Personalized neuroimaging reveals the impact of children’s interests on language processing in the brain
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imag_a_00339.pdf
Description
Published version
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5.73 MB
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Author(s)
Olson, Halie A
Johnson, Kristina T
Nishith, Shruti
Frosch, Isabelle R
Gabrieli, John DE
D’Mello, Anila M
Date Issued
October 30, 2024
Journal
Imaging Neuroscience
Publisher
MIT Press
Citation
Halie A. Olson, Kristina T. Johnson, Shruti Nishith, Isabelle R. Frosch, John D.E. Gabrieli, Anila M. D’Mello; Personalized neuroimaging reveals the impact of children’s interests on language processing in the brain. Imaging Neuroscience 2024; 2 imag–2–00339.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Cognition is shaped by individual experiences and interests. However, to study cognition in the brain, researchers typically use generic stimuli that are the same across all individuals. Language, in particular, is animated and motivated by several highly personal factors that are typically not accounted for in neuroimaging study designs, such as “interest” in a topic. Due to its inherently personal and idiosyncratic nature, it is unknown how interest in a topic modulates language processing in the brain. We conducted functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 20 children (ages 6.98–12.01 years, mean(SD) = 9.35(1.52), 5 female/15 male) as they listened to personalized narratives about a topic of specific interest, as well as to non-personalized generic narratives. We found that personalized narratives about a topic of interest increased activation in canonical language areas, as well as in reward and self-reference regions. Strikingly, we found that activation patterns elicited by topics of personal interest were more consistent across children, despite their idiosyncratic nature, than activation patterns elicited by narratives about an identical generic topic. These results reinforce the critical role that personal interests play in language processing in the human brain, and demonstrate the feasibility of using a personalized neuroimaging approach to study the effects of individually-varying factors such as interest in the brain.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1162/imag_a_00339
