 |
|
Brain network linked to contemplation in adults is less complex in children
March 10, 2008A brain network linked to introspective tasks -- such as forming the self-image or understanding the motivations of others -- is less intricate and well-connected in children, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have learned. They also showed that the network establishes firmer connections between various brain regions as an individual matures.
The scientists are working to establish a picture of how these connections and other brain networks normally develop and interact. They want to use that picture to conduct more detailed assessments of the effects of aging, brain injuries and conditions such as autism on brain function.
"Having this information will not only help us understand what's going wrong in these patients, it will also allow us to better assess whether and how future interventions are providing those patients with effective treatment," says senior author Bradley L. Schlaggar, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of pediatrics, radiology, neurology and anatomy and neurobiology.
The results appear online this week in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Neuroscientists including co-author Marcus E. Raichle, M.D., professor of radiology, of anatomy and neurobiology and of neurology first identified the network, which is called the default network, in 1996. Since then, scientists have linked it to a number of inward-looking activities, including the creation of the "autobiographical self," a person's internal narrative of their life story; and "mentalizing," the ability to analyze the mental states of others and use those insights to adjust the self's behavior appropriately.
Schlaggar, Raichle and colleagues including Steve Petersen, Ph.D., the James McDonnell Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience and professor of neurology and psychology, have been using a new technique called resting-state functional connectivity MRI to identify brain networks and analyze their functions and development. Instead of analyzing mental activity when a volunteer works on a cognitive task, resting-state connectivity scans their brains after they have been asked to rest and not engage in any specific tasks. The scans reveal changes in the oxygen levels in blood flowing to different areas of the brain. Researchers interpret correlations in the rise and fall of blood oxygen to different brain areas as a sign that those areas likely work together. In neuroscientist's terms, this means the regions have functional connectivity.
Damien A. Fair, a graduate student in Schlaggar's lab, led the new study, which compared functional connectivity in 13 brain regions linked to the default network in children ages seven to nine and adults ages 21 to 31.
"The difference between children and adults is profound," Fair says. "In a graph depicting the strength of connections between the brain regions we studied, children's minds have just a few connections between some regions, while the adult brains have a web-like mesh of many different interconnecting links involving all the regions."
In papers published in recent years, the researchers have used the same techniques to identify two networks that they think control much of the brain activity behind behaviors directed toward "external" goals (see http://mednews.wustl.edu/news/page/normal/9639.html and http://mednews.wustl.edu/news/page/normal/9778.html), including observing and interacting with the environment.
Schlaggar and colleagues plan further study of how the brain networks interact during development and in the mature brain. They also are looking at how network functions differ in patients with brain injuries and conditions such as autism.
"Autism spectrum disorder first manifests earlier than the time period we were studying," Schlaggar notes. "But many of the functions it affects have been associated with the default network, so we're eager to see if analysis of this network and its development can give us new insights into autism."
Washington University School of Medicine
The results appear online this week in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Neuroscientists including co-author Marcus E. Raichle, M.D., professor of radiology, of anatomy and neurobiology and of neurology first identified the network, which is called the default network, in 1996. Since then, scientists have linked it to a number of inward-looking activities, including the creation of the "autobiographical self," a person's internal narrative of their life story; and "mentalizing," the ability to analyze the mental states of others and use those insights to adjust the self's behavior appropriately.
Schlaggar, Raichle and colleagues including Steve Petersen, Ph.D., the James McDonnell Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience and professor of neurology and psychology, have been using a new technique called resting-state functional connectivity MRI to identify brain networks and analyze their functions and development. Instead of analyzing mental activity when a volunteer works on a cognitive task, resting-state connectivity scans their brains after they have been asked to rest and not engage in any specific tasks. The scans reveal changes in the oxygen levels in blood flowing to different areas of the brain. Researchers interpret correlations in the rise and fall of blood oxygen to different brain areas as a sign that those areas likely work together. In neuroscientist's terms, this means the regions have functional connectivity.
Damien A. Fair, a graduate student in Schlaggar's lab, led the new study, which compared functional connectivity in 13 brain regions linked to the default network in children ages seven to nine and adults ages 21 to 31.
"The difference between children and adults is profound," Fair says. "In a graph depicting the strength of connections between the brain regions we studied, children's minds have just a few connections between some regions, while the adult brains have a web-like mesh of many different interconnecting links involving all the regions."
In papers published in recent years, the researchers have used the same techniques to identify two networks that they think control much of the brain activity behind behaviors directed toward "external" goals (see http://mednews.wustl.edu/news/page/normal/9639.html and http://mednews.wustl.edu/news/page/normal/9778.html), including observing and interacting with the environment.
Schlaggar and colleagues plan further study of how the brain networks interact during development and in the mature brain. They also are looking at how network functions differ in patients with brain injuries and conditions such as autism.
"Autism spectrum disorder first manifests earlier than the time period we were studying," Schlaggar notes. "But many of the functions it affects have been associated with the default network, so we're eager to see if analysis of this network and its development can give us new insights into autism."
Washington University School of Medicine
Brain Network News and Current Brain Network Events RSSAutism's social struggles due to disrupted communication networks in brain
Picking up on innuendo and social cues is a central component of engaging in conversation, but people with autism often struggle to determine another person's intentions in a social interaction.
Brain region that can be stimulated to reduce the cognitive deficits of sleep deprivation identified
A Columbia University Medical Center research team has uncovered how stimulation of a particular brain region can help stave off the deficits in working memory, associated with an extended sleep deprivation.
Body-mind meditation boosts performance, reduces stress
A team of researchers from China and the University of Oregon have developed an approach for neuroscientists to study how meditation might provide improvements in a person's attention and response to stress.
Brain network related to intelligence identified
A primary mystery puzzling neuroscientists - where in the brain lies intelligence? - just may have a unified answer.
Columbia Researchers Identify Brain Network That May Help Prevent or Slow Alzheimer's Disease
Columbia University Medical Center researchers have identified a brain network within the frontal lobe that is associated with cognitive reserve, the process that allows individuals to maintain function despite brain function decline due to aging or Alzheimer's disease.
Brain networks strengthened by closing ion channels
Yale School of Medicine and University of Crete School of Medicine researchers report in Cell April 20 the first evidence of a molecular mechanism that dynamically alters the strength of higher brain network connections.
Feelings matter less to teenagers
Teenagers take less account than adults of people's feelings and, often, even fail to think about their own, according to a UCL neuroscientist.
Scientists find brain function most important to maths ability
Scientists at UCL (University College London) have discovered the area of the brain linked to dyscalculia, a maths learning disability.
Brain memory area modifies its wiring diagram during the female cycle
Researchers at Northwestern University and Columbia University have found that "wiring" in female rat brain memory area expands and retracts in relation to the amount of estrogen present during the estrous/menstrual cycle.
More Brain Network News Articles
 | Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software by Steven Johnson An individual ant, like an individual neuron, is just about as dumb as can be. Connect enough of them together properly, though, and you get spontaneous intelligence. Web pundit Steven Johnson explains what we know about this phenomenon with a rare lucidity in Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software. Starting with the weird behavior of the semi-colonial organisms we... |
 | Mind Hacks: Tips & Tricks for Using Your Brain (Hacks) by Tom Stafford, Matt Webb The brain is a fearsomely complex information-processing environment--one that often eludes our ability to understand it. At any given time, the brain is collecting, filtering, and analyzing information and, in response, performing countless intricate processes, some of which are automatic, some voluntary, some conscious, and some unconscious. Cognitive neuroscience is one of the ways we have to... |
 | On Intelligence by Jeff Hawkins, Sandra Blakeslee Jeff Hawkins, the high-tech success story behind PalmPilots and the Redwood Neuroscience Institute, does a lot of thinking about thinking. In On Intelligence Hawkins juxtaposes his two loves--computers and brains--to examine the real future of artificial intelligence. In doing so, he unites two fields of study that have been moving uneasily toward one another for at least two decades. Most... |
 | The Global Brain: Your Roadmap for Innovating Faster and Smarter in a Networked World by Satish Nambisan, Mohanbir Sawhney |
 | Computational Explorations in Cognitive Neuroscience: Understanding the Mind by Simulating the Brain by Randall C. O'Reilly, Yuko Munakata The goal of computational cognitive neuroscience is to understand how the brain embodies the mind by using biologically based computational models comprising networks of neuronlike units. This text, based on a course taught by Randall O'Reilly and Yuko Munakata over the past several years, provides an in-depth introduction to the main ideas in the field. The neural units in the simulations use... |
 | The Handbook of Brain Theory and Neural Networks: Second Edition Dramatically updating and extending the first edition, published in 1995, the second edition of The Handbook of Brain Theory and Neural Networks presents the enormous progress made in recent years in the many subfields related to the two great questions: How does the brain work? and, How can we build intelligent machines? Once again, the heart of the book is a set of almost 300 articles... |
 | Observed Brain Dynamics by Partha Mitra, Hemant Bokil The biomedical sciences have been recently undergone revolutionary change, due to the ability to digitize and store large data sets. In neuroscience, the data sources include measurements of neural activity measured using electrode arrays, EEG and MEG, brain imaging data from PET, fMRI and optical imaging methods. Analysis, visualization and management of these time series data sets is a growing... |
| A Companion Volume to Dr. Jay A. Goldstein's Betrayal by the Brain: A Guide for Patients and Their Physicians by Robert Lecour | |
 | Neural Path Therapy: How to Change Your Brain's Response to Anger, Fear, Pain, and Desire by Matthew McKay, David Harp When we set out to describe the problems this book can help fix—the stressful and anxiety-provoking conditions of everyday living—we quite simply ran out of space. It's no secret that life is tough, and that each passing year isn't making it any easier. Whether you're more stressed by politics, the environment, your relationships, major life changes, or just the daily task of keeping... |
 | Betrayal by the Brain: The Neurologic Basis of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia Syndrome, and Related Neural Network Disorders (The Haworth Library ... Networks in Health & Illness +) by Jay Goldstein In his trademark, revolutionary style, Dr. Goldstein uses his model of neural dysregulation to incorporate basic neuroscience research into pathophysiology and treatment. Betrayal by the Brain presents a comprehensive thesis that clearly defines the biological basis for many of the varied symptoms experienced by chronic fatigue syndrome patients. Dr. Goldstein provides a rationale for the use of... |
| © 2008 BrightSurf.com |