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Associations of Reading Efficiency with White Matter Properties of the Cerebellar Peduncles in Children

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Abstract

Reading in children has been associated with microstructural properties of the cerebellar peduncles, the white matter pathways connecting the cerebellum to the cerebrum. In this study, we used two independent neuroimaging modalities to assess which features of the cerebellar peduncles would be associated with reading. Twenty-three 8-year-old children were evaluated on word reading efficiency and imaged using diffusion MRI (dMRI) and quantitative T1 relaxometry (qT1). We segmented the superior (SCP), middle, and inferior cerebellar peduncles and extracted two metrics: fractional anisotropy (FA) from dMRI and R1 from qT1. Tract-FA was significantly correlated with tract-R1 in left and right SCPs (left: rP(21) = .63, right: rP(21) = .76, p ≤ .001) suggesting that FA of these peduncles, at least in part, indexed myelin content. Tract-FA and tract R1 were not correlated in the other cerebellar peduncles. Reading efficiency negatively correlated with tract-FA of the left (rP(21) = − .43, p = .040) and right SCP (rP(21) = − .37, p = .079). Reading efficiency did not correlate with tract-R1 in the SCPs. The negative association of reading efficiency with tract-FA and the lack of association of reading efficiency with tract-R1 implicate properties other than myelin content as relevant to the information flow between the cerebellum and the cerebrum for individual differences in reading skills in children.

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Data Availability

The data from this study will be made available on request.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the children and families who participated in this study. We would also like to thank Ms. Vanessa N. Kovachy for initial recruitment and data collection, and Ms. Cory K. Dodson and Ms. Lauren R. Borchers for completing recruitment and their help with diffusion data pre-processing.

Funding

This study was funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (RO1 HD069162 to Feldman, PI) and the Stanford Transdisciplinary Initiatives Program, Maternal & Child Health Research Institute (1186741–-100-DHDHY).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics, Stanford School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA

    Lisa Bruckert, Katherine E. Travis & Heidi M. Feldman

  2. Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

    Aviv A. Mezer

  3. Department of English Literature and Linguistics, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel

    Michal Ben-Shachar

  4. The Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel

    Michal Ben-Shachar

  5. Medical School Office Building, 1265 Welch Road, Room X163, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA

    Heidi M. Feldman

Authors
  1. Lisa Bruckert
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  2. Katherine E. Travis
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  4. Michal Ben-Shachar
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  5. Heidi M. Feldman
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Heidi M. Feldman.

Ethics declarations

The Stanford University Institutional Review Board approved the research protocol. For all children included in the study, informed consent was obtained from a parent or guardian at the first visit; children over the age of 7 years provided assent; and children were compensated for the behavioral testing session and the MRI scan.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Bruckert, L., Travis, K.E., Mezer, A.A. et al. Associations of Reading Efficiency with White Matter Properties of the Cerebellar Peduncles in Children. Cerebellum 19, 771–777 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12311-020-01162-2

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