ArticleBrain structure & function2020
Word learning reveals white matter plasticity in preschool children.
Article in Brain structure & function, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 35 citations in OpenAlex.
- Training-Induced Neural Plasticity in Youth: A Systematic Review of Structural and Functional MRI Studies.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2020Pooled it
- Beyond the Wiring: White Matter as a Dynamic Regulator of Brain Function and Disease.Neuroscience bulletin · 2026Review
- White Matter Microstructural Correlates of Swallowing Biomechanics: An Exploratory Pilot Study in Healthy Young Adults.Dysphagia · 2025Article
- Neurophysiological evidence of single-shot semantic mapping in the developing brain.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2025Article
- Neural signatures of word learning during adult-child interactions.Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2025Article
- Dynamic Field Theory of Executive Function: Identifying Early Neurocognitive Markers.Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development · 2024Article
- White matter connectivity linked to novel word learning in children.Brain structure & function · 2024Article
- Identifying interindividual variability of social perception and associated brain anatomical correlations in children with autism spectrum disorder using eye-tracking and diffusion tensor imaging MRI (DTI-MRI).Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2024Article
- Greater neural pattern similarity to the native language is associated with better novel word learning.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- White matter brain structure predicts language performance and learning success.Human brain mapping · 2023Article
- Chronic pediatric diseases and risk for reading difficulties: a narrative review with recommendations.Pediatric research · 2022Review
- Associations between Brain Microstructure and Phonological Processing Ability in Preschool Children.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Neurobiological underpinnings of rapid white matter plasticity during intensive reading instruction.NeuroImage · 2021Article
- Myelin plasticity: sculpting circuits in learning and memory.Nature reviews. Neuroscience · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Word learning plays a central role in language development and is a key predictor for later academic success. The underlying neural basis of successful word learning in children is still unknown. Here, we took advantage of the opportunity afforded by diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging to investigate neural plasticity in the white matter of typically developing preschool children as they learn words. We demonstrate that after 3 weeks of word learning, children showed significantly larger increases of fractional anisotropy (FA) in the left precentral white matter compared to two control groups. Average training accuracy was correlated with FA change in the white matter underlying the left dorsal postcentral gyrus, with children who learned more slowly showing larger FA increases in this region. Moreover, we found that the status of white matter in the left middle temporal gyrus, assumed to support semantic processes, is predictive for early stages of word learning. Our findings provide the first evidence for white matter plasticity following word learning in preschool children. The present results on learning novel words in children point to a key involvement of the left fronto-parietal fiber connection, known to be implicated in top-down attention as well as working memory. While working memory and attention have been discussed to participate in word learning in children, our training study provides evidence that the neural structure supporting these cognitive processes plays a direct role in word learning.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.