1
|
Tansey R, Graff K, Rai S, Merrikh D, Godfrey KJ, Vanderwal T, Bray S. Development of human visual cortical function: A scoping review of task- and naturalistic-fMRI studies through the interactive specialization and maturational frameworks. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2024; 162:105729. [PMID: 38763178 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105729] [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: 03/07/2024] [Revised: 05/12/2024] [Accepted: 05/14/2024] [Indexed: 05/21/2024]
Abstract
Overarching theories such as the interactive specialization and maturational frameworks have been proposed to describe human functional brain development. However, these frameworks have not yet been systematically examined across the fMRI literature. Visual processing is one of the most well-studied fields in neuroimaging, and research in this area has recently expanded to include naturalistic paradigms that facilitate study in younger age ranges, allowing for an in-depth critical appraisal of these frameworks across childhood. To this end, we conducted a scoping review of 94 developmental visual fMRI studies, including both traditional experimental task and naturalistic studies, across multiple sub-domains (early visual processing, category-specific higher order processing, naturalistic visual processing). We found that across domains, many studies reported progressive development, but few studies describe regressive or emergent changes necessary to fit the maturational or interactive specialization frameworks. Our findings suggest a need for the expansion of developmental frameworks and clearer reporting of both progressive and regressive changes, along with well-powered, longitudinal studies.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ryann Tansey
- Department of Psychiatry, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.
| | - Kirk Graff
- Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; Department of Psychiatry, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Shefali Rai
- Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Daria Merrikh
- Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Kate J Godfrey
- Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Tamara Vanderwal
- Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada; BC Children's Hospital Research Institute, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Signe Bray
- Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; Department of Radiology, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; Department of Pediatrics, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
van de Walle de Ghelcke A, Rossion B, Schiltz C, Lochy A. Developmental changes in neural letter-selectivity: A 1-year follow-up of beginning readers. Dev Sci 2021; 24:e12999. [PMID: 32452594 PMCID: PMC7816260 DOI: 10.1111/desc.12999] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2019] [Revised: 03/23/2020] [Accepted: 04/29/2020] [Indexed: 01/23/2023]
Abstract
The developmental course of neural tuning to visual letter strings is unclear. Here we tested 39 children longitudinally, at the beginning of grade 1 (6.45 ± 0.33 years old) and 1 year after, with fast periodic visual stimulation in electroencephalography to assess the evolution of selective neural responses to letter strings and their relationship with emerging reading abilities. At both grades, frequency-tagged letter strings were discriminated from pseudofont strings (i.e. letter-selectivity) over the left occipito-temporal cortex, with effects observed at the individual level in 62% of children. However, visual words were not discriminated from pseudowords (lexical access) at either grade. Following 1 year of schooling, letter-selective responses showed a specific increase in amplitude, a more complex pattern of harmonics, and were located more anteriorly over the left occipito-temporal cortex. Remarkably, at both grades, neural responses were highly significant at the individual level and correlated with individual reading scores. The amplitude increase in letter-selective responses between grades was not found for discrimination responses of familiar keyboard symbols from pseudosymbols, and was not related to a general increase in visual stimulation responses. These findings demonstrate a rapid onset of left hemispheric letter selectivity, with 1 year of reading instruction resulting in increased emerging reading abilities and a clear quantitative and qualitative evolution within left hemispheric neural circuits for reading.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alice van de Walle de Ghelcke
- Psychological Sciences Research Institute and Institute of NeuroscienceUniversité Catholique de LouvainLouvain‐la‐NeuveBelgium
| | - Bruno Rossion
- Psychological Sciences Research Institute and Institute of NeuroscienceUniversité Catholique de LouvainLouvain‐la‐NeuveBelgium
- CNRS‐CRANUniversité de LorraineNancyFrance
- Service de NeurologieCHRU‐NancyUniversité de LorraineNancyFrance
| | - Christine Schiltz
- Department of Behavioral and Cognitive SciencesInstitute of Cognitive Science and AssessmentUniversité du LuxembourgEsch‐sur‐AlzetteLuxembourg
| | - Aliette Lochy
- Department of Behavioral and Cognitive SciencesInstitute of Cognitive Science and AssessmentUniversité du LuxembourgEsch‐sur‐AlzetteLuxembourg
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Fischer-Baum S, Bruggemann D, Gallego IF, Li DS, Tamez ER. Decoding levels of representation in reading: A representational similarity approach. Cortex 2017; 90:88-102. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2017.02.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2016] [Revised: 10/31/2016] [Accepted: 02/24/2017] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
|
4
|
Zou P, Conklin HM, Scoggins MA, Li Y, Li X, Jones MM, Palmer SL, Gajjar A, Ogg RJ. Functional MRI in medulloblastoma survivors supports prophylactic reading intervention during tumor treatment. Brain Imaging Behav 2016; 10:258-71. [PMID: 25967954 DOI: 10.1007/s11682-015-9390-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
Abstract
Development of reading skills is vulnerable to disruption in children treated for brain tumors. Interventions, remedial and prophylactic, are needed to mitigate reading and other learning difficulties faced by survivors. A functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study was conducted to investigate long-term effects of a prophylactic reading intervention administered during radiation therapy in children treated for medulloblastoma. The fMRI study included 19 reading-intervention (age 11.7 ± 0.6 years) and 21 standard-of-care (age 12.1 ± 0.6 years) medulloblastoma survivors, and 21 typically developing children (age 12.3 ± 0.6 years). The survivors were 2.5 [1.2, 5.4] years after completion of tumor therapies and reading-intervention survivors were 2.9 [1.6, 5.9] years after intervention. Five fMRI tasks (Rapid Automatized Naming, Continuous Performance Test using faces and letters, orthographic and phonological processing of letter pairs, implicit word reading, and story reading) were used to probe reading-related neural activation. Woodcock-Johnson Reading Fluency, Word Attack, and Sound Awareness subtests were used to evaluate reading abilities. At the time of fMRI, Sound Awareness scores were significantly higher in the reading-intervention group than in the standard-of-care group (p = 0.046). Brain activation during the fMRI tasks was detected in left inferior frontal, temporal, ventral occipitotemporal, and subcortical regions, and differed among the groups (p < 0.05, FWE). The pattern of group activation differences, across brain areas and tasks, was a normative trend in the reading-intervention group. Standardized reading scores and patterns of brain activation provide evidence of long-term effects of prophylactic reading intervention in children treated for medulloblastoma.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ping Zou
- Department of Radiological Sciences, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, 262 Danny Thomas Place, Memphis, TN, 38105, USA
| | - Heather M Conklin
- Department of Psychology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, USA
| | - Matthew A Scoggins
- Department of Radiological Sciences, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, 262 Danny Thomas Place, Memphis, TN, 38105, USA
| | - Yimei Li
- Department of Biostatistics, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, USA
| | - Xingyu Li
- Department of Biostatistics, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, USA
| | - Melissa M Jones
- Department of Radiological Sciences, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, 262 Danny Thomas Place, Memphis, TN, 38105, USA
| | - Shawna L Palmer
- Department of Psychology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, USA
| | - Amar Gajjar
- Department of Oncology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, USA
| | - Robert J Ogg
- Department of Radiological Sciences, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, 262 Danny Thomas Place, Memphis, TN, 38105, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Quinn C, Taylor JSH, Davis MH. Learning and retrieving holistic and componential visual-verbal associations in reading and object naming. Neuropsychologia 2016; 98:68-84. [PMID: 27720949 PMCID: PMC5407349 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2016.09.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2016] [Revised: 08/05/2016] [Accepted: 09/28/2016] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Understanding the neural processes that underlie learning to read can provide a scientific foundation for literacy education but studying these processes in real-world contexts remains challenging. We present behavioural data from adult participants learning to read artificial words and name artificial objects over two days. Learning profiles and generalisation confirmed that componential learning of visual-verbal associations distinguishes reading from object naming. Functional MRI data collected on the second day allowed us to identify the neural systems that support componential reading as distinct from systems supporting holistic visual-verbal associations in object naming. Results showed increased activation in posterior ventral occipitotemporal (vOT), parietal, and frontal cortices when reading an artificial orthography compared to naming artificial objects, and the reverse profile in anterior vOT regions. However, activation differences between trained and untrained words were absent, suggesting a lack of cortical representations for whole words. Despite this, hippocampal responses provided some evidence for overnight consolidation of both words and objects learned on day 1. The comparison between neural activity for artificial words and objects showed extensive overlap with systems differentially engaged for real object naming and English word/pseudoword reading in the same participants. These findings therefore provide evidence that artificial learning paradigms offer an alternative method for studying the neural systems supporting language and literacy. Implications for literacy acquisition are discussed. Generalisation of novel orthography shows componential processing in reading. Real and artificial words and objects rely upon the same neural systems. Different neural systems support reading novel orthography and naming novel objects. No evidence of whole-word cortical representations for artificial written words. Reduced hippocampal responses suggest overnight consolidation of artificial items.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Connor Quinn
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, UK; Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, University of Cambridge, UK.
| | - J S H Taylor
- Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey, UK
| | | |
Collapse
|
6
|
Shtyrov Y, MacGregor LJ. Near-instant automatic access to visually presented words in the human neocortex: neuromagnetic evidence. Sci Rep 2016; 6:26558. [PMID: 27217080 PMCID: PMC4877599 DOI: 10.1038/srep26558] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2015] [Accepted: 05/05/2016] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Rapid and efficient processing of external information by the brain is vital to survival in a highly dynamic environment. The key channel humans use to exchange information is language, but the neural underpinnings of its processing are still not fully understood. We investigated the spatio-temporal dynamics of neural access to word representations in the brain by scrutinising the brain's activity elicited in response to psycholinguistically, visually and phonologically matched groups of familiar words and meaningless pseudowords. Stimuli were briefly presented on the visual-field periphery to experimental participants whose attention was occupied with a non-linguistic visual feature-detection task. The neural activation elicited by these unattended orthographic stimuli was recorded using multi-channel whole-head magnetoencephalography, and the timecourse of lexically-specific neuromagnetic responses was assessed in sensor space as well as at the level of cortical sources, estimated using individual MR-based distributed source reconstruction. Our results demonstrate a neocortical signature of automatic near-instant access to word representations in the brain: activity in the perisylvian language network characterised by specific activation enhancement for familiar words, starting as early as ~70 ms after the onset of unattended word stimuli and underpinned by temporal and inferior-frontal cortices.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yury Shtyrov
- Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience (CFIN), Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.,Centre for Cognition and Decision Making, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia
| | - Lucy J MacGregor
- Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, UK
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Pediatric applications of functional magnetic resonance imaging. Pediatr Radiol 2015; 45 Suppl 3:S382-96. [PMID: 26346144 DOI: 10.1007/s00247-015-3365-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2014] [Revised: 10/31/2014] [Accepted: 02/23/2015] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
Pediatric functional MRI has been used for the last 2 decades but is now gaining wide acceptance in the preoperative workup of children with brain tumors and medically refractory epilepsy. This review covers pediatrics-specific difficulties such as sedation and task paradigm selection according to the child's age and cognitive level. We also illustrate the increasing uses of functional MRI in the depiction of cognitive function, neuropsychiatric disorders and response to pharmacological agents. Finally, we review the uses of resting-state fMRI in the evaluation of children and in the detection of epileptogenic regions.
Collapse
|
8
|
Ruiz MJ, Hupé JM. Assessment of the hemispheric lateralization of grapheme-color synesthesia with Stroop-type tests. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0119377. [PMID: 25793307 PMCID: PMC4368719 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0119377] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2014] [Accepted: 01/30/2015] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Grapheme-color synesthesia, the idiosyncratic, arbitrary association of colors to letters or numbers, develops in childhood once reading is mastered. Because language processing is strongly left-lateralized in most individuals, we hypothesized that grapheme-color synesthesia could be left-lateralized as well. We used synesthetic versions of the Stroop test with colored letters and numbers presented either in the right or the left visual field of thirty-four synesthetes. Interference by synesthetic colors was stronger for stimuli in the right hemifield (first experiment, color naming task). Synesthetes were also faster in the right hemifield when naming the synesthetic color of graphemes (second experiment). Overall, the lateralization effect was 7 ms (the 95% confidence interval was [1.5 12] ms), a delay compatible with an additional callosal transfer for stimuli presented in the left hemifield. Though weak, this effect suggests that the association of synesthetic colors to graphemes may be preferentially processed in the left hemisphere. We speculate that this left-lateralization could be a landmark of synesthetic grapheme-color associations, if not found for color associations learnt by non-synesthete adults.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Mathieu J Ruiz
- Grenoble Institut des Neurosciences, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale U836 & Université Grenoble Alpes, 38000 Grenoble, France; Centre de Recherche Cerveau et Cognition, Université de Toulouse & Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 31300 Toulouse, France
| | - Jean-Michel Hupé
- Centre de Recherche Cerveau et Cognition, Université de Toulouse & Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 31300 Toulouse, France
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Krishnan S, Leech R, Mercure E, Lloyd-Fox S, Dick F. Convergent and Divergent fMRI Responses in Children and Adults to Increasing Language Production Demands. Cereb Cortex 2014; 25:3261-77. [PMID: 24907249 PMCID: PMC4585486 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhu120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
In adults, patterns of neural activation associated with perhaps the most basic language skill—overt object naming—are extensively modulated by the psycholinguistic and visual complexity of the stimuli. Do children's brains react similarly when confronted with increasing processing demands, or they solve this problem in a different way? Here we scanned 37 children aged 7–13 and 19 young adults who performed a well-normed picture-naming task with 3 levels of difficulty. While neural organization for naming was largely similar in childhood and adulthood, adults had greater activation in all naming conditions over inferior temporal gyri and superior temporal gyri/supramarginal gyri. Manipulating naming complexity affected adults and children quite differently: neural activation, especially over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, showed complexity-dependent increases in adults, but complexity-dependent decreases in children. These represent fundamentally different responses to the linguistic and conceptual challenges of a simple naming task that makes no demands on literacy or metalinguistics. We discuss how these neural differences might result from different cognitive strategies used by adults and children during lexical retrieval/production as well as developmental changes in brain structure and functional connectivity.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Saloni Krishnan
- Birkbeck-UCL Centre for NeuroImaging, London, UK Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK
| | - Robert Leech
- Department of Neurosciences and Mental Health, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | | | - Sarah Lloyd-Fox
- Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK
| | - Frederic Dick
- Birkbeck-UCL Centre for NeuroImaging, London, UK Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Taylor JSH, Rastle K, Davis MH. Distinct neural specializations for learning to read words and name objects. J Cogn Neurosci 2014; 26:2128-54. [PMID: 24666161 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_00614] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Understanding the neural systems that underpin reading acquisition is key if neuroscientific findings are to inform educational practice. We provide a unique window into these systems by teaching 19 adults to read 24 novel words written in unfamiliar letters and to name 24 novel objects while in an MRI scanner. Behavioral performance on trained items was equivalent for the two stimulus types. However, componential letter-sound associations were extracted when learning to read, as shown by correct reading of untrained words, whereas object-name associations were holistic and arbitrary. Activity in bilateral anterior fusiform gyri was greater during object name learning than learning to read, and ROI analyses indicated that left mid-fusiform activity was predictive of success in object name learning but not in learning to read. In contrast, activity in bilateral parietal cortices was predictive of success for both stimulus types but was greater during learning and recall of written word pronunciations relative to object names. We argue that mid-to-anterior fusiform gyri preferentially process whole items and contribute to learning their spoken form associations, processes that are required for skilled reading. In contrast, parietal cortices preferentially process componential visual-verbal mappings, a process that is crucial for early reading development.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- J S H Taylor
- Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, UK
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
11
|
Daffner KR, Alperin BR, Mott KK, Holcomb PJ. Age-related differences in the automatic processing of single letters: implications for selective attention. Neuroreport 2014; 25:77-82. [PMID: 24162742 PMCID: PMC3907075 DOI: 10.1097/wnr.0000000000000027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Older adults exhibit diminished ability to inhibit the processing of visual stimuli that are supposed to be ignored. The extent to which age-related changes in early visual processing contribute to impairments in selective attention remains to be determined. Here, 103 adults, 18-85 years of age, completed a color selective attention task in which they were asked to attend to a specified color and respond to designated target letters. An optimal approach would be to initially filter according to color and then process letter forms in the attend color to identify targets. An asymmetric N170 ERP component (larger amplitude over left posterior hemisphere sites) was used as a marker of the early automatic processing of letter forms. Young and middle-aged adults did not generate an asymmetric N170 component. In contrast, young-old and old-old adults produced a larger N170 over the left hemisphere. Furthermore, older adults generated a larger N170 to letter than nonletter stimuli over the left, but not right hemisphere. More asymmetric N170 responses predicted greater allocation of late selection resources to target letters in the ignore color, as indexed by P3b amplitude. These results suggest that unlike their younger counterparts, older adults automatically process stimuli as letters early in the selection process, when it would be more efficient to attend to color only. The inability to ignore letters early in the processing stream helps explain the age-related increase in subsequent processing of target letter forms presented in the ignore color.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kirk R Daffner
- aCenter for Brain/Mind Medicine, Division of Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology, Department of Neurology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston bDepartment of Psychology, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, USA
| | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
12
|
DeWitt I, Rauschecker JP. Wernicke's area revisited: parallel streams and word processing. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2013; 127:181-91. [PMID: 24404576 PMCID: PMC4098851 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2013.09.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 81] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/13/2023]
Abstract
Auditory word-form recognition was originally proposed by Wernicke to occur within left superior temporal gyrus (STG), later further specified to be in posterior STG. To account for clinical observations (specifically paraphasia), Wernicke proposed his sensory speech center was also essential for correcting output from frontal speech-motor regions. Recent work, in contrast, has established a role for anterior STG, part of the auditory ventral stream, in the recognition of species-specific vocalizations in nonhuman primates and word-form recognition in humans. Recent work also suggests monitoring self-produced speech and motor control are associated with posterior STG, part of the auditory dorsal stream. Working without quantitative methods or evidence of sensory cortex' hierarchical organization, Wernicke co-localized functions that today appear dissociable. "Wernicke's area" thus may be better construed as two cortical modules, an auditory word-form area (AWFA) in the auditory ventral stream and an "inner speech area" in the auditory dorsal stream.
Collapse
|
13
|
Distributed circuits, not circumscribed centers, mediate visual recognition. Trends Cogn Sci 2013; 17:210-9. [PMID: 23608364 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2013.03.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 202] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2013] [Revised: 03/29/2013] [Accepted: 03/29/2013] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Increasingly, the neural mechanisms that support visual cognition are being conceptualized as a distributed but integrated system, as opposed to a set of individual, specialized regions that each subserve a particular visual behavior. Consequently, there is an emerging emphasis on characterizing the functional, structural,and computational properties of these broad networks [corrected]. We present a novel theoretical perspective, which elucidates the developmental emergence, computational properties, and vulnerabilities of integrated circuits using face and word recognition as model domains. Additionally, we suggest that, rather than being disparate and independent, these neural circuits are overlapping and subject to the same computational constraints. Specifically, we argue that both word and face recognition rely on fine-grained visual representations but, by virtue of pressure to couple visual and language areas and to keep connection length short, the left hemisphere becomes more finely tuned for word recognition and, consequently, the right hemisphere becomes more finely tuned for face recognition. Thus, both hemispheres ultimately participate in both forms of visual recognition, but their respective contributions are asymmetrically weighted.
Collapse
|
14
|
Stevens C, McIlraith A, Rusk N, Niermeyer M, Waller H. Relative laterality of the N170 to single letter stimuli is predicted by a concurrent neural index of implicit processing of letternames. Neuropsychologia 2013; 51:667-74. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2012.12.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2012] [Revised: 12/13/2012] [Accepted: 12/17/2012] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
|
15
|
Dundas EM, Plaut DC, Behrmann M. The joint development of hemispheric lateralization for words and faces. J Exp Psychol Gen 2012; 142:348-58. [PMID: 22866684 DOI: 10.1037/a0029503] [Citation(s) in RCA: 114] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Consistent with long-standing findings from behavioral studies, neuroimaging investigations have identified a region of the inferior temporal cortex that, in adults, shows greater face selectivity in the right than left hemisphere and, conversely, a region that shows greater word selectivity in the left than right hemisphere. What has not been determined is how this pattern of mature hemispheric specialization emerges over the course of development. The present study examines the hemispheric superiority for faces and words in children, young adolescents and adults in a discrimination task in which stimuli are presented briefly in either hemifield. Whereas adults showed the expected left and right visual field superiority for face and word discrimination, respectively, the young adolescents demonstrated only the right-field superiority for words and no field superiority for faces. Although the children's overall accuracy was lower than that of the older groups, like the young adolescents, they exhibited a right visual field superiority for words but no field superiority for faces. Interestingly, the emergence of face lateralization was correlated with reading competence, measured on an independent standardized test, after regressing out age, quantitative reasoning scores, and face discrimination accuracy. Taken together, these findings suggest that the hemispheric organization of face and word recognition do not develop independently and that word lateralization, which emerges earlier, may drive later face lateralization. A theoretical account in which competition for visual representations unfolds over the course of development is proposed to account for the findings.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Eva M Dundas
- Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890, USA.
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
16
|
Englund JA, Palomares M. The relationship of global form and motion detection to reading fluency. Vision Res 2012; 67:14-21. [PMID: 22776701 DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2012.06.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2011] [Revised: 06/27/2012] [Accepted: 06/28/2012] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Visual motion processing in typical and atypical readers has suggested aspects of reading and motion processing share a common cortical network rooted in dorsal visual areas. Few studies have examined the relationship between reading performance and visual form processing, which is mediated by ventral cortical areas. We investigated whether reading fluency correlates with coherent motion detection thresholds in typically developing children using random dot kinematograms. As a comparison, we also evaluated the correlation between reading fluency and static form detection thresholds. Results show that both dorsal and ventral visual functions correlated with components of reading fluency, but that they have different developmental characteristics. Motion coherence thresholds correlated with reading rate and accuracy, which both improved with chronological age. Interestingly, when controlling for non-verbal abilities and age, reading accuracy significantly correlated with thresholds for coherent form detection but not coherent motion detection in typically developing children. Dorsal visual functions that mediate motion coherence seem to be related maturation of broad cognitive functions including non-verbal abilities and reading fluency. However, ventral visual functions that mediate form coherence seem to be specifically related to accurate reading in typically developing children.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Julia A Englund
- Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, United States
| | | |
Collapse
|
17
|
Price CJ. A review and synthesis of the first 20 years of PET and fMRI studies of heard speech, spoken language and reading. Neuroimage 2012; 62:816-47. [PMID: 22584224 PMCID: PMC3398395 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.04.062] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1257] [Impact Index Per Article: 104.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2011] [Revised: 04/25/2012] [Accepted: 04/30/2012] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
The anatomy of language has been investigated with PET or fMRI for more than 20 years. Here I attempt to provide an overview of the brain areas associated with heard speech, speech production and reading. The conclusions of many hundreds of studies were considered, grouped according to the type of processing, and reported in the order that they were published. Many findings have been replicated time and time again leading to some consistent and undisputable conclusions. These are summarised in an anatomical model that indicates the location of the language areas and the most consistent functions that have been assigned to them. The implications for cognitive models of language processing are also considered. In particular, a distinction can be made between processes that are localized to specific structures (e.g. sensory and motor processing) and processes where specialisation arises in the distributed pattern of activation over many different areas that each participate in multiple functions. For example, phonological processing of heard speech is supported by the functional integration of auditory processing and articulation; and orthographic processing is supported by the functional integration of visual processing, articulation and semantics. Future studies will undoubtedly be able to improve the spatial precision with which functional regions can be dissociated but the greatest challenge will be to understand how different brain regions interact with one another in their attempts to comprehend and produce language.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Cathy J Price
- Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, UCL, London WC1N 3BG, UK.
| |
Collapse
|
18
|
Daffner KR, Zhuravleva TY, Sun X, Tarbi EC, Haring AE, Rentz DM, Holcomb PJ. Does modulation of selective attention to features reflect enhancement or suppression of neural activity? Biol Psychol 2012; 89:398-407. [PMID: 22178708 PMCID: PMC3272645 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2011.12.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2011] [Revised: 11/22/2011] [Accepted: 12/01/2011] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Numerous studies have demonstrated that selective attention to color is associated with a larger neural response under attend than ignore conditions, but have not addressed whether this difference reflects enhanced activity under attend or suppressed activity under ignore. In this study, a color-neutral condition was included, which presented stimuli physically identical to those under attend and ignore conditions, but in which color was not task relevant. Attention to color did not modulate the early sensory-evoked P1 and N1 components. Traditional ERP markers of early selection (the anterior Selection Positivity and posterior Selection Negativity) did not differ between the attend and neutral conditions, arguing against a mechanism of enhanced activity. However, there were markedly reduced responses under the ignore relative to the neutral condition, consistent with the view that early selection mechanisms reflect suppression of neural activity under the ignore condition.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kirk R Daffner
- Center for Brain/Mind Medicine, Division of Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology, Department of Neurology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 221 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
19
|
Abstract
Spoken word recognition requires complex, invariant representations. Using a meta-analytic approach incorporating more than 100 functional imaging experiments, we show that preference for complex sounds emerges in the human auditory ventral stream in a hierarchical fashion, consistent with nonhuman primate electrophysiology. Examining speech sounds, we show that activation associated with the processing of short-timescale patterns (i.e., phonemes) is consistently localized to left mid-superior temporal gyrus (STG), whereas activation associated with the integration of phonemes into temporally complex patterns (i.e., words) is consistently localized to left anterior STG. Further, we show left mid- to anterior STG is reliably implicated in the invariant representation of phonetic forms and that this area also responds preferentially to phonetic sounds, above artificial control sounds or environmental sounds. Together, this shows increasing encoding specificity and invariance along the auditory ventral stream for temporally complex speech sounds.
Collapse
|
20
|
Snyder AN, Bockbrader MA, Hoffa AM, Dzemidzic MA, Talavage TM, Wong D, Lowe MJ, O'Donnell BF, Shekhar A. Psychometrically matched tasks evaluating differential fMRI activation during form and motion processing. Neuropsychology 2012; 25:622-33. [PMID: 21534685 DOI: 10.1037/a0022984] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Deficits in visual perception and working memory are commonly observed in neuropsychiatric disorders and have been investigated using functional MRI (fMRI). However, interpretation of differences in brain activation may be confounded with differences in task performance between groups. Differences in task difficulty across conditions may also pose interpretative issues in studies of visual processing in healthy subjects. METHOD To address these concerns, the present study characterized brain activation in tasks that were psychometrically matched for difficulty; fMRI was used to assess brain activation in 10 healthy subjects during discrimination and working memory judgments for static and moving stimuli. For all task conditions, performance accuracy was matched at 70.7%. RESULTS Areas associated with V2 and V5 in the dorsal stream were activated during motion processing tasks and V4 in the ventral stream were activated during form processing tasks. Frontoparietal areas associated with working memory were also statistically significant during the working memory tasks. CONCLUSIONS Application of psychophysical methods to equate task demands provides a practical method to equate performance levels across conditions in fMRI studies and to compare healthy and cognitively impaired groups at comparable levels of effort. These psychometrically matched tasks can be applied to patients with a variety of cognitive disorders to investigate dysfunction of multiple a priori defined brain regions. Measuring the changes in typical activation patterns in patients with these diseases can be useful for monitoring disease progression, evaluating new drug treatments, and possibly for developing methods for early diagnosis.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Andrea N Snyder
- Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
21
|
Abstract
Task-based neuroimaging studies face the challenge of developing tasks capable of equivalently probing reading networks across different age groups. Resting-state fMRI, which requires no specific task, circumvents these difficulties. Here, in 25 children (8-14 years) and 25 adults (21-46 years), we examined the extent to which individual differences in reading competence can be related to resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) of regions implicated in reading. In both age groups, reading standard scores correlated positively with RSFC between the left precentral gyrus and other motor regions, and between Broca's and Wernicke's areas. This suggests that, regardless of age group, stronger coupling among motor regions, as well as between language/speech regions, subserves better reading, presumably reflecting automatized articulation. We also observed divergent RSFC-behavior relationships in children and adults, particularly those anchored in the left fusiform gyrus (FFG) (the visual word form area). In adults, but not children, better reading performance was associated with stronger positive correlations between FFG and phonology-related regions (Broca's area and the left inferior parietal lobule), and with stronger negative relationships between FFG and regions of the "task-negative" default network. These results suggest that both positive RSFC (functional coupling) between reading regions and negative RSFC (functional segregation) between a reading region and default network regions are important for automatized reading, characteristic of adult readers. Together, our task-independent RSFC findings highlight the importance of appreciating developmental changes in the neural correlates of reading competence, and suggest that RSFC may serve to facilitate the identification of reading disorders in different age groups.
Collapse
|
22
|
Abstract
Skilled reading requires recognizing written words rapidly; functional neuroimaging research has clarified how the written word initiates a series of responses in visual cortex. These responses are communicated to circuits in ventral occipitotemporal (VOT) cortex that learn to identify words rapidly. Structural neuroimaging has further clarified aspects of the white matter pathways that communicate reading signals between VOT and language systems. We review this circuitry, its development, and its deficiencies in poor readers. This review emphasizes data that measure the cortical responses and white matter pathways in individual subjects rather than group differences. Such methods have the potential to clarify why a child has difficulty learning to read and to offer guidance about the interventions that may be useful for that child.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Brian A Wandell
- Psychology Department, Stanford University, California 94305, USA.
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
23
|
Price CJ, Devlin JT. The interactive account of ventral occipitotemporal contributions to reading. Trends Cogn Sci 2011; 15:246-53. [PMID: 21549634 PMCID: PMC3223525 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2011.04.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 439] [Impact Index Per Article: 33.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2011] [Revised: 04/04/2011] [Accepted: 04/05/2011] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
The ventral occipitotemporal cortex (vOT) is involved in the perception of visually presented objects and written words. The Interactive Account of vOT function is based on the premise that perception involves the synthesis of bottom-up sensory input with top-down predictions that are generated automatically from prior experience. We propose that vOT integrates visuospatial features abstracted from sensory inputs with higher level associations such as speech sounds, actions and meanings. In this context, specialization for orthography emerges from regional interactions without assuming that vOT is selectively tuned to orthographic features. We discuss how the Interactive Account explains left vOT responses during normal reading and developmental dyslexia; and how it accounts for the behavioural consequences of left vOT damage.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Cathy J. Price
- Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuro-imaging, University College London, London WC1N 3BG, UK
| | - Joseph T. Devlin
- Cognitive, Perceptual and Brain Sciences, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University of London, London WC1E 6BT, UK
| |
Collapse
|
24
|
Price CJ, Devlin JT. The interactive account of ventral occipitotemporal contributions to reading. Trends Cogn Sci 2011. [PMID: 21549634 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2011.04.001.] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
The ventral occipitotemporal cortex (vOT) is involved in the perception of visually presented objects and written words. The Interactive Account of vOT function is based on the premise that perception involves the synthesis of bottom-up sensory input with top-down predictions that are generated automatically from prior experience. We propose that vOT integrates visuospatial features abstracted from sensory inputs with higher level associations such as speech sounds, actions and meanings. In this context, specialization for orthography emerges from regional interactions without assuming that vOT is selectively tuned to orthographic features. We discuss how the Interactive Account explains left vOT responses during normal reading and developmental dyslexia; and how it accounts for the behavioural consequences of left vOT damage.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Cathy J Price
- Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuro-imaging, University College London, London WC1N 3BG, UK
| | | |
Collapse
|
25
|
The physiology of developmental changes in BOLD functional imaging signals. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2011; 1:199-216. [PMID: 22436508 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2011.04.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 112] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2011] [Revised: 04/18/2011] [Accepted: 04/19/2011] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
BOLD fMRI (blood oxygenation level dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging) is increasingly used to detect developmental changes of human brain function that are hypothesized to underlie the maturation of cognitive processes. BOLD signals depend on neuronal activity increasing cerebral blood flow, and are reduced by neural oxygen consumption. Thus, developmental changes of BOLD signals may not reflect altered information processing if there are concomitant changes in neurovascular coupling (the mechanism by which neuronal activity increases blood flow) or neural energy use (and hence oxygen consumption). We review how BOLD signals are generated, and explain the signalling pathways which convert neuronal activity into increased blood flow. We then summarize in broad terms the developmental changes that the brain's neural circuitry undergoes during growth from childhood through adolescence to adulthood, and present the changes in neurovascular coupling mechanisms and energy use which occur over the same period. This information provides a framework for assessing whether the BOLD changes observed during human development reflect altered cognitive processing or changes in neurovascular coupling and energy use.
Collapse
|