Brain white matter structure and COMT gene are linked to second-language learning in adults

Adult human brains retain the capacity to undergo tissue reorganization during second-language learning. Brain-imaging studies show a relationship between neuroanatomical properties and learning for adults exposed to a second language. However, the role of genetic factors in this relationship has no...

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Veröffentlicht in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Jg. 113; H. 26; S. 7249
Hauptverfasser: Mamiya, Ping C, Richards, Todd L, Coe, Bradley P, Eichler, Evan E, Kuhl, Patricia K
Format: Journal Article
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: United States 28.06.2016
Schlagworte:
Adolescent
Adult
Anisotropy
Catechol O-Methyltransferase - genetics
Female
Genotype
Humans
Language
Learning
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
White Matter - anatomy & histology
White Matter - diagnostic imaging
Young Adult
genetic variation
dopamine
short-term plasticity
ISSN:1091-6490, 1091-6490
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Zusammenfassung:Adult human brains retain the capacity to undergo tissue reorganization during second-language learning. Brain-imaging studies show a relationship between neuroanatomical properties and learning for adults exposed to a second language. However, the role of genetic factors in this relationship has not been investigated. The goal of the current study was twofold: (i) to characterize the relationship between brain white matter fiber-tract properties and second-language immersion using diffusion tensor imaging, and (ii) to determine whether polymorphisms in the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene affect the relationship. We recruited incoming Chinese students enrolled in the University of Washington and scanned their brains one time. We measured the diffusion properties of the white matter fiber tracts and correlated them with the number of days each student had been in the immersion program at the time of the brain scan. We found that higher numbers of days in the English immersion program correlated with higher fractional anisotropy and lower radial diffusivity in the right superior longitudinal fasciculus. We show that fractional anisotropy declined once the subjects finished the immersion program. The relationship between brain white matter fiber-tract properties and immersion varied in subjects with different COMT genotypes. Subjects with the Methionine (Met)/Valine (Val) and Val/Val genotypes showed higher fractional anisotropy and lower radial diffusivity during immersion, which reversed immediately after immersion ended, whereas those with the Met/Met genotype did not show these relationships. Statistical modeling revealed that subjects' grades in the language immersion program were best predicted by fractional anisotropy and COMT genotype.
Bibliographie:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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ISSN:1091-6490
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.1606602113