Behavioral correlates of changes in hippocampal gray matter structure during acquisition of foreign vocabulary
Behavioral correlates of changes in hippocampal gray matter structure during acquisition of foreign vocabulary
复制标题
DOI：
10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.10.020
复制
发表时间：
2016-05-01
期刊：
影响因子：
5.7
通讯作者：
Lovden, Martin
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Bellander, Martin;Berggren, Rasmus;Lovden, Martin
经验会影响人类的灰质体积。这种大脑变化中个体差异的行为相关性还没有得到很好的理解。在一组将意大利语作为外语学习的瑞典人中，我们调查了学习时间、获得的词汇量、记忆任务的基线表现和灰质变化之间的关系。作为情景记忆训练的一种学习方式，语言学习以外语词汇的习得为重点，持续10周。研究前后分别进行t -1加权结构磁共振成像和认知测试。研究人员通过使用一款专门用于学习词汇的智能手机应用程序来监测参与者的学习行为。全脑分析显示，实验组（N = 33）右侧海马灰质结构的变化比积极对照组（N = 23）更大。第一路径分析显示，花在学习上的时间比获得知识的时间更能预测灰质结构的变化。然而，当在模型中加入基线记忆测量的表现时，这种关联并不显著，相反，只有参与者在具有高度相似干扰物的短期记忆任务中的表现才能预测这种变化。这种测量方法可能与海马灰质可塑性相关的个体差异因素相似。(C) 2015爱思唯尔公司版权所有。
Experience can affect human gray matter volume. The behavioral correlates of individual differences in such brain changes are not well understood. In a group of Swedish individuals studying Italian as a foreign language, we investigated associations among time spent studying, acquired vocabulary, baseline performance on memory tasks, and gray matter changes. As a way of studying episodic memory training, the language learning focused on acquiring foreign vocabulary and lasted for 10 weeks. T-1-weighted structural magnetic resonance imaging and cognitive testing were performed before and after the studies. Learning behavior was monitored via participants' use of a smartphone application dedicated to the study of vocabulary. A whole-brain analysis showed larger changes in gray matter structure of the right hippocampus in the experimental group (N = 33) compared to an active control group (N = 23). A first path analyses revealed that time spent studying rather than acquired knowledge significantly predicted change in gray matter structure. However, this association was not significant when adding performance on baseline memory measures into the model, instead only the participants' performance on a short-term memory task with highly similar distractors predicted the change. This measure may tap similar individual difference factors as those involved in gray matter plasticity of the hippocampus. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.