Biology subjects

Vanderauwera, J.

Publications and source records attributed to Vanderauwera, J..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2021

Home literacy environment mediates the relationship between socioeconomic status and white matter structure in infants

The home literacy environment (HLE) in infancy has been associated with subsequent pre-literacy skill development and HLE at pre-school age has been shown to correlate with white matter organization in tracts that subserve prereading and reading skills. Furthermore, childhood socioeconomic status (SES) has been linked with both HLE and white matter organization. It is also important to understand whether the relationships between environmental factors such as HLE and SES and white matter organization can be detected as early as infancy, as this period is characterized by rapid brain development that may make white matter pathways particularly susceptible to these early experiences. Here, we hypothesized (1) an association between HLE and white matter organization in pre-reading and reading-related tracts in infants, and (2) that this association mediates a link between SES and white matter organization. To test these hypotheses, infants (mean age: 9.2 {+/-} 2.5 months, N = 18) underwent diffusion-weighted imaging MRI during natural sleep. Fractional anisotropy (FA) was estimated from the left superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF) and left arcuate fasciculus using the automated fiber-tract quantification method. HLE was measured with the Reading subscale of the StimQ and SES was measured with years of maternal education. Self-reported maternal reading ability was also quantified and applied to all statistical models to control for confounding genetic effects. The Reading subscale of the StimQ positively related to FA in left SLF and mediated the association between maternal education and FA in the left SLF. Taken together, these findings underscore the importance of considering HLE from the start of life and may inform novel prevention and intervention strategies targeted at low-SES families to support developing infants during a period of heightened brain plasticity.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2021

Ahead of Maturation: Enhanced Speech Envelope Training Boosts Rise Time Discrimination in Pre-Readers at Cognitive Risk for Dyslexia

Dyslexia has frequently been related to atypical auditory temporal processing and speech perception. Results of studies emphasizing speech onset cues and reinforcing the temporal structure of the speech envelope, i.e. envelope enhancement, demonstrated reduced speech perception deficits in individuals with dyslexia. The use of this strategy as an auditory intervention might thus reduce some of the deficits related to dyslexia. Importantly, interventions are most effective when they are provided during kindergarten and first grade. Hence, we provided a tablet-based 12-week preventive auditory and phonics-based intervention to pre-readers at cognitive risk for dyslexia and investigated the effect on auditory temporal processing with a rise time discrimination task. Ninety-one pre-readers at cognitive risk for dyslexia (aged 5-6) were assigned to two groups receiving a phonics-based intervention and playing a story listening game either with (n = 31) or without (n = 31) envelope enhancement or a third group playing control games and listening to non-enhanced stories (n = 29). Rise time discrimination was measured directly before, directly after and one year after the intervention. While the groups listening to non-enhanced stories mainly improved after the intervention during first grade, the group listening to enhanced stories improved during the intervention in kindergarten and subsequently remained stable during first grade. Hence, an envelope enhancement intervention improves auditory processing skills important for the development of phonological skills. This occurred before the onset of reading instruction, preceding the maturational improvement of these skills, hence giving at risk children a head start when learning to read. Research highlightsO_LIThe first investigation of speech envelope enhancement as a potential preventive intervention strategy in pre-readers at cognitive risk for dyslexia C_LIO_LISpeech envelope enhancement increases the rise time sensitivity of children at cognitive risk for dyslexia C_LIO_LIRise time discrimination can be enhanced before formal reading instruction, a crucial period in development C_LI

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2017

Multi-method brain imaging reveals impaired representations as well as altered connectivity in adults with dyscalculia

Two hypotheses have been proposed about the etiology of neurodevelopmental disorders: representation impairments versus disrupted access to representations. We implemented a multi-method brain imaging approach to directly compare the representation vs. access hypotheses in dyscalculia, a highly prevalent but understudied neurodevelopmental disorder in learning to calculate. We combined several magnetic resonance imaging methods and analyses, including multivariate analyses, functional and structural connectivity, and voxel-based morphometry analysis, in a sample of 24 adults with dyscalculia and 24 carefully matched controls. Results showed a clear deficit in the non-symbolic magnitude representations in parietal, temporal, and frontal regions in dyscalculia. We also observed hyper-connectivity in visual brain regions and increased grey matter volume in the default mode network in adults with dyscalculia. Hence, dyscalculia is related to a combination of diverse neural markers which are altogether distributed across a substantial portion of cerebral cortex, supporting a multifactorial model of this neurodevelopmental disorder.

neuroscience↗