ENGRAVINg · Engaging Grammar and Visual Networks

Engaging Grammar and Visual Networks

Problem: Our understanding of the brain mechanisms is highly constrained by the methodologies we use as neuroscientists (e.g., electrophysiology, neuroimaging). In recent years great technological advances (e.g., software for white matter segmentation of white matter fibers, refined MEG source reconstruction pipelines) enabled researchers to achieve a more precise description of structural and functional properties of the human brain. However, the interaction between research communities using different methodologies (e.g. MRI and MEG) is still limited, which often results in separate publications and scientific events dedicated to different research questions (e.g., where brain structures change with learning vs when brain functions change with learning). We are at a historical stage where advances of our neuroscientific knowledge highly depend on the fruitful interactions between different disciplines, fields and methods. Being able to describe how structural properties of the brain are related to brain functional responses represents a challenge that neuroscientists need to be able to address in the near future. The ENGRAVINg project followed this philosophy and consisted of a cross-disciplinary neuroscience research work where brain mechanisms are described from different methodological perspectives (MEG and diffusion MRI) with the general aim of bridging structural and functional properties of the brain within the context of vision and reading. Relevance for the society: Reading is an essential human right and a key skill to become a knowledgeable and critical thinking human being. Being able to characterize how the brain enables this unique human ability is essential to ensure to every single individual a successful reading experience. This project provided a multi-level description of the developing reading brain circuitry to maximize our future ability to prevent, detect and treat reading difficulties. Overall objectives: The aim of the ENGRAVINg project was to uncover how structural properties of white matter brain tracts (e.g., which are related to myelination and fiber spatial organization) are related to the functional brain responses (e.g., electrophysiological responses) within the context of vision and reading. Specifically, Dr Caffarra and collaborators from the Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language (BCBL) and Stanford University tried to: 1) characterize structural-functional relationship in healthy individuals within the context of vision and written language processing 2) describe how this structural-functional relationship changes in reading acquisition and reading impairment. *Part of aim 2) was not carried out due to the early termination of the project. The project had to be termination to start a tenure-track position in Europe. Conclusions: Dr Caffarra could report a structural-functional relationship within the human vision system (i.e., the development of structural properties of white matter pathways mediates the maturation of electrophysiological responses in the visual cortex). She is now trying to translate these results to higher-level cognitive functions (e.g., language and reading).

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз