Table 2.
Associations between white matter microstructure and language in very preterm and term-born children.
| Semantic performance |
Grammar performance |
Phonological awareness |
|||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FA | AD | RD | MD | Density | FA | AD | RD | MD | Density | FA | AD | RD | MD | Density | |
| Direction of correlation | pos. | neg. | neg. | neg. | pos. | pos. | neg. | neg. | neg. | N/A | pos. | neg. | neg. | neg. | N/A |
| Total number of voxels (% skeleton) | 15,945 (8.2) | 9941 (5.1) | 52,553 (27) | 47,059 (24.2) | 43,264 (22.2) | 30,191 (15.5) | 18,293 (9.4) | 49,890 (25.6) | 39,272 (20.2) | N/A | 47,662 (24.5) | 25,953 (13.3) | 67,636 (34.7) | 72,686 (37.3) | N/A |
| Cerebellar peduncle superior | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓R | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||||||
| Cerebellar peduncle middle | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
| Cerebellar peduncle inferior | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||||||
| Pontine crossing tract | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||||||||||||
| Corpus callosum (genu, body, splenium) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Fornix (column, body, cres/Stria terminalis) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Corticospinal tract | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓R | ✓ | ✓R | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Medial lemniscus | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓R | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
| Cerebral peduncule | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||||||||||
| Internal capsule (anterior, posterior, retrolenticular) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Corona radiata (anterior, superior, posterior) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Thalamic radiation (anterior, posterior) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ L | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Sagittal stratum | ✓ | ✓L | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| External capsule | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Cingulum (cingulate gyrus, hippocampus) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓HC | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Forceps (major, minor) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Longitudinal fasciculus superior | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Longitudinal fasciculus inferior | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||||
| Fronto-occipital fasciculus superior | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓R | ✓ | ✓R | ✓ | ✓ R | |||||
| Fronto-occipital fasciculus inferior | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||
| Uncinate fasciculus | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||
| Tapetum | ✓R | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓R | ✓ R | ✓ R | |||||
Note. FA, fractional anisotropy AD, Axial diffusivity, RD, radial diffusivity, MD, mean diffusivity. Tick mark implies evidence of an association (p < .05, family wise error rate corrected) between the microstructural parameter within that region and language. Associations were identified in both the left (L) and right (R) hemispheres of the brain unless otherwise stated. HC = evidence of an association was found in the hippocampal part of the cingulum only. The axon dispersion parameter was not included in this table because there was no evidence of associations between axon dispersion and language. N/A there was no association between this parameter and language at p < .05, family-wise error rate corrected).