Effet à court et long terme de la lecture sur les connexions du cerveau

BRAIN CONNECTIVITY Volume 3, Number 6, 2013 ª Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. DOI: 10.1089/brain.2013.0166 Short- and Long-Term Effects of a Novel on Connectivity in the Brain 1 1 2 1Gregory S. Berns, Kristina Blaine, Michael J. Prietula, and Brandon E. Pye Abstract We sought to determine whether reading a novel causes measurable changes in resting-state connectivity of the brain and how long these changes persist. Incorporating a within-subjects design, participants received resting- state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans on 19 consecutive days. First, baseline resting state data for a ‘‘washin’’ period were taken for each participant for 5 days. For the next 9 days, participants read 1/9th of a novel during the evening and resting-state data were taken the next morning. Finally, resting-state data for a ‘‘wash- out’’ period were taken for 5 days after the conclusion of the novel. On the days after the reading, significant in- creases in connectivity were centered on hubs in the left angular/supramarginal gyri and right posterior temporal gyri. These hubs corresponded to regions previously associated with perspective taking and story comprehen- sion, and the changes exhibited a timecourse that decayed rapidly after the completion of the novel. Long- term changes in connectivity, which persisted for several days after the reading, were observed in bilateral somatosensory cortex, suggesting a potential mechanism for ‘‘embodied semantics.