Difference between revisions of "ILABS Brain Seminar"

Revision as of 20:16, 15 December 2015

October 29 - Jason Yeatman Hierarchical coding of letter strings in the ventral stream: dissecting the inner organization of the visual word-form system. Vinckier F1, Dehaene S, Jobert A, Dubus JP, Sigman M, Cohen L. Neuron. 2007 Jul 5;55(1):143-56.

Abstract Visual word recognition has been proposed to rely on a hierarchy of increasingly complex neuronal detectors, from individual letters to bigrams and morphemes. We used fMRI to test whether such a hierarchy is present in the left occipitotemporal cortex, at the site of the visual word-form area, and with an anterior-to-posterior progression. We exposed adult readers to (1) false-font strings; (2) strings of infrequent letters; (3) strings of frequent letters but rare bigrams; (4) strings with frequent bigrams but rare quadrigrams; (5) strings with frequent quadrigrams; (6) real words. A gradient of selectivity was observed through the entire span of the occipitotemporal cortex, with activation becoming more selective for higher-level stimuli toward the anterior fusiform region. A similar gradient was also seen in left inferior frontoinsular cortex. Those gradients were asymmetrical in favor of the left hemisphere. We conclude that the left occipitotemporal visual word-form area, far from being a homogeneous structure, presents a high degree of functional and spatial hierarchical organization which must result from a tuning process during reading acquisition.

A good related paper for background: Binder, Jeffrey R., et al. "Tuning of the human left fusiform gyrus to sublexical orthographic structure." Neuroimage 33.2 (2006): 739-748.

November 5 - No Brain Seminar

November 12 - Ross Maddox Tanner, Darren, Kara Morgan‐Short, and Steven J. Luck. "How inappropriate high‐pass filters can produce artifactual effects and incorrect conclusions in ERP studies of language and cognition." Psychophysiology (2015). http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25903295 This will be an informal discussion of these issues so please read the paper and plan to participate

November 19 - Ariel Rokem & Jason Yeatman Data sharing. Scientific transparency and reproducibility has become a major worry among scientists across disciplines and has also seen a lot of recent media attention. In response to these concerns, funding agencies and journals have been revising their policies on making published data openly available. We will lead a discussion on (1) best practices in data sharing, (2) resources that support and facilitate data sharing, (3) what data sharing means for the careers of young scientists.

November 26 - Thanksgiving

December 3 - Mark Wronkiewicz Brain computer interface and single trial MEG analysis

December 10 - Alex White Divided attention and reading.

December 17 - Patrick Donnelly Dyslexia interventions targeting multiple components of reading. Annu Rev Psychol. 2012;63:427-52. doi: 10.1146/annurev-psych-120710-100431. Epub 2011 Aug 11.Paperpile Rapid automatized naming (RAN) and reading fluency: implications for understandingand treatment of reading disabilities. Norton ES1, Wolf M. Author information Abstract Fluent reading depends on a complex set of cognitive processes that must work together in perfect concert. Rapidautomatized naming (RAN) tasks provide insight into this system, acting as a microcosm of the processes involved in reading. In this review, we examine both RAN and reading fluency and how each has shaped our understandingof reading disabilities. We explore the research that led to our current understanding of the relationships betweenRAN and reading and what makes RAN unique as a cognitive measure. We explore how the automaticity that supports RAN affects reading across development, reading abilities, and languages, and the biological bases of these processes. Finally, we bring these converging areas of knowledge together by examining what the collective studies of RAN and reading fluency contribute to our goals of creating optimal assessments and interventions that help every child become a fluent, comprehending reader. J Learn Disabil. 2012 Mar-Apr;45(2):99-127. doi: 10.1177/0022219409355472. Epub 2010 May 5.Paperpile Multiple-component remediation for developmental reading disabilities: IQ,socioeconomic status, and race as factors in remedial outcome. Morris RD1, Lovett MW2, Wolf M3, Sevcik RA1, Steinbach KA4, Frijters JC5, Shapiro MB1. Author information Abstract Results from a controlled evaluation of remedial reading interventions are reported: 279 young disabled readers were randomly assigned to a program according to a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design (IQ, socioeconomic status [SES], and race). The effectiveness of two multiple-component intervention programs for children with reading disabilities(PHAB + RAVE-O; PHAB + WIST) was evaluated against alternate (CSS, MATH) and phonological control programs. Interventions were taught an hour daily for 70 days on a 1:4 ratio at three different sites. Multiple-component programs showed significant improvements relative to control programs on all basic reading skills after 70 hours and at 1-year follow-up. Equivalent gains were observed for different racial, SES, and IQ groups. Thesefactors did not systematically interact with program. Differential outcomes for word identification, fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary were found between the multidimensional programs, although equivalent long-term outcomes and equal continued growth confirmed that different pathways exist to effective readingremediation.