Monday, June 7, 2010

Dyslexia - left hemisphere connectivity issue

"Vanderbilt University researchers Sheryl Rimrodt and Laurie Cutting and colleagues at Johns Hopkins University and Kennedy Krieger Institute used an emerging MRI technique, called diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), to discover evidence linking dyslexia to structural differences in an important bundle of white matter in the left-hemisphere language network.
White matter is made up of fibers that can be thought of as the wiring that allows communication between brain cells; the left-hemisphere language network is made up of bundles of these fibres and contains branches that extend from the back of the brain (including vision cells) to the front parts that are responsible for articulation and speech. "When you are reading, you are essentially saying things out loud in your head", said Cutting. "If you have decreased integrity of white matter in this area, the front and back part of your brain are not talking to one another. This would affect reading, because you need both to act as a cohesive unit."  Read more of this study here


IM exercises the brain,builds white matter, helps to connect various regions. Each IM task impacts a different region in the brain. Studies like these help IM providers target specific areas of the brain for specific gains.