Faculty, Staff and Student Publications
Language
English
Publication Date
1-14-2024
Journal
Cerebral Cortex
DOI
10.1093/cercor/bhad414
PMID
38044467
PMCID
PMC10793574
PubMedCentral® Posted Date
12-2-2023
PubMedCentral® Full Text Version
Post-print
Abstract
English learners (ELs) are a rapidly growing population in schools in the United States with limited experience and proficiency in English. To better understand the path for EL's academic success in school, it is important to understand how EL's brain systems are used for academic learning in English. We studied, in a cohort of Hispanic middle-schoolers (n = 45, 22F) with limited English proficiency and a wide range of reading and math abilities, brain network properties related to academic abilities. We applied a method for localizing brain regions of interest (ROIs) that are group-constrained, yet individually specific, to test how resting state functional connectivity between regions that are important for academic learning (reading, math, and cognitive control regions) are related to academic abilities. ROIs were selected from task localizers probing reading and math skills in the same participants. We found that connectivity across all ROIs, as well as connectivity of just the cognitive control ROIs, were positively related to measures of reading skills but not math skills. This work suggests that cognitive control brain systems have a central role for reading in ELs. Our results also indicate that an individualized approach for localizing brain function may clarify brain-behavior relationships.
Keywords
Humans, Brain, Schools, Reading, English learners, functional connectivity, reading, math, cognitive control
Published Open-Access
yes
Recommended Citation
Nugiel, Tehila; Demeter, Damion V; Mitchell, Mackenzie E; et al., "Brain Connectivity and Academic Skills in English Learners" (2024). Faculty, Staff and Student Publications. 4112.
https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/uthmed_docs/4112