Your verbal questions beginning with 'what' will rapidly deactivate the left prefrontal cortex of listeners

Association of ultraprocessed foods consumption and cognitive function among children aged 4-7 years: a cross-sectional data analysis

Background

Sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption has shown associations with cognitive function in preschool children, but effects of other ultraprocessed foods consumption are rarely discussed in China. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between ultraprocessed food consumption and cognitive function among preschool children in China.

Methods

A total of 325 children aged 4-7 years were included from Guangxi Zhuang Birth Cohort in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China. Face-to-face interviews with parents using the Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) was conducted to investigate the status of seven ultraprocessed foods consumption (i.e., chocolate, biscuits, candy, fast-food, ice cream, SSBs, and sweet bakery products). The mandarin-language version of the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI, Fourth Edition) was applied to assess the cognitive function of children. Multiple linear and logistic regression models were used to assess the associations between ultraprocessed food consumption and the full-scale intelligence quotient (FSIQ) and different domains and risk of cognitive deficit, respectively.

Results

We found that frequent consumption of candy (β = -3.34, 95% CI: -5.62∼-1.06; p = 0.004) and sweet bakery products (β = -2.77, 95% CI: -5.58∼0.04; p = 0.054) were significant associated with decreased FSIQ scores in the linear regression models. However, only frequent consumption of candy was statistically significantly associated with an increased risk of cognitive deficit (OR = 2.05, 95% CI: 1.11∼3.79; p = 0.023) in the logistic regression models. For the different domains, we found frequent consumption of candy (β = -3.85, 95% CI: -6.28∼-1.43; p = 0.002) and sweet bakery products (β = -3.48, 95% CI: -6.47∼-0.49; p = 0.023) was also significantly associated with lower Verbal Comprehension Index (VCI). When combining the seven ultraprocessed foods, we found children who frequently consumed more than two kinds of ultraprocessed foods had a significant decrease of VCI scores (β = -2.66; 95% CI: -5.12∼-0.19; p = 0.035) too.

Conclusion

Our results suggested that frequent consumption of individual (candy and sweet bakery products) and multiple ultraprocessed foods may decrease VCI scores and thereby impact cognitive function in children aged 4-7 years.

Developmental organization of neural dynamics supporting auditory perception

Purpose:

A prominent view of language acquisition involves learning to ignore irrelevant auditory signals through functional reorganization, enabling more efficient processing of relevant information. Yet, few studies have characterized the neural spatiotemporal dynamics supporting rapid detection and subsequent disregard of irrelevant auditory information, in the developing brain. To address this unknown, the present study modeled the developmental acquisition of cost-efficient neural dynamics for auditory processing, using intracranial electrocorticographic responses measured in individuals receiving standard-of-care treatment for drug-resistant, focal epilepsy. We also provided evidence demonstrating the maturation of an anterior-to-posterior functional division within the superior-temporal gyrus (STG), which is known to exist in the adult STG.

Methods:

We studied 32 patients undergoing extraoperative electrocorticography (age range: eight months to 28 years) and analyzed 2,039 intracranial electrode sites outside the seizure onset zone, interictal spike-generating areas, and MRI lesions. Patients were given forward (normal) speech sounds, backward-played speech sounds, and signal-correlated noises during a task-free condition. We then quantified sound processing-related neural costs at given time windows using high-gamma amplitude at 70–110 Hz and animated the group-level high-gamma dynamics on a spatially normalized three-dimensional brain surface. Finally, we determined if age independently contributed to high-gamma dynamics across brain regions and time windows.

Results:

Group-level analysis of noise-related neural costs in the STG revealed developmental enhancement of early high-gamma augmentation and diminution of delayed augmentation. Analysis of speech-related high-gamma activity demonstrated an anterior-to-posterior functional parcellation in the STG. The left anterior STG showed sustained augmentation throughout stimulus presentation, whereas the left posterior STG showed transient augmentation after stimulus onset. We found a double dissociation between the locations and developmental changes in speech sound-related high-gamma dynamics. Early left anterior STG high-gamma augmentation (i.e., within 200 ms post-stimulus onset) showed developmental enhancement, whereas delayed left posterior STG high-gamma augmentation declined with development.

Conclusions:

Our observations support the model that, with age, the human STG refines neural dynamics to rapidly detect and subsequently disregard uninformative acoustic noises. Our study also supports the notion that the anterior-to-posterior functional division within the left STG is gradually strengthened for efficient speech sound perception after birth.

Vowel Length Expands Perceptual and Emotional Evaluations in Written Japanese Sound-Symbolic Words

In this study, we examined whether vowel length affected the perceptual and emotional evaluations of Japanese sound-symbolic words. The perceptual and emotional features of Japanese sound-symbolic words, which included short and long vowels, were evaluated by 209 native Japanese speakers. The results showed that subjective evaluations of familiarity, visual imageability, auditory imageability, tactile imageability, emotional valence, arousal, and length were significantly higher for sound-symbolic words with long vowels compared to those with short vowels. Additionally, a subjective evaluation of speed was significantly higher for written Japanese sound-symbolic words with short vowels than for those with long vowels. The current findings suggest that vowel length in written Japanese sound-symbolic words increases the perceptually and emotionally subjective evaluations of Japanese sound-symbolic words.