Reading a story. Different degrees of learning in different learning environments

he learning environment in which material is acquired may produce differences in delayed recall and in the elements that individuals focus on. These differences may appear even during development. In the present study, we compared three different learning environments in 450 normally developing 7-year-old children subdivided into three groups according to the type of learning environment. Specifically, children were asked to learn the same material shown in three different learning environments: reading illustrated books (TB); interacting with the same text displayed on a PC monitor and enriched with interactive activities (PC-IA); reading the same text on a PC monitor but not enriched with interactive narratives (PC-NoIA). Our results demonstrated that TB and PC-NoIA elicited better verbal memory recall. In contrast, PC-IA and PCNoIA produced higher scores for visuo-spatial memory, enhancing memory for spatial relations, positions and colors with respect to TB. Interestingly, only TB seemed to produce a deeper comprehension of the story's moral. Our results indicated that PC-IA offered a different type of learning that favored visual details. In this sense, interactive activities demonstrate certain limitations, probably due to information overabundance, emotional mobilization, emphasis on images and effort exerted in interactive activities. Thus, interactive activities, although entertaining, act as disruptive elements which interfere with verbal memory and deep moral comprehensio

Lapsen aivojen toiminnallinen kehitys kielenkehityksen näkökulmasta

Tämän syventävien opintojen kirjallisen työn aiheena on lapsen aivojen toiminnallinen kehitys, jota työssä tarkastellaan kielenkehityksen näkökulmasta. Työ on muodoltaan kirjallisuuskatsaus. Katsauksen tarkoituksena on luoda yleiskäsitys lapsen kielellisten tehtävien aikaisen aivotoiminnan ja aivojen rakenteen kehityksestä 2-12 ikävuoden välillä. Aihetta käsitellään laajasti eri kielen ulottuvuuksien, kuten lukemisen, puheen tuoton ja kielen ymmärtämisen, kautta. Katsaus keskittyy terveiden lasten normaalikehitykseen ja pyrkii ymmärtämään lapsen aivojen toiminnalle ominaisia piirteitä ja niiden kehitystä kohti aikuistyppistä aivotoimintaa. Kirjallisuuskatsauksen aineiston muodostavat PubMed-tietokannasta haetut lapsuuden aikaista aivotoimintaa ja kielellistä tiedonkäsittelyä käsittelevät artikkelit. Katsaukseen hyväksyttiin ainoastaan 2-12 -vuotiaita terveitä ja normaalisti kehittyviä lapsia käsitteleviä tutkimuksia. Lisäksi valittujen tutkimusten tuli käsitellä kielitaitojen ja aivojen toiminnan välistä yhteyttä. Lapsen aivojen toiminta kielellisen tiedonkäsittelyn aikana muistuttaa suurelta osin aikuistyppistä jo alle 5-vuotiaasta lähtien, mutta lasten ja aikuisten välillä on havaittavissa myös eroavaisuuksia. Lapsilla aktivoituvat kielenkäsittelyn aikana pitkälti samat aivoalueet kuin aikuisilla, mutta lapset hyödyntävät tunnettujen kielialueiden lisäksi aikuisia laajemmin myös epäspesifejä aivojen apualueita. Kehityksen ja taitojen karttumisen edetessä aivotoiminta kohdentuu tiukemmin tehtäväspesifisille aivoalueille, jolloin apualueiden rooli vähenee. Kohdentumisen aikataulu ja voimakkuus vaihtelevat kielen eri ulottuvuuksien ja yksilöiden välillä. Lapset myös hyödyntävät aikuisia laajemmin molempia aivopuoliskoja kielellisessä tiedonkäsittelyssään, vaikkakin lapsuuden aikaisessa lateralisaatioasteessa ja sen kehityksessä on merkittäviä eroja kielen eri ulottuvuuksien välillä

Children's Brain Development Benefits from Longer Gestation

Disruptions to brain development associated with shortened gestation place individuals at risk for the development of behavioral and psychological dysfunction throughout the lifespan. The purpose of the present study was to determine if the benefit for brain development conferred by increased gestational length exists on a continuum across the gestational age spectrum among healthy children with a stable neonatal course. Neurodevelopment was evaluated with structural magnetic resonance imaging in 100 healthy right-handed 6- to 10-year-old children born between 28 and 41 gestational weeks with a stable neonatal course. Data indicate that a longer gestational period confers an advantage for neurodevelopment. Longer duration of gestation was associated with region-specific increases in gray matter density. Further, the benefit of longer gestation for brain development was present even when only children born full term were considered. These findings demonstrate that even modest decreases in the duration of gestation can exert profound and lasting effects on neurodevelopment for both term and preterm infants and may contribute to long-term risk for health and disease

Comparison of Functional Network Connectivity for Passive-Listening and Active-Response Narrative Comprehension in Adolescents

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

A Linear Structural Equation Model for Covert Verb Generation Based on Independent Component Analysis of fMRI Data from Children and Adolescents

Human language is a complex and protean cognitive ability. Young children, following well defined developmental patterns learn language rapidly and effortlessly producing full sentences by the age of 3 years. However, the language circuitry continues to undergo significant neuroplastic changes extending well into teenage years. Evidence suggests that the developing brain adheres to two rudimentary principles of functional organization: functional integration and functional specialization. At a neurobiological level, this distinction can be identified with progressive specialization or focalization reflecting consolidation and synaptic reinforcement of a network (Lenneberg, 1967; Muller et al., 1998; Berl et al., 2006). In this paper, we used group independent component analysis and linear structural equation modeling (McIntosh and Gonzalez-Lima, 1994; Karunanayaka et al., 2007) to tease out the developmental trajectories of the language circuitry based on fMRI data from 336 children ages 5–18 years performing a blocked, covert verb generation task. The results are analyzed and presented in the framework of theoretical models for neurocognitive brain development. This study highlights the advantages of combining both modular and connectionist approaches to cognitive functions; from a methodological perspective, it demonstrates the feasibility of combining data-driven and hypothesis driven techniques to investigate the developmental shifts in the semantic network

Visual and linguistic narrative comprehension in autism spectrum disorders:Neural evidence for modality-independent impairments

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have notable language difficulties, including with understanding narratives. However, most narrative comprehension studies have used written or spoken narratives, making it unclear whether narrative difficulties stem from language impairments or more global impairments in the kinds of general cognitive processes (such as understanding meaning and structural sequencing) that are involved in narrative comprehension. Using event-related potentials (ERPs), we directly compared semantic comprehension of linguistic narratives (short sentences) and visual narratives (comic panels) in adults with ASD and typically-developing (TD) adults. Compared to the TD group, the ASD group showed reduced N400 effects for both linguistic and visual narratives, suggesting comprehension impairments for both types of narratives and thereby implicating a more domain-general impairment. Based on these results, we propose that individuals with ASD use a more bottom-up style of processing during narrative comprehension

A Baseline for the Multivariate Comparison of Resting-State Networks

As the size of functional and structural MRI datasets expands, it becomes increasingly important to establish a baseline from which diagnostic relevance may be determined, a processing strategy that efficiently prepares data for analysis, and a statistical approach that identifies important effects in a manner that is both robust and reproducible. In this paper, we introduce a multivariate analytic approach that optimizes sensitivity and reduces unnecessary testing. We demonstrate the utility of this mega-analytic approach by identifying the effects of age and gender on the resting-state networks (RSNs) of 603 healthy adolescents and adults (mean age: 23.4 years, range: 12–71 years). Data were collected on the same scanner, preprocessed using an automated analysis pipeline based in SPM, and studied using group independent component analysis. RSNs were identified and evaluated in terms of three primary outcome measures: time course spectral power, spatial map intensity, and functional network connectivity. Results revealed robust effects of age on all three outcome measures, largely indicating decreases in network coherence and connectivity with increasing age. Gender effects were of smaller magnitude but suggested stronger intra-network connectivity in females and more inter-network connectivity in males, particularly with regard to sensorimotor networks. These findings, along with the analysis approach and statistical framework described here, provide a useful baseline for future investigations of brain networks in health and disease