Comparison of Functional Network Connectivity for Passive-Listening and Active-Response Narrative Comprehension in Adolescents

Abstract

Comprehension of narrative stories plays an important role in the development of language skills. In this study, we compared brain activity elicited by a passive-listening version and an active-response (AR) version of a narrative comprehension task by using independent component (IC) analysis on functional magnetic resonance imaging data from 21 adolescents (ages 14-18 years). Furthermore, we explored differences in functional network connectivity engaged by two versions of the task and investigated the relationship between the online response time and the strength of connectivity between each pair of ICs. Despite similar brain region involvements in auditory, temporoparietal, and frontoparietal language networks for both versions, the AR version engages some additional network elements including the left dorsolateral prefrontal, anterior cingulate, and sensorimotor networks. These additional involvements are likely associated with working memory and maintenance of attention, which can be attributed to the differences in cognitive strategic aspects of the two versions. We found significant positive correlation between the online response time and the strength of connectivity between an IC in left inferior frontal region and an IC in sensorimotor region. An explanation for this finding is that longer reaction time indicates stronger connection between the frontal and sensorimotor networks caused by increased activation in adolescents who require more effort to complete the task.

Movies and narratives as naturalistic stimuli in neuroimaging

“…When subjects engaged in a demanding secondary task while watching a movie, increased ISC in the dorsal-posterior cingulate gyrus predicted weaker memorization of its content ( Oren et al, 2016 ). Similarly, attention lapses during narratives and active reading demands during listening/reading modulated functional connectivity in the DMN and attentional networks of the brain ( Smallwood et al, 2013 ; Wang and Holland, 2014 ).…”

Impression Management and Interview and Job Performance Ratings: A Meta-Analysis of Research Design with Tactics in Mind

“…Thus, an active listener is involved in the discussion, perceiving nonverbal and verbal signals and sending those same signals back to the candidate to show understanding and positive or negative acceptance of the communication. Brain connectivity patterns in active-response vs. passive-listening results show that active listening engages additional network connectivity elements of the brain associated with working memory and maintenance of attention (Wang and Holland, 2014 ). Such research indicates active listeners are more engaged in the conversation both cognitively and physiologically thus allowing them to perceive verbal and nonverbal IM information cues from the individual, send signals back to the individual about the acceptability of such information, and sort that information from actual candidate ratings to produce a rating that is less saturated with IM.…”

Building a story: coherent narrative formation relies on functional connectivity in posterior cortex and frontoparietal networks

“…This approach yielded two major networks characterized by discrete within-and between-network correlations across time, deemed to represent different functional aspects of coherent narrative representation. Previous studies on functional connectivity during narrative comprehension of auditory stories have detected coactivation of language-related regions with sensorimotor and dorsolateral prefrontal areas 39 as well as with superior and middle temporal gyri 40,41 . Notably, whereas these studies used auditory narration of stories, ours conveyed audio-visual information in the form of a foreignlanguage movie.…”