Training can re-do brain connectivity

PITTSBURGH, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- Brain connectivity can be improved with behavioral training, U.S. researchers found.

Timothy Keller and Marcel Just of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh found poor readers initially showed lower quality connectivity than average readers.

However, after six months of training the poor readers showed significant increases in brain connectivity. Children not receiving the training did not show this increase, suggesting the remedial group changes were not due to natural maturation of the brain.

The study, published in the journal Neuron, used a technology called diffusion tensor imaging to show the quality of connectivity in white matter -- the insulation-clad fibers providing central nervous system communication. The better the connection, the researchers explained, the higher "bandwidth" for information transfer between brain regions.

Thirty-five poor readers were randomly assigned to an intensive, remedial reading program that focused on decoding unfamiliar words or to a control group that received normal classroom instruction. The researchers also included 25 children of similar age who were rated as average or above-average readers by their teachers.