Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41825355›Full record

ArticleDevelopmental cognitive neuroscience2026

Intergenerational transmission of the structure of the auditory cortex and reading skills.

Olga Kepinska, Florence Bouhali, Giulio Degano, Raphael Berthele, Hiroko Tanaka, Fumiko Hoeft, Narly Golestani

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Developmental cognitive neuroscience, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Heritable and experience-dependent cortical traits of reading ability.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2026
    Article
  3. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Olga KepinskaBrain and Language Lab, Cognitive Science Hub, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Department of Behavioral and Cognitive Biology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, LPL, Aix-en-Provence, France. Electronic address: olga.kepinska@univie.ac.at.
Florence BouhaliAix Marseille Univ, CNRS, CRPN, Marseille, France.
Giulio DeganoDepartment of Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
Raphael BertheleInstitute of Multilingualism, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland.
Hiroko TanakaDepartment of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA; Banner University Medical Center - Tucson, Tucson, AZ, USA.
Fumiko HoeftDepartment of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA; Brain Imaging Research Center, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA; Departments of Mathematics, Neuroscience, Psychiatry, Educational Psychology, Pediatrics, Computer Science and Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA.
Narly GolestaniBrain and Language Lab, Cognitive Science Hub, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Department of Behavioral and Cognitive Biology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Department of Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland; Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

High-level cognitive skill development relies on genetic and environmental factors, tied to brain structure and function. Inter-individual variability in language and music skills has been repeatedly associated with the structure of the auditory cortex: the shape, size and asymmetry of the transverse temporal gyrus (TTG) or gyri (TTGs). TTG is highly variable in shape and size, some individuals having one single gyrus (also referred to as Heschl's gyrus, HG) while others presenting duplications (with a common stem or fully separated) or higher-order multiplications of TTG. Both genetic and environmental influences on children's cognition, behavior, and brain can to some to degree be traced back to familial and parental factors. In the current study, using a unique MRI dataset of parents and children (135 individuals from 37 families), we ask whether the anatomy of the auditory cortex is related to reading skills, and whether there are intergenerational effects on TTG(s) anatomy. For this, we performed detailed, automatic segmentations of HG and of additional TTG(s), when present, extracting volume, surface area, thickness and shape of the gyri. We tested for relationships between these and reading skill, and assessed their degree of familial similarity and intergenerational transmission effects. We found that volume and area of all identified left TTG(s) combined was positively related to reading scores, both in children and adults. With respect to intergenerational similarities in the structure of the auditory cortex, we identified structural brain similarities for mother-child pairs of the 1st TTG (HG) (in terms of volume, area and thickness for the right HG, and shape for the left HG) and of the lateralization of all TTG(s) surface area for father-child pairs. Both the HG and TTG-lateralization findings were significantly more likely for parent-child dyads than for unrelated adult-child pairs. Furthermore, we established characteristics of parents' TTG that are related to better reading abilities in children: fathers' small left HG, and a small ratio of HG to planum temporale. Our results suggest intergenerational transmission of specific structural features of the auditory cortex (not directly linked to children's reading outcomes); these may arise from genetics and/or from shared environment.

Indexed as

Auditory CortexReadingAdolescentAdultChildFemaleHumansMagnetic Resonance ImagingMaleAuditory cortexBrain structureHeschl's gyrusIntergenerational neuroimagingReading

Identifiers

PMID41825355
PMCPMC12997217

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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.