A group independent component analysis of covert verb generation in children: A functional magnetic resonance imaging study

Abstract

Semantic language skills are an integral part of early childhood language development. The semantic association between verbs and nouns constitutes an important building block for the construction of sentences. In this large-scale functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, involving 336 subjects between the ages of 5 and 18 years, we investigated the neural correlates of covert verb generation in children. Using group Independent Component Analysis (ICA), seven task-related components were identified including the mid-superior temporal gyrus, the most posterior aspect of the superior temporal gyrus, the parahippocampal gyrus, the inferior frontal gyrus, the angular gyrus and medial aspect of the parietal lobule (precuneus/posterior cingulate). A highly left-lateralized component was found including the medial temporal gyrus, the frontal gyrus, the inferior frontal gyrus and the angular gyrus. The associated independent component (IC) time courses were analyzed to investigate developmental changes in the neural elements supporting covert verb generation. Observed age effects may either reflect specific local neuroplastic changes in the neural substrates supporting language or a more global transformation of neuroplasticity in the developing brain. The results are analyzed and presented in the framework of two theoretical models for neurocognitive brain development. In this context, group ICA of fMRI data from our large sample of children age 5–18, provides strong evidence in support of the regionally-weighted model for cognitive neurodevelopment of language networks.

Comparison of Hypothesis- and a Novel Hybrid Data/Hypothesis-Driven Method of Functional MR Imaging Analysis in Patients with Brain Gliomas

“…9,33 ICA was previously used in fMRI studies of language to map transient randomly occurring neuropsychological events without an a priori knowledge of the paradigm. 34,35 Our ICA-GLM approach called for selecting the IC that presented the largest temporal correlation coefficient with the language task predictor and which, consistent with a recent study, 36 usually revealed the contemporary activation of the left IFG and TPJ (Table). The fact that a single IC visualized both the anterior and posterior regions for speech is also consistent with studies on resting-state functional-connectivity MR imaging, which reported that these regions were functionally connected.…”

Rapidly acquired multisensory association in the olfactory cortex

“…2006; Karunanayaka et al. 2010). Finally, a voxel‐wise random effects analysis (one‐sample t ‐test) is performed on individual IC maps to determine the group IC maps.…”

Dynamic changes in network activations characterize early learning of a natural language

“…Finally, the model-free nature of ICA allows for the prospect that signal associated with different aspects of processing may diverge from an omnibus model of the hemodynamic response. Because these features of ICA tend to increase statistical power, ICA is often a more sensitive technique than the computationally-simpler GLM approach, and consequently typically reveals more regions of statistically significant activation (e.g., Karunanayaka, Schmithorst, Vannest, Szaflarski, Plante, & Holland, 2010; Schmithorst, Holland, & Plante, 2006; 2007). …”