How learning to read changes the cortical networks for vision and language

Does literacy improve brain function? Does it also entail losses? Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we measured brain responses to spoken and written language, visual faces, houses, tools, and checkers in adults of variable literacy (10 were illiterate, 22 became literate as adults, and 31 were literate in childhood). As literacy enhanced the left fusiform activation evoked by writing, it induced a small competition with faces at this location, but also broadly enhanced visual responses in fusiform and occipital cortex, extending to area V1. Literacy also enhanced phonological activation to speech in the planum temporale and afforded a top-down activation of orthography from spoken inputs. Most changes occurred even when literacy was acquired in adulthood, emphasizing that both childhood and adult education can profoundly refine cortical organization.     

Brain grafts reduce motor abnormalities produced by destruction of nigrostriatal dopamine system

In order to determine if brain tissue grafts can provide functional input to recipient central nervous system tissue, fetal rat dopamine-containg neurons were implanted adjacent to the caudate nucleus of adult recipients whose endogenous dopaminergic input had been destroyed. The grafts showed good survival and axonal outgrowth. Motor abnormalities, which had been induced by the destruction of the endogenous dopaminergic input to the caudate, were significantly reduced after grafting of the fetal brain tissue. These data suggest that such implants may be potentially useful in reversing deficits after circumscribed destruction of brain tissue.     

Selective sparing of a class of striatal neurons in Huntington's disease

A distinct subpopulation of striatal aspiny neurons, containing the enzyme nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate diaphorase, is preserved in the caudate nucleus in Huntington's disease. Biochemical assays confirmed a significant increase in the activity of this enzyme in both the caudate nucleus and putamen in postmortem brain tissue from patients with this disease. The resistance of these neurons suggests that the gene defect in Huntington's disease may be modifiable by the local biochemical environment. This finding may provide insight into the nature of the genetically programmed cell death that is a characteristic of the disease.     

Motor effects of copper in the caudate nucleus: reversible lesions with ion-exchange resin beads

A method employing the use of ion-exchange resin beads is described for the punctate introduction of discrete amounts of various anions, cations, or zwitterions into given brain regions. A series of experiments utilizing the method to introduce ionic copper into the caudate nucleus with the resulting motor manifestations are discussed.     

Functional neuroimaging of speech perception in infants

Human infants begin to acquire their native language in the first months of life. To determine which brain regions support language processing at this young age, we measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging the brain activity evoked by normal and reversed speech in awake and sleeping 3-month-old infants. Left-lateralized brain regions similar to those of adults, including the superior temporal and angular gyri, were already active in infants. Additional activation in right prefrontal cortex was seen only in awake infants processing normal speech. Thus, precursors of adult cortical language areas are already active in infants, well before the onset of speech production.     

Neuroscience. Regional differences in cortical organization

Although there are elegants maps of the human brain that reveal differences in cellular architecture between different cortical regions, there is not much information about how corresponding cortical regions differ between the left and right hemispheres. As Gazzaniga explains in his Perspective, new results reveal the surprising finding of asymmetry in area 22 (which is important for language processing) of the left and right hemisphere (Galuske et al.). Clusters of neurons in area 22 of the left hemisphere are spaced farther apart and have longer axons cabling them together than neuronal clusters in area 22 of the right hemisphere.     

Language acquisition and brain development

Language acquisition is one of the most fundamental human traits, and it is obviously the brain that undergoes the developmental changes. During the years of language acquisition, the brain not only stores linguistic information but also adapts to the grammatical regularities of language. Recent advances in functional neuroimaging have substantially contributed to systems-level analyses of brain development. In this Viewpoint, I review the current understanding of how the "final state" of language acquisition is represented in the mature brain and summarize new findings on cortical plasticity for second language acquisition, focusing particularly on the function of the grammar center.     

浅谈外语教学中跨文化交流的重要性

人类学习知识的目的大约有2个方面一是学习知识本身;二是学会运用所学的知识.文化和语言有密切的联系,一定的文化背景知识有助于促进语言应用能力的提高,对可理解性输入起着推动作用.然而理解语言必须了解文化,理解文化必须了解语言.因此,本文试举几个例子,就教学中跨文化交流的重要性做一阐述,目的在于有意识地培养学生跨文化交流的意识和能力,以免发生文化休克,不利于交流.     

Language production: electroencephalographic localization in the normal human brain

Slow negative potentials, which are at a maximum over Broca's area in the left hemisphere, were recorded when normnal subjects spontaneously produced polysyllabic words. Bilaterally symmetrical potentials were seen with analogous, nonspeech control gestures. These potentials began up to 1 second before word or gesture articulation. These results are the first demonstration of localization of language production in normal human brain.     

The neural basis of intuitive best next-move generation in board game experts

The superior capability of cognitive experts largely depends on quick automatic processes. To reveal their neural bases, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to study brain activity of professional and amateur players in a board game named shogi. We found two activations specific to professionals: one in the precuneus of the parietal lobe during perception of board patterns, and the other in the caudate nucleus of the basal ganglia during quick generation of the best next move. Activities at these two sites covaried in relevant tasks. These results suggest that the precuneus-caudate circuit implements the automatic, yet complicated, processes of board-pattern perception and next-move generation in board game experts.     

Melatonin and abnormal movements induced by L-dopa in mice

Melatonin has blocked adventitious movements induced by L-dopa in intact mice. It has reversed the adventitious turning to the right, and it has induced running to the left in mice receiving L-dopa after a lesion in the right caudate nucleus.     

Cyclic adenosine monophosphate: selective increase in caudate nucleus after administration of L-dopa

Treatment with the dopamine precursor L-dopa produced a significant accumulation of adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate (cyclic AMP) in the caudate nucleus of the rat. In contrast, there was no change in the amount of cyclic AMP in the cerebellum. Accumulation of cyclic AMP in the caudate nucleus after administration of L-dopa was prevented by prior treatment with the decarboxylase inhibitor RO 4-4602. These observations and those in other laboratories support the assumption that dopamine formed from L-dopa selectively activates striatal adenylate cyclase. The in vivo activation of adenylate cyclase after treatment with L-dopa may be a useful model for studying neurological and psychiatric disorders that are thought to involve the dopaminergic system of the brain.     

一种基于SVM的BCI系统的研究与设计

脑-机接口(BCI)是连接大脑和计算机及外部设备的通讯系统.BCI系统则是利用BCI在不依赖人的周围神经和肌肉等正常输出通道的情况下,完成人脑与外部设备之间的信息交流和控制,以代替人的肢体或语言器官来实现人与外界的交流,以及对外部环境控制的一种全新的计算机应用系统.本文在BCI2000系统的基础上,提出了一种以支持向量机为特征分类方法的BCI系统的设计方案,该方案完成通过对左右手运动想象的脑电信号的识别,初步实现对光标运动方向进行控制的应用.     

Regional brain dopamine metabolism: a marker for the speed, direction, and posture of moving animals

Brain dopamine is necessary for normal movement. To determine whether there is a precise relation between the intensity of movement and changes in brain dopamine metabolism, the investigators ran rats on straight and circular treadmills at different speeds and with different body postures. Concentrations of dopamine and its metabolite 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid increased in the caudate and accumbens nuclei in direct relation to the speed and angular posture of the animals. Dopamine metabolism in the nucleus accumbens was more strongly linked to the speed and direction of movement, while in the caudate nucleus dopamine and 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid were affected most by posture and direction.     

Electrical stimulation of the amygdala as a conditioned stimulus in a bait-shyness paradigm

Animals receiving low-intensity electrical stimulation of the basolateral nucleus of the amygdala while drinking plain tap water were injected with toxic doses of lithium chloride to examine whether brain stimulation can serve as a conditioned stimulus in a bait-shyness paradigm. Subjects receiving this pairing greatly reduced their water intake in a retention test, in a similar manner to a group in which saccharin was paired with poisoning. Pairing lithium chloride with stimulation of the amygdala had no effect on subsequent water intake in the absence of brain stimulation. This effect appears to be locus specific, as caudate stimulation could not serve as a conditioned stimulus.     

Coding the location of the arm by sight

Area 5 in the parietal lobe of the primate brain is thought to be involved in monitoring the posture and movement of the body. In this study, neurons in monkey area 5 were found to encode the position of the monkey's arm while it was covered from view. The same neurons also responded to the position of a visible, realistic false arm. The neurons were not sensitive to the sight of unrealistic substitutes for the arm and were able to distinguish a right from a left arm. These neurons appear to combine visual and somatosensory signals in order to monitor the configuration of the limbs. They could form the basis of the complex body schema that we constantly use to adjust posture and guide movement.     

Drugs in the brain

In our studies on the entry of drugs into the central nervous system we have found the technique of autoradiography combined with radioassay to be a valuable research tool. It has disclosed such unsuspected phenomena as the dual routes of entry into the brain of acetazolamide. Although many factors controlling drug entry remain to be studied, we propose certain general conclusions. 1) The anatomical boundaries of brain are clearly reflected by the penetration and accumulation of all compounds we have studied-a finding that confirms the original proposition that whole-brain homogenates are inadequate for the study of drug and brain relationships. 2) Circulation, expressed as egional blood flow or volume of capillary blood, was seldom decisive in nfluencing entry or accumulation of exogenous substances in the brain. To date, the only compounds demonstrated to be circulation-dependent are trifluoroiodomethane and thiopental. Both are extremely fat-soluble. Tissue binding appears to be an additional factor in the case of thiopental. 3) Penetration is retarded by myelin. All substances we have studied have shown a relatively slower rate of entry into this tissue. In immature brain, before myelinization has taken lace, the primordial white matter is readily penetrated. We have suggested that entry into mature white matter is retarded by the lamellated membranes of the myelin sheath, which should be regarded, therefore, as a component of the blood-brain barrier. The small interstitial space indicated by the limited entry of sulfate ion is an additional hindrance to dispersal of exogenous substances into brain parenchyma. The blood-brain barrier is a complex anatomical, physiological, and biochemical phenomenon, and no unitary hypothesis is adequate to embrace all the observed events. 4) Accumulation of a drug in the brain implies some form of binding or interaction between drug and tissue. Findings on injection of phenobarbital, thiopental, or diphenylhydantoin illustrate such an accumulation. These binding interactions may be nonspecific, as is probable in the case of drugs bound to plasma protein. However, a more fundamental significance is suggested when a drug is found to bind, react with, or accumulate in, a specific anatomical structure of the brain. We have made reference to this possibility in connection with the localization of isonicotinic acid hydrazide or its metabolites in the hippocampus (46), and we have also reported the striking accumulation of acetazolamide in hippocampus, caudate nucleus, and hypothalamus. Although the binding process is poorly understood, further investigation of these phenomena should lead to a clearer understanding of regional variations in brain chemistry. While one should not assume that the demonstration of a focal concentration of a drug implies site of action, correlation between pharmacological action, electrophysiological events, biochemical changes, and temporal and regional drug concentrations may indeed exist (47).     

Integration of word meaning and world knowledge in language comprehension

Although the sentences that we hear or read have meaning, this does not necessarily mean that they are also true. Relatively little is known about the critical brain structures for, and the relative time course of, establishing the meaning and truth of linguistic expressions. We present electroencephalogram data that show the rapid parallel integration of both semantic and world knowledge during the interpretation of a sentence. Data from functional magnetic resonance imaging revealed that the left inferior prefrontal cortex is involved in the integration of both meaning and world knowledge. Finally, oscillatory brain responses indicate that the brain keeps a record of what makes a sentence hard to interpret.     

Caudate unit responses to nigral stimuli: evidence for a possible nigro-neostriatal pathway

Electrical stimulation of the Substantia nigra evokes depressant and facilitatory responses from individually recorded caudate nucleus neurons. These effects resemble those elicited from caudate cells by microiontophoretic ejections of dopamine. Since histochemical evidence suggests that dopamine-containing fibers link the substantia nigra with the caudate, this pathway may mediate the changes in caudate spike rates produced by nigral stimuli.     

自信的静息态功能磁共振成像低频振幅研究

自信是现代人优秀的个性品质,也是自信进取性的重要构成要素.为研究自信的神经起源,采用静息态功能磁共振成像技术,以大脑自发神经活动的低频振幅、功能连接分析来探究与自信相关的脑区及脑网络.结果发现:左侧颞中回、右侧颞下回和中央后回的低频振幅值与自信有紧密关系;右侧颞下回与左侧中央前回和右侧中央后回之间的连接强度与自信正相关,该脑区与双侧额中回、右侧额上回、左侧顶上小叶和左侧扣带回之间的连接强度与自信负相关;右侧中央后回与双侧脑岛、右侧颞中回、左侧颞上回、左侧额上回的连接强度与自信正相关,与左侧楔前叶的连接强度和自信负相关.这些大脑区域连接与自信的关系表明自信品质具有广泛的脑功能网络基础,为自信及相关研究提供了新证据.