scholarly journals Do naps benefit novel word learning? Developmental differences and white matter correlates

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elaine van Rijn ◽  
Andre Gouws ◽  
Sarah Walker ◽  
victoria knowland ◽  
Scott Cairney ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
White Matter ◽  
Word Learning ◽  
Explicit Memory ◽  
Slow Wave Sleep ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Protective Role ◽  
Developmental Differences ◽  
Arcuate Fasciculus ◽  
Consolidation Process ◽  
Novel Words

Behavioural and neuroimaging data suggest that memory representations of newly learned words undergo changes during nocturnal sleep, including improvements in explicit recall and lexical integration (i.e., after sleep, novel words compete with existing words during online word recognition). Some studies have revealed larger sleep-benefits in children relative to adults. However, whether daytime naps play a similar facilitatory role is unclear. We investigated the effect of a daytime nap (relative to wake) on explicit memory (recall/recognition) and lexical integration (lexical competition) of newly learned novel words in young adults and children aged 10-12 years, also exploring white matter correlates of the pre- and post-nap effects of word learning in the child group with diffusion weighted MRI. In both age groups, a nap maintained explicit memory of novel words and wake led to forgetting. However, there was an age group interaction when comparing change in recall over the nap: children showed a slight improvement whereas adults showed a slight decline. There was no evidence of lexical integration at any point. Although children spent proportionally more time in slow-wave sleep (SWS) than adults, neither SWS nor spindle parameters correlated with over-nap changes in word learning. For children, increased fractional anisotropy (FA) in the uncinate fasciculus and arcuate fasciculus were associated with the recognition of novel words immediately after learning, and FA in the right arcuate fasciculus was further associated with changes in recall of novel words over a nap, supporting the importance of these tracts in the word learning and consolidation process. These findings point to a protective role of naps in word learning, and emphasize the need to advance theories of word learning by better understanding both the active and passive roles that sleep plays in supporting vocabulary consolidation over development.

scholarly journals 0086 Daytime Napping and Memory Consolidation of Novel Word Learning in Children and Adults

SLEEP ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. A35-A35
Author(s):  
E van Rijn ◽  
S A Walker ◽  
V C Knowland ◽  
S A Cairney ◽  
A D Gouws ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
White Matter ◽  
Memory Consolidation ◽  
Slow Wave Sleep ◽  
Diffusion Tensor ◽  
Brain Connectivity ◽  
Nrem Sleep ◽  
Sleep Spindles ◽  
Adults And Children ◽  
Structural Brain ◽  
Novel Words

Abstract Introduction Memory for novel words benefits from sleep, particularly non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep and its features, such as sleep spindles and slow oscillations. This is consistent with systems consolidation models, in which sleep supports transfer from hippocampal to neocortical memory networks. Larger amounts of slow wave sleep in children has been proposed to account for enhanced consolidation effects, but such studies have typically focused on nocturnal sleep. We examined whether daytime naps benefit word retention in adults and children aged 10–12 years, and whether this relationship in children is affected by differences in white matter pathway microstructure. We hypothesized that the link between memory consolidation and structural brain connectivity will be mediated by the degree of sleep spindles during the nap. Methods Adults (N = 31; mean age = 20.91, SD = 1.55) and children (N = 38; mean age = 11.95, SD = 0.88) learned spoken novel words, followed by a 90-minute nap opportunity monitored with polysomnography. Memory for the words was tested pre- and post-nap. Children’s structural brain connectivity was measured using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Results Word memory was preserved following sleep in adults, while an adult wake control condition showed deterioration. Similarly, in children memory performance was stable over the nap, with wake control data currently being collected. Analyses relating behavioral changes over the nap to NREM sleep features and structural brain connectivity will be presented. Conclusion In line with sleep-dependent memory consolidation models, daytime naps protect novel words from forgetting in adults and children. Examining potential relationships between nap-based consolidation and structural integrity has important theoretical implications, given the increase in brain connectivity in language areas during childhood, as well as white matter alterations in developmental populations. Support This research was supported by the UK Economic and Social Research Council, grant no. ES/N009924/1.

scholarly journals Tractography Alterations in the Arcuate and Uncinate Fasciculi in Post-Stroke Aphasia

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 53
Author(s):  
Sara Kierońska ◽  
Milena Świtońska ◽  
Grzegorz Meder ◽  
Magdalena Piotrowska ◽  
Paweł Sokal
Keyword(s):  
White Matter ◽  
Brain Connectivity ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Cerebral White Matter ◽  
Neural Pathways ◽  
Uncinate Fasciculus ◽  
Arcuate Fasciculus ◽  
Fiber Tractography ◽  
Post Stroke

Fiber tractography based on diffuse tensor imaging (DTI) can reveal three-dimensional white matter connectivity of the human brain. Tractography is a non-invasive method of visualizing cerebral white matter structures in vivo, including neural pathways surrounding the ischemic area. DTI may be useful for elucidating alterations in brain connectivity resulting from neuroplasticity after stroke. We present a case of a male patient who developed significant mixed aphasia following ischemic stroke. The patient had been treated by mechanical thrombectomy followed by an early rehabilitation, in conjunction with transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). DTI was used to examine the arcuate fasciculus and uncinate fasciculus upon admission and again at three months post-stroke. Results showed an improvement in the patient’s symptoms of aphasia, which was associated with changes in the volume and numbers of tracts in the uncinate fasciculus and the arcuate fasciculus.

scholarly journals White Matter Lesions as Possible Predictors of Audiological Performance in Adults after Cochlear Implantation

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 600
Author(s):  
Steffen Knopke ◽  
Hans-Christian Bauknecht ◽  
Stefan Gräbel ◽  
Sophia Marie Häußler ◽  
Agnieszka J. Szczepek ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
White Matter ◽  
Cochlear Implantation ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
White Matter Lesions ◽  
Periventricular White Matter ◽  
Rehabilitation Outcomes ◽  
Hearing Ability ◽  
Structural Brain Damage ◽  
Oldenburg Sentence Test

The presented prospective study investigated whether structural brain damage, measured with the Fazekas score, could predict hearing rehabilitation outcomes with cochlear implantation (CI). With a follow-up period of 24 months, this study included 49 bilaterally, postlingually hearing impaired CI candidates for unilateral CI (67.3 ± 8.7 years; 20 men, 29 women) older than 50 at the time of implantation. The differences in the predictive value between two age groups, 50–70 year-olds (mid-age; n = 26) and over 70-year-olds (elderly; n = 23), were analyzed. The patients were evaluated using speech perception (SP) measured in quiet (Freiburg monosyllabic test; FMT) and noise (Oldenburg sentence test; OLSA). The subjective hearing ability was assessed using Oldenburg inventory (OI). The Fazekas PVWM score predicted postoperative speech perception two years after CI in the mid-age population. The periventricular white matter lesions (PVWM) could explain 27.4% of the speech perception (FMT) variance. Our findings support the hypothesis about the influence of pre-existing WMLs on CI outcome. We recommend the evaluation of Fazekas score as a predictive factor for post-implantation hearing ability.

scholarly journals The effect of time pressure on metacognitive control: developmental changes in self-regulation and efficiency during learning

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gökhan Gönül ◽  
Nike Tsalas ◽  
Markus Paulus
Keyword(s):  
Time Allocation ◽  
Time Pressure ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Study Time ◽  
Developmental Differences ◽  
Developmental Changes ◽  
Metacognitive Control ◽  
Metacognitive Cues ◽  
Study Time Allocation

AbstractThe effect of time pressure on metacognitive control is of theoretical and empirical relevance and is likely to allow us to tap into developmental differences in performances which do not become apparent otherwise, as previous studies suggest. In the present study, we investigated the effect of time pressure on metacognitive control in three age groups (10-year-olds, 14-year-olds, and adults, n = 183). Using an established study time allocation paradigm, participants had to study two different sets of picture pairs, in an untimed and a timed condition. The results showed that metacognitive self-regulation of study time (monitor-based study time allocation) differed between age groups when studying under time pressure. Even though metacognitive control is firmly coupled at 10 years of age, the overall level of self-regulation of adults was higher than that of children and adolescents across both study time conditions. This suggests that adults might have been more sensitive to experiential metacognitive cues such as JoL for the control of study time. Moreover, the timed condition was found to be more effective than the untimed, with regard to study time allocation. Also, there was an age effect, with adults being more efficient than 10- and 14-year-olds.

scholarly journals Performance of Children in Phonemic and Semantic Verbal Fluency Tasks

Psico-USF ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 293-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gilmara de Lucena Leite ◽  
Izabel Augusta Hazin Pires ◽  
Laura Carolina Lemos Aragão ◽  
Artemis Paiva de Paula ◽  
Ediana Rossely de Oliveira Gomes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Explicit Memory ◽  
Verbal Fluency ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Memory Systems ◽  
Semantic Fluency ◽  
Age And Gender ◽  
Northeast Region ◽  
Semantic Verbal Fluency ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Brazilian Northeast

Abstract This study investigated the performance of children from the Brazilian Northeast region, from 7 to 10 years in phonemic and semantic verbal fluency tasks. The participants were 102 subjects (62 girls and 40 boys) who performed three phonemic and three semantic fluency tasks. The results were submitted to correlational and variance analysis to investigate the influence of the variables age and gender on the subjects performance. There was no effect of gender on the results. Significant contrasts between age groups were found, and better performance was observed on phonemic tasks. Also, the performance in this task changed along development, in contrast to what happened with the semantic fluency. The findings seem to be in accordance to neurodevelopmental aspects, taken into account that explicit memory systems show more precocious maturational course, with earlier consolidation, in comparison to the executive functions and frontal lobes, which go on developing until adult ages.

Two-year-olds differentially disambiguate novel words and facts

2007 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 875-889 ◽  
Author(s):  
JASON SCOFIELD ◽  
DOUGLAS A. BEHREND
Keyword(s):  
Word Learning ◽  
Word Condition ◽  
Pragmatic Account ◽  
Learning Principles ◽  
Unfamiliar Object ◽  
Novel Words

ABSTRACTWhen presented with a pair of objects, one familiar and one unfamiliar, and asked to select the referent of a novel word, children reliably demonstrate the disambiguation effect and select the unfamiliar object. The current study investigated two competing word learning accounts of this effect: a pragmatic account and a word learning principles account. Two-, three- and four-year-olds were presented with four disambiguation conditions, a word/word, a word/fact, a fact/word and a fact/fact condition. A pragmatic account predicted disambiguation in all four conditions while a word learning principles account predicted disambiguation in the word/word and fact/word conditions. Results indicated that children disambiguated in word/word and fact/word conditions and two-year-olds disambiguated at above chance levels in the word/word condition but at below chance levels in the fact/fact condition. Because disambiguation varied both as a function of age and condition these findings are presented as challenges to a pragmatic account of the disambiguation effect.

scholarly journals No Evidence for Systematic White Matter Correlates of Dyslexia and Dyscalculia

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Moreau ◽  
Anna J. Wilson ◽  
Nicole S. McKay ◽  
Kasey Nihill ◽  
Karen E. Waldie
Keyword(s):  
Learning Disabilities ◽  
White Matter ◽  
Diffusion Tensor ◽  
Null Model ◽  
White Matter Integrity ◽  
Current View ◽  
Arcuate Fasciculus ◽  
Bayesian Hypothesis Testing ◽  
Structural Differences ◽  
And Mathematics

AbstractLearning disabilities such as dyslexia, dyscalculia and their comorbid manifestation are prevalent, affecting as much as fifteen percent of the population. Structural neuroimaging studies have indicated that these disorders can be related to differences in white matter integrity, although findings remain disparate. In this study, we used a unique design composed of individuals with dyslexia, dyscalculia, both disorders and controls, to systematically explore differences in fractional anisotropy across groups using diffusion tensor imaging. Specifically, we focused on the corona radiata and the arcuate fasciculus, two tracts associated with reading and mathematics in a number of previous studies. Using Bayesian hypothesis testing, we show that the present data favor the null model of no differences between groups for these particular tracts—a finding that seems to go against the current view but might be representative of the disparities within this field of research. Together, these findings suggest that structural differences associated with dyslexia and dyscalculia might not be as reliable as previously thought, with potential ramifications in terms of remediation.

scholarly journals The influence of sex on the olfactory function in healthy subjects

2002 ◽  
pp. 83-89
Author(s):  
Slobodan Savovic ◽  
Vladimir Pilija ◽  
Slobodanka Lemajic ◽  
Maja Buljcik ◽  
Dejan Nincic ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sex Hormones ◽  
Ethyl Alcohol ◽  
Mental State ◽  
Healthy Subjects ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Protective Role ◽  
Olfactory Function ◽  
Age Group ◽  
Phenyl Ethyl Alcohol

The sense of smell is the least examined of all senses. The significance of the organs of smell is in their influence on the mental state as well as on the vegetative, visceral and sexual functions. The objective of this experiment was to define the influence of sex on the olfactory function. It was performed on 120 subjects (60 females and 60 males) divided into three age groups (20 - 30; 31 - 40; 41 - 50 years of age). The experiment was carried out by the Fortunato-Niccolini olfactometric method using six odorous experimental substances: A - anethol, PH - phenyl-ethyl-alcohol, C citral, M - menthol, V- vanillin and P - pyridine, the thresholds of perception (TP) and identification (TI) being defined for each odorous substance. The examined females had slightly lower thresholds of perception (TP) and identification (TI) in relation to the males of the same age group. However, the differences were not statistically significant except for the group of subjects between 41 and 50 years of age where the females, being in the pre-menopause, had significantly better olfactory functions. The results can be explained by the weakening of the olfactory power as a result of ageing in both sexes, however, the females still experienced the protective role of sex hormones.

scholarly journals Structural disconnectivity in schizophrenia: a diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging study

2003 ◽  
Vol 182 (5) ◽  
pp. 439-443 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Burns ◽  
D. Job ◽  
M. E. Bastin ◽  
H. Whalley ◽  
T. Macgillivray ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Resonance Imaging ◽  
White Matter ◽  
Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Fractional Anisotropy ◽  
Structural Integrity ◽  
Diffusion Tensor ◽  
Uncinate Fasciculus ◽  
Arcuate Fasciculus ◽  
Resonance Imaging ◽  
White Matter Tracts

BackgroundThere is growing evidence that schizophrenia is a disorder of cortical connectivity Specifically, frontotemporal and frontoparietal connections are thought to be functionally impaired. Diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DT–MRI) is a technique that has the potential to demonstrate structural disconnectivity in schizophrenia.AimsTo investigate the structural integrity of frontotemporal and frontoparietal white matter tracts in schizophrenia.MethodThirty patients with DSM–IV schizophrenia and thirty matched control subjects underwent DT–MRI and structural MRI. Fractional anisotropy – an index of the integrity of white matter tracts – was determined in the uncinate fasciculus, the anterior cingulum and the arcuate fasciculus and analysed using voxel-based morphometry.ResultsThere was reduced fractional anisotropy in the left uncinate fasciculus and left arcuate fasciculus in patients with schizophrenia compared with controls.ConclusionsThe findings of reduced white matter tract integrity in the left uncinate fasciculus and left arcuate fasciculus suggest that there is frontotemporal and frontoparietal structural disconnectivity in schizophrenia.

Effect of speaker certainty on novel word learning in monolingual and bilingual children

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (04) ◽  
pp. 883-895 ◽  
Author(s):  
MILIJANA BUAC ◽  
AURÉLIE TAUZIN-LARCHÉ ◽  
EMILY WEISBERG ◽  
MARGARITA KAUSHANSKAYA
Keyword(s):  
Word Learning ◽  
Learning Performance ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Novel Word Learning ◽  
Linguistic Backgrounds ◽  
Novel Words

In the present study, we examined the effect of speaker certainty on word-learning performance in English-speaking monolingual (MAge = 6.40) and Spanish–English bilingual (MAge = 6.58) children. No group differences were observed when children learned novel words from a certain speaker. However, bilingual children were more willing to learn novel words from an uncertain speaker than their monolingual peers. These findings indicate that language experience influences how children weigh cues to speaker credibility during learning and suggest that children with more diverse linguistic backgrounds (i.e., bilinguals) are less prone to prioritizing information based on speaker certainty.

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