Early language exposure affects neural mechanisms of semantic representations
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Connectomics, Beijing Normal University, China
- Chinese Institute for Brain Research, China
Figures
Figure 1 with 2 supplements
The word stimuli, task fMRI procedure, and regions of interest (ROIs) in this study.
(a) Word stimuli in the task fMRI. Ninety words were used, including 40 concrete/object words and 50 abstract/nonobject words, which were grouped into fine-grained categories based on k-means …
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Figure 1—source data 1
Ninety words in the fMRI task, grouped into 10 semantic clusters based on k-means clustering of the group-mean hearing semantic space.
- https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/81681/elife-81681-fig1-data1-v2.docx
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Figure 1—source data 2
Spearman’s rho between each deaf participant’s semantic representational distance matrix (RDM) and the group-averaged semantic RDM in hearing participants.
- https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/81681/elife-81681-fig1-data2-v2.xlsx
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Figure 1—source data 3
Details of semantic regions of interest (ROIs), including cluster location, extent, peak t values, and Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) coordinates.
- https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/81681/elife-81681-fig1-data3-v2.docx
Figure 1—figure supplement 1
Written word processing performances of the two deaf groups in two reaction-time tasks.
(a) Lexical decision task, in which participants were asked to decide whether a two-Chinese-character written stimulus denoted a real word or a pseudoword via button press. In each trial, a fixation …
Figure 1—figure supplement 2
Representational similarity analysis (RSA) and univariate results in other regions of interest (ROIs) (except for the left dATL, inferior frontal gyrus [IFG], and pMTG) in the two deaf groups.
dATL, dorsal anterior temporal lobe; pMTG, posterior middle temporal gyrus; SFGmed, superior frontal gyrus, medial; PCG, posterior cingulate gyrus; PCUN, precuneus. n.s., not significant, p > 0.05; …
Figure 2 with 1 supplement
Effects of early language exposure on neural representations of semantic knowledge.
(a) Representational similarity analysis (RSA) procedure. For each participant, a neural representational distance matrix (RDM) was computed as the correlation distance of multivoxel activity …
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Figure 2—source data 1
Region of interest (ROI)-level representational similarity analysis (RSA) results in the two deaf groups.
- https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/81681/elife-81681-fig2-data1-v2.xlsx
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Figure 2—source data 2
Cluster details of the whole-brain searchlight representational similarity analysis (RSA) results.
- https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/81681/elife-81681-fig2-data2-v2.docx
Figure 2—figure supplement 1
Whole-brain representational similarity analysis (RSA) results of pixelwise similarity of visual words in the two deaf groups.
The neural effects were thresholded at voxel-level p < 0.001, cluster-level FWE-corrected p < 0.05. L, left hemisphere. n = 16 in the native group; n = 23 in the delayed group.
Figure 3
Effects of early language exposure on neural representations of abstract/nonobject words in the left dorsal anterior temporal lobe (dATL).
The two representational distance matrices (RDMs) at the top illustrate the categorical and the continuous behavioral semantic RDMs of 50 abstract/nonobject words constructed in an independent group …
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Figure 3—source data 1
Representational similarity analysis (RSA) results for the abstract/nonobject words in the two deaf groups.
- https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/81681/elife-81681-fig3-data1-v2.xlsx
Figure 4
Effects of early language exposure on neural representations of semantic knowledge in language-sensitive regions.
The left panel shows the language-sensitive regions of interest (ROIs) (Fedorenko et al., 2010) and the black lines indicate the three ROIs we functionally localized. Bar plots show the …
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Figure 4—source data 1
Representational similarity analysis (RSA) results in language-sensitive regions of interest (ROIs) in the two deaf groups.
- https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/81681/elife-81681-fig4-data1-v2.xlsx
Figure 5 with 1 supplement
Effects of early language exposure on the univariate semantic abstractness effects in group-level-defined semantic regions of interest (ROIs) (a) and individual functional ROIs (fROIs) (b).
Boxplots show beta values to abstract/nonobject words and concrete/object words in the three ROIs (the left dorsal anterior temporal lobe [dATL], posterior middle temporal region [pMTG], and …
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Figure 5—source data 1
Raw beta values to abstract/nonobject words and concrete/object words in group-level-defined semantic regions of interest (ROIs) and individual functional ROIs (fROIs) in the two deaf groups.
- https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/81681/elife-81681-fig5-data1-v2.xlsx
Figure 5—figure supplement 1
Whole-brain univariate results of semantic abstractness in native and delayed signers.
The statistical maps were thresholded at voxel-level p < 0.001, cluster sizes > 10 voxels, and visualized using the ‘Maximum Voxel’ mapping algorithm in BrainNet Viewer to illustrate small clusters. …
Tables
Table 1
Background demographic and language information of native and delayed signers.
| Native(n=16) | Delayed(n=23) | Welch’s t | p-Value | Hedges' g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AoA of CSL (years of age) | 0±0 | 6.91±1.62 | |||
| Parental CSL proficiency (1–7 scale)* § | 6.81±0.54 | 2.74±1.29 | 13.54 | <0.001 | 4.04 |
| Demographic information | |||||
| Gender | 11 M, 5 F | 12 M, 11 F | |||
| Age (years) | 28.50±7.13 | 27.09±5.87 | 0.65 | 0.52 | 0.21 |
| Education (years) | 14.13±2.31 | 15.09±1.41 | –1.49 | 0.15 | –0.49 |
| McArthur Scale of Subjective Social Status, childhood (1–10 scale)† | 3.88±2.58 | 4.35±1.97 | –0.62 | 0.54 | –0.20 |
| Father’s education (years) § | 7.19±3.04 | 10.39±2.84 | –3.33 | 0.002 | –1.07 |
| Mother’s education (years) | 6.56±3.14 | 8.52±2.73 | –2.02 | 0.053 | –0.65 |
| Language information | |||||
| CSL comprehension (1–7 scale)* | 6.06±0.93 | 6.17±0.89 | –0.38 | 0.71 | –0.12 |
| CSL production (1–7 scale)* | 5.75±1.00 | 5.87±1.10 | –0.35 | 0.73 | –0.11 |
| Lipreading of acquaintances (1–7 scale)* | 2.81±1.11 | 3.17±1.19 | –0.97 | 0.34 | –0.31 |
| Lipreading of strangers (1–7 scale)* | 1.88±0.81 | 1.87±0.97 | 0.02 | 0.99 | 0.01 |
| Adult Reading History Questionnaire (ARHQ, 1–5 scale)‡ | 2.59±0.68 | 2.84±0.52 | –1.25 | 0.22 | –0.41 |
| ARHQ, Item 26, self-rated reading speed (1–5 scale)‡ | 2.38±1.36 | 3.13±1.01 | –1.89 | 0.07 | –0.62 |
| ARHQ, Item 29, self-rated writing skills (1–5 scale)‡ § | 2.25±1.00 | 3.17±0.94 | –2.91 | 0.007 | –0.93 |
| ARHQ, Item 40, self-rated reading comprehension (1–5 scale)‡ | 2.44±0.81 | 2.70±0.97 | –0.90 | 0.38 | –0.28 |
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*
Higher scores indicate higher proficiency.
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†
Higher scores indicate higher social status; from Adler et al., 2000.
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‡
Higher scores indicate a higher risk of reading disability; from Lefly and Pennington, 2000.
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§
p < 0.01, significant differences between the two deaf groups.
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Table 1—source data 1
Background demographic and language information of native and delayed signers.
- https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/81681/elife-81681-table1-data1-v2.xlsx
