Story time turbocharger? Child engagement during shared reading and cerebellar activation and connectivity in preschool-age children listening to stories

Abstract

Expanding behavioral and neurobiological evidence affirms benefits of shared (especially parent-child) reading on cognitive development during early childhood. However, the majority of this evidence involves factors under caregiver control, the influence of those intrinsic to the child, such as interest or engagement in reading, largely indirect or unclear. The cerebellum is increasingly recognized as playing a "smoothing" role in higher-level cognitive processing and learning, via feedback loops with language, limbic and association cortices. We utilized functional MRI to explore the relationship between child engagement during a mother-child reading observation and neural activation and connectivity during a story listening task, in a sample of 4-year old girls. Children exhibiting greater interest and engagement in the narrative showed increased activation in right-sided cerebellar association areas during the task, and greater functional connectivity between this activation cluster and language and executive function areas. Our findings suggest a potential cerebellar "boost" mechanism responsive to child engagement level that may contribute to emergent literacy development during early childhood, and synergy between caregiver and child factors during story sharing.

Fig 1. Observed child engagement scores.

Histogram and density curve for observed child engagement scores, including mean (dashed line) and standard deviation (sd). Total score for each child was the mean of 3 reviewer scores.

Fig 2. Group mean activation map for the story listening task.

Group mean BOLD fMRI activation map for our story listening task (stories>tones) in 4 year-old girls (n = 22). All voxels significant at p<0.05 (FDR corrected), slice thickness 5 mm for contiguous slices. Slices range from z = -28 to z = 74 in MNI coordinate space. Color scale ranges from t = 1.25 (cooler) to 4 (hotter). Radiological orientation, left = right, right = left.

Fig 3. Regression map for the story listening task (stories>tones activation) with child engagement score applied as explanatory variable.

Regression map for the story listening task (stories>tones; n = 22), with child engagement score as the explanatory variable. Total cluster size 1164 voxels (p<0.05, FDR corrected), with center of gravity at (x = 21, y = -67, z = -25; R posterior cerebellum) in MNI coordinate space and z-score local maxima 3.22–3.93. Shown as 5 mm slices from z = -64 to z = -12 in MNI coordinate space. Color scale from t = 1.25 (cooler) to 4 (hotter). Radiological orientation, left = right, right = left.

Fig 4. Tri-planar view of neural activation (stories>tones) for the story listening task with child engagement score as explanatory variable.

Orthogonal tri-planar view (origin x = 6, y = -78, z = -26, MNI coordinate space; right Crus II/Vermis VI) of cerebellar activation for the story listening task (stories>tones; n = 22), with child engagement score as explanatory variable. Total cluster size 1164 voxels (p<0.05, FDR corrected). Color scale t = 1.25 (cooler) to 4 (hotter). Radiological orientation, left = right, right = left, sagittal plane viewed from the right.

Fig 5. Functional connectivity map showing brain areas functionally connected with the seed activation cluster correlated with child engagement scores.

Seed-to-voxel map of brain areas functionally connected with the seed activation cluster (right Crus I/II) correlated with observed child engagement scores during the story listening task (stories>tones; n = 12). Clusters at MNI coordinates: A) (x = 26, y = -78, z = -36; bilateral crus I/II and right cerebellar lobules VI and VII/VIII), B) (x = -42, y = 42, z = 22; left BA 6, 8, 9), C) (x = 38, y = 30, z = 42; right BA 8), and D) (x = -36, y = -66, z = 26; left BA 39). Color scale t = 3 (cooler) to 15 (hotter). Radiological orientation, left = right, right = left.