682-014-9341-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
The Simple View theory suggests that reading comprehension relies on automatic recognition of words combined with language comprehension. The goal of the current study was to examine the structural and functional connectivity in networks supporting reading comprehension and their relationship with language comprehension within 7-9 year old children using Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) and fMRI during a Sentence Picture Matching task. Fractional Anisotropy (FA) values in the left and right Inferior Longitudinal Fasciculus (ILF) and Superior Longitudinal Fasciculus (SLF), known language-related tracts, were correlated from DTI data with scores from the Woodcock-Johnson III (WJ-III) Passage Comprehension sub-test. Brodmann areas most proximal to white-matter regions with significant correlation to Passage Comprehension scores were chosen as Regions-of-Interest (ROIs) and used as seeds in a functional connectivity analysis using the Sentence Picture Matching task. The correlation between percentile scores for the WJ-III Passage Comprehension subtest and the FA values in the right and left ILF and SLF indicated positive correlation in language-related ROIs, with greater distribution in the right hemisphere, which in turn showed strong connectivity in the fMRI data from the Sentence Picture Matching task. These results support the participation of the right hemisphere in reading comprehension and may provide physiologic support for a distinction between different types of reading comprehension deficits vs difficulties in technical reading.
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Horowitz-Kraus T, Eaton K, Farah R, Hajinazarian A, Vannest J, Holland SK. Predicting better performance on a college preparedness test from narrative comprehension at the age of 6 years: An fMRI study. Brain Res 2015; 1629:54-62. [DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2015.10.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2015] [Revised: 09/10/2015] [Accepted: 10/02/2015] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
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Hutton JS, Horowitz-Kraus T, Mendelsohn AL, DeWitt T, Holland SK. Home Reading Environment and Brain Activation in Preschool Children Listening to Stories. Pediatrics 2015; 136:466-78. [PMID: 26260716 PMCID: PMC9923605 DOI: 10.1542/peds.2015-0359] [Citation(s) in RCA: 77] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/02/2015] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Parent-child reading is widely advocated to promote cognitive development, including in recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics to begin this practice at birth. Although parent-child reading has been shown in behavioral studies to improve oral language and print concepts, quantifiable effects on the brain have not been previously studied. Our study used blood oxygen level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the relationship between home reading environment and brain activity during a story listening task in a sample of preschool-age children. We hypothesized that while listening to stories, children with greater home reading exposure would exhibit higher activation of left-sided brain regions involved with semantic processing (extraction of meaning). METHODS Nineteen 3- to 5-year-old children were selected from a longitudinal study of normal brain development. All completed blood oxygen level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging using an age-appropriate story listening task, where narrative alternated with tones. We performed a series of whole-brain regression analyses applying composite, subscale, and individual reading-related items from the validated StimQ-P measure of home cognitive environment as explanatory variables for neural activation. RESULTS Higher reading exposure (StimQ-P Reading subscale score) was positively correlated (P < .05, corrected) with neural activation in the left-sided parietal-temporal-occipital association cortex, a "hub" region supporting semantic language processing, controlling for household income. CONCLUSIONS In preschool children listening to stories, greater home reading exposure is positively associated with activation of brain areas supporting mental imagery and narrative comprehension, controlling for household income. These neural biomarkers may help inform eco-bio-developmental models of emergent literacy.
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Affiliation(s)
- John S. Hutton
- Division of General and Community Pediatrics,,Address correspondence to John S. Hutton, MD, Division of General and Community Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, 3333 Burnet Ave, MLC 7035, Cincinnati, OH 45229. E-mail:
| | - Tzipi Horowitz-Kraus
- Division of General and Community Pediatrics,,Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium,,Communication Sciences Research Center, and
| | - Alan L. Mendelsohn
- Department of Pediatrics, New York University School of Medicine and Bellevue Hospital Center, New York, New York
| | - Tom DeWitt
- Division of General and Community Pediatrics
| | - Scott K. Holland
- Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium,,Communication Sciences Research Center, and,Division of Radiology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio; and
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Horowitz-Kraus T, Hutton JS. From emergent literacy to reading: how learning to read changes a child's brain. Acta Paediatr 2015; 104:648-56. [PMID: 25847632 DOI: 10.1111/apa.13018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/29/2014] [Revised: 02/18/2015] [Accepted: 03/31/2015] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
UNLABELLED The ability to comprehend language is uniquely human. Behavioural and neuroimaging data reinforce the importance of intact oral language as foundational for the establishment of proficient reading. However, proficient reading is achieved not only via intact biological systems, but also a stimulating Home Literacy Environment. CONCLUSION Behavioural and neuroimaging correlates for linguistic ability and literacy exposure support the engagement of neural circuits related to reading acquisition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tzipi Horowitz-Kraus
- Division of General and Community Pediatrics; Reading and Literacy Discovery Center; Cincinnati OH USA
- Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium; Cincinnati OH USA
- Communication Sciences Research Center; Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center; Cincinnati OH USA
| | - John S. Hutton
- Division of General and Community Pediatrics; Reading and Literacy Discovery Center; Cincinnati OH USA
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Wang Y, Holland SK. Comparison of functional network connectivity for passive-listening and active-response narrative comprehension in adolescents. Brain Connect 2015; 4:273-85. [PMID: 24689887 DOI: 10.1089/brain.2013.0190] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Comprehension of narrative stories plays an important role in the development of language skills. In this study, we compared brain activity elicited by a passive-listening version and an active-response (AR) version of a narrative comprehension task by using independent component (IC) analysis on functional magnetic resonance imaging data from 21 adolescents (ages 14-18 years). Furthermore, we explored differences in functional network connectivity engaged by two versions of the task and investigated the relationship between the online response time and the strength of connectivity between each pair of ICs. Despite similar brain region involvements in auditory, temporoparietal, and frontoparietal language networks for both versions, the AR version engages some additional network elements including the left dorsolateral prefrontal, anterior cingulate, and sensorimotor networks. These additional involvements are likely associated with working memory and maintenance of attention, which can be attributed to the differences in cognitive strategic aspects of the two versions. We found significant positive correlation between the online response time and the strength of connectivity between an IC in left inferior frontal region and an IC in sensorimotor region. An explanation for this finding is that longer reaction time indicates stronger connection between the frontal and sensorimotor networks caused by increased activation in adolescents who require more effort to complete the task.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yingying Wang
- 1 Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium, Cincinnati Children's Hospital , Cincinnati, Ohio
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40
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Relationship between receptive vocabulary and the neural substrates for story processing in preschoolers. Brain Imaging Behav 2014; 9:43-55. [DOI: 10.1007/s11682-014-9342-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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Horowitz-Kraus T, Wang Y, Plante E, Holland SK. Involvement of the right hemisphere in reading comprehension: a DTI study. Brain Res 2014; 1582:34-44. [PMID: 24909792 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2014.05.034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2013] [Revised: 05/17/2014] [Accepted: 05/22/2014] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Abstract
The Simple View of reading emphasizes the critical role of two factors in normal reading skills: word recognition and reading comprehension. The current study aims to identify the anatomical support for aspects of reading performance that fall within these two components. Fractional anisotropy (FA) values were obtained from diffusion tensor images in twenty-one typical adolescents and young adults using the tract based spatial statistics (TBSS) method. We focused on the arcuate fasciculus (AF) and inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF) as fiber tracts that connect regions already implicated in the distributed cortical network for reading. Our results demonstrate dissociation between word-level and narrative-level reading skills: the FA values for both left and right ILF were correlated with measures of word reading, while only the left ILF correlated with reading comprehension scores. FA in the AF, however, correlated only with reading comprehension scores, bilaterally. Correlations with the right AF were particularly robust, emphasizing the contribution of the right hemisphere, especially the frontal lobe, to reading comprehension performance on the particular passage comprehension test used in this study. The anatomical dissociation between these reading skills is supported by the Simple View theory and may shed light on why these two skills dissociate in those with reading disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Yingying Wang
- Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium, Cincinnati, OH, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA
| | - Elena Plante
- Department of Speech, Language, & Hearing Sciences, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Scott K Holland
- Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium, Cincinnati, OH, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA; Department of Radiology, Cincinnati Children׳s Hospital, Cincinnati, OH, United States
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