Cerebellar Contributions to Reading: An MEG Study
This project was supervised by Professor Gary Green and was conducted whilst completing my MSc at The University of York.
Abstract
The cerebellum has long been considered a structure solely concerned with motoric cognition. However, evidence from neuropsychology and cognitive neuroscience have found it to play a key role in a range of higher-order cognitions, including reading. There is a limited number of studies investigating the cerebellum within the context of reading, and even fewer suggestions as to what role this structure might play. The aim of the current investigation was therefore to better understand the role of the cerebellum in reading. Participants completed a visual word recognition task containing words, consonant strings and false fonts while their neuronal responses were recorded using Magnetoencephalography. This is a highly suitable technique for achieving this aim as its high temporal resolution enables analysis of the rapid interactions between disparate brain regions, such as the cerebellum and cerebral structures. It was hypothesised that the right cerebellum would be found to facilitate the formation of an inner verbal code reading. Further, it was hypothesised that connectivity analyses would reveal the right cerebellum to have intimate connections with the left lateralised language network. The first hypothesis was rejected as bi- lateral or left lateralised cerebellar activity was seen in all experimental conditions across all beamformers. The second hypothesis remains an open question as connectivity analyses revealed the cerebellum to be significantly connected with the language network. However, this connectivity was not modulated by experimental condition. Potential limitations of the study are discussed, as well as directions for future research. It is concluded that the role of the cerebellum in reading remains an important yet unanswered question. Furthermore, the current research demonstrates the versatility of MEG, and its potential utility in answering this question.
Please click the button below to download a PDF of my thesis. This document is password protected so please contact me if you would be interested to read it.
Abstract
The cerebellum has long been considered a structure solely concerned with motoric cognition. However, evidence from neuropsychology and cognitive neuroscience have found it to play a key role in a range of higher-order cognitions, including reading. There is a limited number of studies investigating the cerebellum within the context of reading, and even fewer suggestions as to what role this structure might play. The aim of the current investigation was therefore to better understand the role of the cerebellum in reading. Participants completed a visual word recognition task containing words, consonant strings and false fonts while their neuronal responses were recorded using Magnetoencephalography. This is a highly suitable technique for achieving this aim as its high temporal resolution enables analysis of the rapid interactions between disparate brain regions, such as the cerebellum and cerebral structures. It was hypothesised that the right cerebellum would be found to facilitate the formation of an inner verbal code reading. Further, it was hypothesised that connectivity analyses would reveal the right cerebellum to have intimate connections with the left lateralised language network. The first hypothesis was rejected as bi- lateral or left lateralised cerebellar activity was seen in all experimental conditions across all beamformers. The second hypothesis remains an open question as connectivity analyses revealed the cerebellum to be significantly connected with the language network. However, this connectivity was not modulated by experimental condition. Potential limitations of the study are discussed, as well as directions for future research. It is concluded that the role of the cerebellum in reading remains an important yet unanswered question. Furthermore, the current research demonstrates the versatility of MEG, and its potential utility in answering this question.
Please click the button below to download a PDF of my thesis. This document is password protected so please contact me if you would be interested to read it.
| ben_hunt_msc_dissertation.pdf |