Separate lanes for adding and reading in the white matter highways of the human brain
Data
2019Egilea
Grotheer, Mareike
Zhen, Zonglei
Lerma-Usabiaga, Garikoitz
Grill-Spector, Kalanit
Grotheer, M., Zhen, Z., Lerma-Usabiaga, G., & Grill-Spector, K. (2019). Separate lanes for adding and reading in the white matter highways of the human brain. Nature Communications, 10, 3675. Doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-11424-1
Laburpena
Math and reading involve distributed brain networks and have both shared (e.g. encoding of
visual stimuli) and dissociated (e.g. quantity processing) cognitive components. Yet, to date,
the shared vs. dissociated gray and white matter substrates of the math and reading networks
are unknown. Here, we define these networks and evaluate the structural properties of
their fascicles using functional MRI, diffusion MRI, and quantitative MRI. Our results reveal
that there are distinct gray matter regions which are preferentially engaged in either math
(adding) or reading, and that the superior longitudinal and arcuate fascicles are shared across
the math and reading networks. Strikingly, within these fascicles, reading- and math-related
tracts are segregated into parallel sub-bundles and show structural differences related to
myelination. These findings open a new avenue of research that examines the contribution of
sub-bundles within fascicles to specific behaviors.