Identifying the neural network abnormalities underlying developmental language disorder

识别发育性语言障碍背后的神经网络异常

• 批准号: MR/P024149/1
• 负责人: Kate Watkins
• 金额: $ 91.98万
• 依托单位: University of Oxford
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2017 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=MR%2FP024149%2F1
• 关键词: Identifying; neural; network; abnormalities; underlying

About 7% of children grow up experiencing unexplained difficulty in learning to use language. Their problems cannot be explained by a lack of opportunity, intellectual, visual or hearing impairment, or social deprivation. Difficulties in using and understanding language result in under achievement in education, low self-esteem and reduced employment opportunities. Awareness of language impairments affecting school-age children is lacking in education, in the employment sector, and in society more generally. This contrasts starkly with the public's awareness and understanding of other developmental disorders such as dyslexia, autism and attention deficit disorder. Scientific studies show that language impairments can be caused by genetic abnormalities. However, we know little about the differences in the brain that relate to the language learning difficulties seen in children. We need to improve our understanding of how the brain is organised and how it functions in children with developmental language disorder. In the future, this new knowledge could help us to develop the means to help affected children through designing novel therapies. Our proposed project will provide us with detailed pictures of the brain's structure and function in children with developmental language disorder. These children will be compared to children of the same age who have experienced normal language development. We will contact children who were previously identified in a separate study and who have a range of language abilities. We will use MRI brain scans to study 160 children aged 10-14 years; 80 with developmental language disorder and 80 without. We will measure their ability to use and understand language, their reading ability and their intelligence. We will also look at their ability to learn sequences of sounds and movements and how this learning differs according to task instructions and feedback. The research will benefit from using the most up-to-date research MRI brain scanner and new ways of analysing the brain imaging data that are being developed at our centre. Traditionally, scientists have thought of the brain as a series of units where information passes along from one unit to the next as if on factory line. New ways of thinking about the brain view it as a network of areas that send information back and forth in circuits. Our study aims to use sophisticated computational analyses to reveal these networks and determine how they differ according to a child's language abilities. According to some researchers, children with language learning impairments have problems in one particular learning network that allows us to automate skills and habits, and learn rules. Things learned with this network are often beyond our awareness, such that we cannot readily explain how we know something - like how to ride a bike or the rules of our language. Our research will test this theory by examining how children perform on tests of skill learning and also by looking at the structure and function of the brain areas involved. One of the problems with studying children with language impairments is that they each experience a slightly different set of problems. Also, patterns of strength and weakness in abilities can alter over the course of development. We will use our brain imaging data to identify the different patterns of impairment across the large group of children studies and relate this to differences in the brains.We will make the brain imaging data that we collect in this study available to the scientific community. This will allow us to share our data with other groups and ultimately to compare findings across studies and between different developmental disorders e.g. with autism. Also, we will develop new tests using tablets that can be easily used by children of all ages. We will make the tests and the results available to other users via the internet.

大约7%的儿童在成长过程中会遇到无法解释的语言学习困难。他们的问题不能用缺乏机会、智力、视力或听力障碍或社会剥夺来解释。使用和理解语言的困难导致学习成绩不佳，自尊心低，就业机会减少。在教育、就业部门和更普遍的社会中，对影响学龄儿童的语言障碍缺乏认识。这与公众对其他发育障碍，如阅读障碍、自闭症和注意力缺陷障碍的认识和理解形成鲜明对比。科学研究表明语言障碍可能是由基因异常引起的。然而，我们对大脑中与儿童语言学习困难相关的差异知之甚少。我们需要进一步了解大脑是如何组织的，以及在患有发育性语言障碍的儿童中大脑是如何运作的。在未来，这些新知识可以帮助我们通过设计新的治疗方法来帮助受影响的儿童。我们提出的项目将为我们提供发育性语言障碍儿童大脑结构和功能的详细图片。这些孩子将与经历过正常语言发展的同龄孩子进行比较。我们将联系之前在另一项研究中确定的具有一定语言能力的儿童。我们将使用核磁共振脑部扫描来研究160名10-14岁的儿童；80人有发展性语言障碍，80人没有。我们将测试他们使用和理解语言的能力，他们的阅读能力和智力。我们还将研究他们学习声音和动作序列的能力，以及这种学习如何根据任务指示和反馈而有所不同。该研究将受益于使用最新的研究核磁共振脑扫描仪和分析脑成像数据的新方法，我们中心正在开发。传统上，科学家们认为大脑是由一系列单元组成的，信息从一个单元传递到下一个单元，就像在生产线上一样。思考大脑的新方法将其视为一个区域网络，在电路中来回传递信息。我们的研究旨在使用复杂的计算分析来揭示这些网络，并确定它们如何根据儿童的语言能力而有所不同。根据一些研究人员的说法，有语言学习障碍的儿童在一个特定的学习网络中有问题，这个网络允许我们自动化技能和习惯，并学习规则。通过这个网络学到的东西往往超出了我们的意识，因此我们无法轻易解释我们是如何知道的——比如如何骑自行车或我们的语言规则。我们的研究将通过检查儿童在技能学习测试中的表现以及观察相关大脑区域的结构和功能来检验这一理论。研究有语言障碍的儿童的一个问题是，他们每个人都经历了一组略有不同的问题。此外，能力的强弱模式在发展过程中也会发生变化。我们将使用我们的脑成像数据来识别大量儿童研究中不同的损伤模式，并将其与大脑的差异联系起来。我们将把我们在这项研究中收集到的脑成像数据提供给科学界。这将使我们能够与其他小组分享我们的数据，并最终比较不同研究之间的发现，以及不同发育障碍之间的发现，例如自闭症。此外，我们将开发使用药片的新测试，使所有年龄段的儿童都能轻松使用。我们将通过互联网向其他用户提供测试和结果。

项目成果

Differences in Cortical Surface Area in Developmental Language Disorder

• DOI: 10.1162/nol_a_00127
• 发表时间: 2024-06-03
• 期刊: NEUROBIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE
• 影响因子: 3.2
• 作者: Bahar，Nilgoun;Cler，Gabriel J.;Watkins，Kate E.
• 通讯作者: Watkins，Kate E.

A challenge for the procedural deficit hypothesis: How should we measure sequential learning in childhood?

对程序缺陷假说的挑战：我们应该如何衡量童年的顺序学习？

• DOI: 10.1111/desc.12815
• 发表时间: 2019
• 期刊: Developmental science
• 影响因子: 3.7
• 作者: Krishnan S

Functional organisation for verb generation in children with developmental language disorder.

• DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117599
• 发表时间: 2021-02-01
• 期刊: NeuroImage
• 影响因子: 5.7
• 作者: Krishnan S;Asaridou SS;Cler GJ;Smith HJ;Willis HE;Healy MP;Thompson PA;Bishop DVM;Watkins KE
• 通讯作者: Watkins KE

The effect of recall, reproduction, and restudy on word learning: a pre-registered study.

• DOI: 10.1186/s40359-017-0198-8
• 发表时间: 2017-08-04
• 期刊: BMC psychology
• 影响因子: 3.6
• 作者: Krishnan S;Watkins KE;Bishop DVM
• 通讯作者: Bishop DVM

Quantitative MRI reveals differences in striatal myelin in children with DLD.

• DOI: 10.7554/elife.74242
• 发表时间: 2022-09-27
• 期刊: eLife
• 影响因子: 7.7
• 作者: Krishnan S;Cler GJ;Smith HJ;Willis HE;Asaridou SS;Healy MP;Papp D;Watkins KE
• 通讯作者: Watkins KE