Presentation
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Rapid brain network exchanges support the learning of new scientific information: a high-resolution, fused MRI/EEG analytical framework
Poster C1 in Poster Session C, Friday, October 7, 10:15 am - 12:00 pm EDT, Millennium Hall
Katherine Aboud1, Min Kyung Hong1; 1Vanderbilt University
To adequately comprehend a written passage, the brain needs to rapidly communicate across multiple systems with the end-goal of storing relevant information in long-term memory. However, due to methodological limitations of single imaging modalities, it is difficult to get a full picture of both where and when these brain interactions occur on the millisecond and millimeter scale. The present pilot study identifies a real-time system of interacting brain networks that support reading and learning from scientific texts. We examined typical adults as they read medical passages in the MRI and, in a separate session, while EEG data was collected. Using a novel application of joint independent component analysis (jICA), we were able to identify corresponding spatial and temporal signals, and consequently track functional networks of passage reading with a high degree of spatial and temporal specificity. Through this “fused” data analysis approach, we isolated the neural progression in the 1000 ms following comprehension of scientific information, and identified how these processes differed between material that was learned vs. not learned (i.e. information recalled after the passage session was complete). Our pilot results reveal that comprehending scientific information is associated with rapid communication between the canonical language network, comprehension areas in the default mode network, domain-general executive and error regions, and hippocampal memory areas. When subjects read information that they later accurately recalled, they showed early activation differences in comprehension regions immediately following the sentence, and these differences were then followed by a later reduction in the long-term memory network. To our knowledge, this is the first study to use a fused analytical approach to gain a high-resolution picture of passage comprehension and related learning. Through this approach, we hope to lay the groundwork for brain-based interventions to enhance learning outcomes in passage comprehension.
Topic Areas: Meaning: Discourse and Pragmatics, Reading