Age, sex, and verbal abilities affect location of linguistic connectivity in ventral visual pathway

• Published in: Brain and language 2013-02, Vol.124 (2), p.184-193
• Main Authors: Burman, Douglas D., Minas, Taylor, Bolger, Donald J., Booth, James R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescent Development - physiology; Age Differences; Age Factors; Biological and medical sciences; Brain Hemisphere Functions; Brain Mapping; Child; Child Development; Child Development - physiology; Children; Connectivity; Development; Developmental psychology; Female; fMRI; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gender Differences; Humans; Intelligence Quotient; Language; Language Skills; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Reading; Sex; Sex Factors; Task Analysis; Temporal Lobe - physiology; Verbal Ability; Visual Cortex - physiology; Visual Pathways - physiology; Visual Perception
• ISSN: 0093-934X; 1090-2155; 1090-2155
• DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2012.12.007

► Lexical task-dependent connectivity examined in ventral visual stream. ► Location of connectivity maxima varies systematically by age, sex and verbal IQ. ► Increases in age and verbal IQ produced similar shifts in maxima location. ► Lateral shift in temporal lobe for girls, posterior occipital shift for boys. ► Area of connectivity expands with age. Previous studies have shown that the strength of connectivity between regions can vary depending upon the cognitive demands of a task. In this study, the location of task-dependent connectivity from the primary visual cortex (V1) was examined in 43 children (ages 9–15) performing visual tasks; connectivity maxima were identified for a visual task requiring a linguistic (orthographic) judgment. Age, sex, and verbal IQ interacted to affect maxima location. Increases in age and verbal IQ produced similar shifts in maxima location; in girls, connectivity maxima shifted primarily laterally within the left temporal lobe, whereas the shift was primarily posterior within occipital cortex among boys. A composite map across all subjects shows an expansion in the area of connectivity with age. Results show that the location of visual/linguistic connectivity varies systematically during development, suggesting that both sex differences and developmental changes in V1 connectivity are related to linguistic function.