NEWS: Behavioral Training Improves Connectivity and Function in the Brain

 Sat. 12/12/09 - added NPR All Things Considered radio interview of Marcel Just, where he discusses the importance of the intensity of the repeated reading practice applied to the children in the study experimental group, as well as the significance of white matter of the brain in synchronizing signals between different areas of the brain. The quality of the improvement of white matter correlated with the improvement in reading ability in the experimental group, and that reading programs of typical intensity did not effect these improvements. The program also touches on other skills and psychiatric disorders, including autism, that are influenced by the quality of white matter found in the brain.



A newly published study in Neuron shows that neuronal myelination and connectivity, as detected by diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). is enhanced by intensive behavioral training.





Children with poor reading skills who underwent an intensive, six-month/100 hour training program to improve their reading ability showed increased connectivity in a particular brain region, in addition to making significant gains in reading, according to a study funded in part by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). The study was published in the Dec. 10, 2009, issue of Neuron.

 

Source: Timothy Keller, Ph.D.; Marcel Just, Ph.D.

While the relationship between training, performance and brain function has been well known, the significance is that the diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) neuroimaging was able to show specific changes within the brain of improvements towards typical structures and suggest what those improvements consist of,

"We have known that behavioral training can enhance brain function." said NIMH Director Thomas R. Insel, M.D. "The exciting breakthrough here is detecting changes in brain connectivity with behavioral treatment. This finding with reading deficits suggests an exciting new approach to be tested in the treatment of mental disorders, which increasingly appear to be due to problems in specific brain circuits.

One of the study authors, Carnegie-Mellon researcher Marcel Just, reiterated Director Insel's point,

"Our findings support not only the positive effects of remediation and rehabilitation for reading disabilities, but may also lead to improved treatments for a range of developmental conditions related to brain connectivity, such as autism," noted  Just."

The article is, Keller, T.A.& Just, M.A. Altering cortical connectivity: Remediation-induced changes in the white matter of poor readers. Neuron, 64(5), 624-631.
doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2009.10.018

Summary/Abstract

Neuroimaging studies using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) have revealed regions of cerebral white matter with decreased microstructural organization (lower fractional anisotropy or FA) among poor readers. We examined whether 100 hr of intensive remedial instruction affected the white matter of 8- to 10-year-old poor readers. Prior to instruction, poor readers had significantly lower FA than good readers in a region of the left anterior centrum semiovale. The instruction resulted in a change in white matter (significantly increased FA), and in the very same region. The FA increase was correlated with a decrease in radial diffusivity (but not with a change in axial diffusivity), suggesting that myelination had increased. Furthermore, the FA increase was correlated with improvement in phonological decoding ability, clarifying the cognitive locus of the effect. The results demonstrate the capability of a behavioral intervention to bring about a positive change in cortico-cortical white matter tracts.

---------------------------
References:
Image source: Timothy Keller, Ph.D.; Marcel Just, Ph.D.

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Press Release
December 09, 2009
Behavioral Training Improves Connectivity and Function in the Brain

Keller, T.A.& Just, M.A. Altering cortical connectivity: Remediation-induced changes in the white matter of poor readers. Neuron, 64(5), 624-631.
doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2009.10.018

Excellent media article on the study with background info on brain white matter research and its significance in other skills, IQ, and psychiatric disorders, as well as recent research demonstrating levels of brain plasticity thought improbable in the relatively recent past.
Learning, adaptation can change brain connections, CMU researchers say
Thursday, December 10, 2009
By Mark Roth, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

March/April 2006
MIT Technology Review
Diffusion Tensor Imaging

Diffusion Tensor Imaging (.pdf)
www.usa.siemens.com/medical
MRI Hot Topics
Keith Heberlein, PhD, John Grinstead, PhD, Heiko Meyer PhD,
Christopher Boyea, MBA, RT(R)(MR), Milind Dhamankar, MD,
Siemens Medical Solutions, USA

-----------

Website: Practitioner Issues in Behavior Analysis SIG
-----------
Views and news expressed in this blog or by the PIBA SIG are those of the SIG and SIG members and do not represent official policy of ABA International or other official body. For official policy of the Association of Behavior Analysis International, the reader is directed to their website, http://www.abainternational.org