IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v10y2019i1d10.1038_s41467-019-11424-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Separate lanes for adding and reading in the white matter highways of the human brain

Author

Listed:
  • Mareike Grotheer

    (Stanford University)

  • Zonglei Zhen

    (Beijing Normal University)

  • Garikoitz Lerma-Usabiaga

    (Stanford University
    BCBL. Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language)

  • Kalanit Grill-Spector

    (Stanford University
    Stanford University)

Abstract

Math and reading involve distributed brain networks and have both shared (e.g. encoding of visual stimuli) and dissociated (e.g. quantity processing) cognitive components. Yet, to date, the shared vs. dissociated gray and white matter substrates of the math and reading networks are unknown. Here, we define these networks and evaluate the structural properties of their fascicles using functional MRI, diffusion MRI, and quantitative MRI. Our results reveal that there are distinct gray matter regions which are preferentially engaged in either math (adding) or reading, and that the superior longitudinal and arcuate fascicles are shared across the math and reading networks. Strikingly, within these fascicles, reading- and math-related tracts are segregated into parallel sub-bundles and show structural differences related to myelination. These findings open a new avenue of research that examines the contribution of sub-bundles within fascicles to specific behaviors.

Suggested Citation

  • Mareike Grotheer & Zonglei Zhen & Garikoitz Lerma-Usabiaga & Kalanit Grill-Spector, 2019. "Separate lanes for adding and reading in the white matter highways of the human brain," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-14, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:10:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-019-11424-1
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-11424-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-11424-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-019-11424-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mareike Grotheer & Mona Rosenke & Hua Wu & Holly Kular & Francesca R. Querdasi & Vaidehi S. Natu & Jason D. Yeatman & Kalanit Grill-Spector, 2022. "White matter myelination during early infancy is linked to spatial gradients and myelin content at birth," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-12, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:10:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-019-11424-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.