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Functional Connectivity of Cognitive Control and Visual Regions During Verb Generation Is Related to Improved Reading in Children.

ABSTRACT: Reading is a complex cognitive ability, which relies on visual and language processing as well as on executive functions (EFs). Recent studies have demonstrated that increased reading ability in children aged 7-17 years is related to greater activation of cognitive control regions during verb generation, a task which merges linguistic and cognitive control ability. The aim of the current study is to determine the relationships between neural circuits specifically related to EF and reading ability. We focused on functional connectivity between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), a region involved in EF and is part of the frontoparietal network during a verb generation task, and reading ability in seventeen 8-12-year-old typical readers. Results show positive functional connectivity between the left and right DLPFCs and regions related to cognitive control and visual processing while generating verbs. Increased reading ability was positively correlated with greater functional connectivity between the left and right DLPFCs and right-lateralized visual processing regions. The current study highlights the importance of neural circuits related to EF during both verb generation and reading and points to the role of the right occipital cortex in generating verbs as well as automatic word recognition in typical readers.

SUBMITTER: Twait E

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6648171 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Functional Connectivity of Cognitive Control and Visual Regions During Verb Generation Is Related to Improved Reading in Children.

Twait Emma E Horowitz-Kraus Tzipi T

Brain connectivity 20190610 6

Reading is a complex cognitive ability, which relies on visual and language processing as well as on executive functions (EFs). Recent studies have demonstrated that increased reading ability in children aged 7-17 years is related to greater activation of cognitive control regions during verb generation, a task which merges linguistic and cognitive control ability. The aim of the current study is to determine the relationships between neural circuits specifically related to EF and reading abilit ...[more]

PMID: 30957527

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Project description:A classic left frontal-temporal brain network is known to support language processes. However, the level of participation of constituent regions, and the contribution of extra-canonical areas, is not fully understood; this is particularly true in children, and in individuals who have experienced early neurological insult. In the present work, we propose whole-brain connectivity and graph-theoretical analysis of magnetoencephalography (MEG) source estimates to provide robust maps of the pediatric expressive language network. We examined neuromagnetic data from a group of typically-developing young children (n = 15, ages 4-6 years) and adolescents (n = 14, 16-18 years) completing an auditory verb generation task in MEG. All source analyses were carried out using a linearly-constrained minimum-variance (LCMV) beamformer. Conventional differential analyses revealed significant (p < 0.05, corrected) low-beta (13-23 Hz) event related desynchrony (ERD) focused in the left inferior frontal region (Broca's area) in both groups, consistent with previous studies. Connectivity analyses were carried out in broadband (3-30 Hz) on time-course estimates obtained at the voxel level. Patterns of connectivity were characterized by phase locking value (PLV), and network hubs identified through eigenvector centrality (EVC). Hub analysis revealed the importance of left perisylvian sites, i.e., Broca's and Wernicke's areas, across groups. The hemispheric distribution of frontal and temporal lobe EVC values was asymmetrical in most subjects; left dominant EVC was observed in 20% of young children, and 71% of adolescents. Interestingly, the adolescent group demonstrated increased critical sites in the right cerebellum, left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and left putamen. Here, we show that whole brain connectivity and network analysis can be used to map critical language sites in typical development; these methods may be useful for defining the margins of eloquent tissue in neurosurgical candidates.

Project description:IntroductionDyslexia is a reading disorder characterized by significant difficulty in reading, as well as reports of altered executive functions (EF). Children with reading difficulties (RD) experience a broad range of social and emotional problems. Recently it was suggested that children with RD have altered functional connections within the amygdala, which is related to emotional processing. Altered brain laterality related to reading was previously reported in children with RD. Hence, we sought to determine the differences in functional connectivity between the right and left emotional network as related to emotional challenges and the other reported difficulties in reading and EF in children with RD compared to typical readers.MethodsSixty-four 8 to 12 year old children, 27 children with RD and 37 age-matched typical readers, participated in the study. Reading, emotional, and EF abilities were assessed. Global efficiency of the emotional network was calculated and compared between the groups, and left vs. right functional connectivity of the amygdala was tested using the CONN toolbox. Functional connectivity measures were then associated with measures of reading, emotional, and EF abilities.ResultsChildren with RD showed significantly decreased emotional and EF abilities compared to typical readers. A negative correlation between reading, emotional, and EF abilities was determined in both groups. Neuroimaging results showed decreased global efficiency measures within the emotional network in children with RD, who also showed lower functional connectivity between the amygdala and the left and right frontal pole regions. Results also indicated increased functional connectivity of the right vs. left amygdala with left and right pre-central and post-central gyri regions, which were related to decreased reading, emotional, and EF abilities in both typical readers and children with RD.ConclusionThe positive relationship between EF and emotional abilities in children with RD strengthens the relationship between EF difficulties and emotional stress, which in turn may lower EF abilities (monitoring, inhibition, and attention) as well as decreased reading abilities. The emotional challenges in children with RD were associated with decreased functional connectivity of the left amygdala with pre/post central gyrus and cognitive-control regions. These findings suggest that although the right hemisphere is thought to be related to emotional stress, it was the decreased control of the left hemisphere that was related to emotional disturbance in children with RD.

Project description:Developmental language disorder (DLD) is characterised by difficulties in learning one's native language for no apparent reason. These language difficulties occur in 7% of children and are known to limit future academic and social achievement. Our understanding of the brain abnormalities associated with DLD is limited. Here, we used a simple four-minute verb generation task (children saw a picture of an object and were instructed to say an action that goes with that object) to test children between the ages of 10-15 years (DLD N = 50, typically developing N = 67). We also tested 26 children with poor language ability who did not meet our criteria for DLD. Contrary to our registered predictions, we found that children with DLD did not have (i) reduced activity in language relevant regions such as the left inferior frontal cortex; (ii) dysfunctional striatal activity during overt production; or (iii) a reduction in left-lateralised activity in frontal cortex. Indeed, performance of this simple language task evoked activity in children with DLD in the same regions and to a similar level as in typically developing children. Consistent with previous reports, we found sub-threshold group differences in the left inferior frontal gyrus and caudate nuclei, but only when analysis was limited to a subsample of the DLD group (N = 14) who had the poorest performance on the task. Additionally, we used a two-factor model to capture variation in all children studied (N = 143) on a range of neuropsychological tests and found that these language and verbal memory factors correlated with activity in different brain regions. Our findings indicate a lack of support for some neurological models of atypical language learning, such as the procedural deficit hypothesis or the atypical lateralization hypothesis, at least when using simple language tasks that children can perform. These results also emphasise the importance of controlling for and monitoring task performance.

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Functional Connectivity of Cognitive Control and Visual Regions During Verb Generation Is Related to Improved Reading in Children.

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Functional Connectivity of Cognitive Control and Visual Regions During Verb Generation Is Related to Improved Reading in Children.

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