Forgetting of Emotional Information Is Hard: An fMRI Study of Directed Forgetting

Strong evidence suggests that memory for emotional information is much better than for neutral one. Thus, one may expect that forgetting of emotional information is difficult and requires considerable effort. The aim of this item-method directed forgetting functional magnetic resonance imaging study was to investigate this hypothesis both at behavioral and neural levels. Directed forgetting effects were observed for both neutral and emotionally negative International Affective Picture System images. Moreover, recognition rate of negative to-be-forgotten images was higher than in case of neutral ones. In the study phase, intention to forget and successful forgetting of emotionally negative images were associated with widespread activations extending from the anterior to posterior regions mainly in the right hemisphere, whereas in the case of neutral images, they were associated with just one cluster of activation in the right lingual gyrus. Therefore, forgetting of emotional information seems to be a demanding process that strongly activates a distributed neural network in the right hemisphere. In the test phase, in turn, successfully forgotten images—either neutral or emotionally negative—were associated with virtually no activation, even at the lowered P value threshold. These results suggest that intentional inhibition during encoding may be an efficient strategy to cope with emotionally negative memorie

The role of the left ventral occipitotemporal cortex in speech processing—The influence of visual deprivation

The role of the left ventral occipitotemporal cortex (vOT) in reading is well-established in both sighted and blind readers. Its role in speech processing remains only partially understood. Here, we test the involvement of the left vOT in phonological processing of spoken language in the blind (N = 50, age: 6.76–60.32) and in the sighted (N = 54, age: 6.79–59.83) by means of whole-brain and region-of-interest (including individually identified) fMRI analyses. We confirm that the left vOT is sensitive to phonological processing (shows greater involvement in rhyming compared to control spoken language task) in both blind and sighted participants. However, in the sighted, the activation was observed only during the rhyming task and in the speech-specific region of the left vOT, pointing to task and modality specificity. In contrast, in the blind group, the left vOT was active during speech processing irrespective of task and in both speech and reading-specific vOT regions. Only in the blind, the left vOT presented a higher degree of sensitivity to phonological processing than other language nodes in the left inferior frontal and superior temporal cortex. Our results suggest a changed development of the left vOT sensitivity to spoken language, resulting from visual deprivation

Neither action nor phonological video games make dyslexic children read better

The prevalence and long-term consequences of dyslexia make it crucial to look for effective and efficient ways of its therapy. Action video games (AVG) were implied as a possible remedy for difficulties in reading in Italian and English-speaking children. However, the studies examining the effectiveness of AVG application in dyslexia suffered from significant methodological weaknesses such as small sample sizes and lack of a control group with no intervention. In our study, we tested how two forms of training: based on AVG and on phonological non-action video games (PNAVG), affect reading in a group of fifty-four Polish children with dyslexia. Both speed and accuracy of reading increased in AVG as much as in PNAVG group. Moreover, both groups improved in phonological awareness, selective attention and rapid naming. Critically, the reading progress in the two groups did not differ from a dyslexic control group which did not participate in any training. Thus, the observed improvement in reading in AVG and PNAVG can be attributed either to the normal reading development related to schooling or to test practice effect. Overall, we failed to replicate previous studies: Neither AVG nor PNAVG remedy difficulties in reading in school children

Sex-Specific Relationship of Childhood Adversity With Gray Matter Volume and Temperament

Background: To date, many studies have attempted to show a relationship between potentially harmful experiences in childhood and gray matter volume (GMV) in specific brain areas. These studies managed to identify several affected regions, yet most of them neglected the influence of sex or the occurrence of mental health problems. Furthermore, little is known about mechanisms linking childhood adversity (CA) and temperamental traits as plausible endophenotypes of psychopathology.Objective: The present study addresses these two issues by trying to identify sex-specific relationships between CA and brain volumes as well as to show the role of the latter in predicting temperament scores.Method: Forty-eight people (23 women) without anxiety or affective disorders participated in this study. CA was measured using the Childhood Questionnaire (CQ) and temperament was measured with the use of the behavioral inhibition system-behavioral activation system (BIS-BAS) Scales. Whole-brain MR imaging was performed to identify GMV differences.Results: In women, we identified negative relationships between CA and GMV in the left inferior parietal lobule (IPL), right cerebellum, and right precentral gyrus. In men, we found a negative correlation between CA and GMV in the right fusiform gyrus. We also identified sex-specific relationships between CA and temperament traits.Conclusions: The results of our study suggest a sex-specific pattern in the relationship between early adverse experiences and brain structure. The results can also help explain the role that temperament plays in the relationship between CA and the risk of psychopathology

Structural reorganization of the early visual cortex following Braille training in sighted adults

Training can induce cross-modal plasticity in the human cortex. A well-known example of this phenomenon is the recruitment of visual areas for tactile and auditory processing. It remains unclear to what extent such plasticity is associated with changes in anatomy. Here we enrolled 29 sighted adults into a nine-month tactile Braille-reading training, and used voxel-based morphometry and diffusion tensor imaging to describe the resulting anatomical changes. In addition, we collected resting-state fMRI data to relate these changes to functional connectivity between visual and somatosensory-motor cortices. Following Braille-training, we observed substantial grey and white matter reorganization in the anterior part of early visual cortex (peripheral visual field). Moreover, relative to its posterior, foveal part, the peripheral representation of early visual cortex had stronger functional connections to somatosensory and motor cortices even before the onset of training. Previous studies show that the early visual cortex can be functionally recruited for tactile discrimination, including recognition of Braille characters. Our results demonstrate that reorganization in this region induced by tactile training can also be anatomical. This change most likely reflects a strengthening of existing connectivity between the peripheral visual cortex and somatosensory cortices, which suggests a putative mechanism for cross-modal recruitment of visual areas

Functional reorganization of the reading network in the course of foreign language acquisition

During foreign language acquisition neural representations of native language and foreign language assimilate. In the reading network, this assimilation leads to a shift from effortful processing to automated reading. Longitudinal studies can track this transition and reveal dynamics that might not become apparent in behavior. Here, we report results from a longitudinal functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, which tracked functional changes in the reading network of beginning learners of Greek over one year. We deliberately chose Greek as foreign language that would have similar orthographic transparency but a different alphabet than the native language (Polish). fMRI scans with lexical and semantic decision tasks were performed at five different time points (every similar to 3 months). Classical language areas (the left inferior frontal gyrus, the left precentral gyrus, and the bilateral supplementary motor cortex), and cognitive control areas (left inferior parietal lobe and bilateral anterior cingulate cortex) showed stronger activation after the first months of instruction as compared to the activation before instruction. This pattern occured in both tasks. Task-related activity in the reading network remained constant throughout the remaining 6 months of learning and was also present in a follow-up scan 3 months after the end of the course. A similar pattern was demonstrated by the analysis of convergence between foreign and native languages occurring within the first months of learning. Additionally, in the lexical task, the extent of spatial overlap, between foreign and native language in Broca's area increased constantly from the beginning till the end of training. Our findings support the notion that reorganization of language networks is achieved after a relatively short time of foreign language instruction. We also demonstrate that cognitive control areas are recruited in foreign language reading at low proficiency levels. No apparent changes in the foreign or native reading network occur after the initial 3 months of learning. This suggests that task demand might be more important than proficiency in regulating the resources needed for efficient foreign language reading

Forgetting of emotional information is hard: an fMRI study of directed forgetting

Strong evidence suggests that memory for emotional information is much better than for neutral one. Thus, one may expect that forgetting of emotional information is difficult and requires considerable effort. The aim of this item-method directed forgetting functional magnetic resonance imaging study was to investigate this hypothesis both at behavioral and neural levels. Directed forgetting effects were observed for both neutral and emotionally negative International Affective Picture System images. Moreover, recognition rate of negative to-be-forgotten images was higher than in case of neutral ones. In the study phase, intention to forget and successful forgetting of emotionally negative images were associated with widespread activations extending from the anterior to posterior regions mainly in the right hemisphere, whereas in the case of neutral images, they were associated with just one cluster of activation in the right lingual gyrus. Therefore, forgetting of emotional information seems to be a demanding process that strongly activates a distributed neural network in the right hemisphere. In the test phase, in turn, successfully forgotten images--either neutral or emotionally negative--were associated with virtually no activation, even at the lowered P value threshold. These results suggest that intentional inhibition during encoding may be an efficient strategy to cope with emotionally negative memories

Niejęzykowe deficyty poznawcze u dzieci z dysleksją rozwojową i jej ryzykiem – przegląd badań

Learning to read depends on the development of a number of cognitive functions. Along with poor phonology skills, many dyslexic children show difficulties in several specific nonverbal abilities. Their identification during preschool or early primary school should enhance efficient prediction of dyslexia. The article presents research evidence on the deficits of dyslexic children in coherent motion detection, automatisation, attention shifting, visual attention span, and anchoring. Exemplar tasks for their assessment are described