Fengler Anja, Meyer Lars, Friederici Angela D
Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Stephanstraße 1A, 04103, Leipzig, Germany.
Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Stephanstraße 1A, 04103, Leipzig, Germany.
Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2015 Oct;15:48-57. doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2015.09.004. Epub 2015 Sep 25.
Prior structural imaging studies found initial evidence for the link between structural gray matter changes and the development of language performance in children. However, previous studies generally only focused on sentence comprehension. Therefore, little is known about the relationship between structural properties of brain regions relevant to sentence processing and more specific cognitive abilities underlying complex sentence comprehension. In this study, whole-brain magnetic resonance images from 59 children between 5 and 8 years were assessed. Scores on a standardized sentence comprehension test determined grammatical proficiency of our participants. A confirmatory factory analysis corroborated a grammar-relevant and a verbal working memory-relevant factor underlying the measured performance. Voxel-based morphometry of gray matter revealed that while children's ability to assign thematic roles is positively correlated with gray matter probability (GMP) in the left inferior temporal gyrus and the left inferior frontal gyrus, verbal working memory-related performance is positively correlated with GMP in the left parietal operculum extending into the posterior superior temporal gyrus. Since these areas are known to be differentially engaged in adults' complex sentence processing, our data suggest a specific correspondence between children's GMP in language-relevant brain regions and differential cognitive abilities that guide their sentence comprehension.
先前的结构成像研究发现了结构灰质变化与儿童语言能力发展之间联系的初步证据。然而，以往的研究通常只关注句子理解。因此，对于与句子处理相关的脑区结构特性和复杂句子理解背后更具体的认知能力之间的关系，我们知之甚少。在本研究中，我们评估了59名5至8岁儿童的全脑磁共振图像。通过一项标准化句子理解测试的分数来确定我们参与者的语法熟练程度。验证性因素分析证实了所测表现背后的一个与语法相关的因素和一个与言语工作记忆相关的因素。基于体素的灰质形态学分析表明，虽然儿童分配主题角色的能力与左侧颞下回和左侧额下回的灰质概率（GMP）呈正相关，但与言语工作记忆相关的表现与延伸至颞上回后部的左侧顶叶岛盖部的GMP呈正相关。由于已知这些区域在成人复杂句子处理中发挥不同作用，我们的数据表明儿童语言相关脑区的GMP与指导他们句子理解的不同认知能力之间存在特定对应关系。
