Department of Radiology, Canada; Owerko Centre, Alberta Children Hospital Research Institute, Canada; Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Canada.
Owerko Centre, Alberta Children Hospital Research Institute, Canada; Department of Neuroscience, Canada; Cumming School of Medicine, Canada.
Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2019 Oct;39:100682. doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2019.100682. Epub 2019 Jul 21.
Structural and functional neuroimaging studies show language and reading processes are left-lateralized, and associated with a dispersed group of left brain regions. However, it is unclear when and how asymmetry of these regions emerges. We characterized the development of structural and functional asymmetry of the language network in 386 datasets from 117 healthy children (58 male) across early childhood (2-7.5 years). Structural asymmetry was investigated using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and manual delineation of the arcuate fasciculus. Functional connectivity asymmetry was calculated from seed regions in the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and middle temporal gyrus (MTG). We show that macrostructural asymmetry of the arcuate fasciculus is present by age 2 years, while leftward asymmetry of microstructure and functional connectivity with the IFG increases across the age range. This emerging microstructural and functional asymmetry likely underlie the development of language and reading skills during this time.
结构和功能神经影像学研究表明，语言和阅读过程是左偏侧化的，并与左脑的一组分散区域相关。然而，目前尚不清楚这些区域的不对称性何时以及如何出现。我们通过对 117 名健康儿童（58 名男性）在整个幼儿期（2-7.5 岁）的 386 个数据集的研究，描述了语言网络结构和功能不对称的发展。使用弥散张量成像（DTI）和弓状束的手动描绘来研究结构不对称。从额下回（IFG）和颞中回（MTG）的种子区域计算功能连接的不对称性。我们表明，弓状束的宏观结构不对称在 2 岁时就存在，而与 IFG 的微观结构和功能连接的左偏侧性在整个年龄范围内增加。这种新出现的微观结构和功能不对称可能是在此期间语言和阅读技能发展的基础。
