Cortical processing of multimodal sensory learning in human neonates
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Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Following birth, infants must immediately process and rapidly adapt to the array of unknown sensory experiences associated with their new ex-utero environment. However, although it is known that unimodal stimuli induce activity in the corresponding primary sensory cortices of the newborn brain, it is unclear how multimodal stimuli are processed and integrated across modalities. The latter is essential for learning and understanding environmental contingencies through encoding relationships between sensory experiences; and ultimately likely subserves development of life-long skills such as speech and language. Here, for the first time, we map the intracerebral processing which underlies auditory-sensorimotor classical conditioning in a group of 13 neonates (median gestational age at birth: 38 weeks + 4 days, range: 32 weeks + 2 days to 41 weeks + 6 days; median postmenstrual age at scan: 40 weeks + 5 days, range: 38 weeks + 3 days to 42 weeks + 1 days) with blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and magnetic resonance (MR) compatible robotics. We demonstrate that classical conditioning can induce crossmodal changes within putative unimodal sensory cortex even in the absence of its archetypal substrate. Our results also suggest that multimodal learning is associated with network wide activity within the conditioned neural system. These findings suggest that in early life, external multimodal sensory stimulation and integration shapes activity in the developing cortex and may influence its associated functional network architecture.
Date Issued
2021-03
Date Acceptance
2020-10-15
Citation
Cerebral Cortex, 2021, 31 (3), pp.1827-1836
ISSN
1047-3211
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Start Page
1827
End Page
1836
Journal / Book Title
Cerebral Cortex
Volume
31
Issue
3
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press.This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33207366
PII: 5988757
Subjects
brain plasticity
classical conditioning
functional MRI
multisensory integration
neonate
Publication Status
Published online
Coverage Spatial
United States
Date Publish Online
2020-11-18