Qi Dong

EAAI Journal 2025 Journal Article

Short-Term Electricity-Load Forecasting by deep learning: A comprehensive survey

• Qi Dong
• Rubing Huang
• Chenhui Cui
• Dave Towey
• Ling Zhou
• Jinyu Tian
• Jianzhou Wang

Short-Term Electricity-Load Forecasting (STELF) refers to the prediction of the immediate demand (in the next few hours to several days) for the power system. Various external factors, such as weather changes and the emergence of new electricity consumption scenarios, can impact electricity demand, causing load data to fluctuate and become non-linear, which increases the complexity and difficulty of STELF. Over the past decade, deep learning, as a key component of implemented artificial intelligence, has been widely applied to STELF, enabling accurate modeling and prediction of electricity demand. This paper provides a comprehensive survey on deep-learning-based STELF over the past ten years. It examines the entire forecasting process, including data pre-processing, feature extraction, deep-learning modeling and optimization, and results evaluation. This paper also identifies key research challenges and potential directions for further investigation in artificial intelligence applications to STELF.

YNIMG Journal 2025 Journal Article

White matter tracts underlying rhythm perception in adolescence

• Peiyang Guo
• Zonglei Zhen
• Shiting Yang
• Huijuan Chen
• Yi-Chen Zhang
• Qi Dong
• Kunru Song
• Jin-Tao Zhang

Adolescence is a critical developmental stage marked by significant neuropsychological changes coinciding with the maturation of white matter microstructure. Recent studies suggest that musical rhythm processing may serve both as a sensitive marker and a cognitive foundation for intervention strategies in adolescent neuropsychological development. However, our understanding of the white matter networks supporting rhythm processing in this age group remains limited. In this study, we investigated the extent to which the microstructure of white matter fiber tracts correlated with beat-based (detection of regular pulses) and sequence-based (discrimination of rhythmic patterns) rhythm perception in 65 typically developing adolescents. Our findings indicate that shared white matter networks, including the fornix, cerebellar tracts, and the body and tapetum of the corpus callosum, are critical for both beat-based and sequence-based rhythm perception. These pathways are involved in temporal sequence processing, duration-based timing, and interhemispheric communication. Additionally, specific sensorimotor pathways, including the bilateral superior longitudinal fasciculi I (SLF_I) and the middle cerebellar peduncle, were linked to beat-based perception, supporting the integration of auditory inputs with motor planning and execution. In contrast, the bilateral cingulum bundles, which are involved in memory processes, were specifically associated with sequence-based rhythm perception. Notably, the relationship between beat-based rhythm perception and both the left SLF_I and fornix became non-significant after adjusting for rapid automatized naming skill, suggesting shared neural resources between these processes. These findings suggest that the white matter pathways associated with rhythm perception in adolescents integrate sensorimotor and memory systems, with potential applications for rhythm-based interventions in developmental disorders.

AAAI Conference 2024 Conference Paper

DocFormerv2: Local Features for Document Understanding

• Srikar Appalaraju
• Peng Tang
• Qi Dong
• Nishant Sankaran
• Yichu Zhou
• R. Manmatha

We propose DocFormerv2, a multi-modal transformer for Visual Document Understanding (VDU). The VDU domain entails understanding documents (beyond mere OCR predictions) e.g., extracting information from a form, VQA for documents and other tasks. VDU is challenging as it needs a model to make sense of multiple modalities (visual, language and spatial) to make a prediction. Our approach, termed DocFormerv2 is an encoder-decoder transformer which takes as input - vision, language and spatial features. DocFormerv2 is pre-trained with unsupervised tasks employed asymmetrically i.e., two novel document tasks on encoder and one on the auto-regressive decoder. The unsupervised tasks have been carefully designed to ensure that the pre-training encourages local-feature alignment between multiple modalities. DocFormerv2 when evaluated on nine challenging datasets shows state-of-the-art performance on all over strong baselines - On TabFact (+4.3%), InfoVQA (+1.4%), FUNSD (+1.0%). Furthermore, to show generalization capabilities, on three VQA tasks involving scene-text, DocFormerv2 outperforms previous comparably-sized models and even does better than much larger models (such as GIT2, PaLI and Flamingo) on these tasks. Extensive ablations show that due to its novel pre-training tasks, DocFormerv2 understands multiple modalities better than prior-art in VDU.

YNIMG Journal 2024 Journal Article

Segregation of the regional radiomics similarity network exhibited an increase from late childhood to early adolescence: A developmental investigation

• Lei Chu
• Debin Zeng
• Yirong He
• Xiaoxi Dong
• Qiongling Li
• Xuhong Liao
• Tengda Zhao
• Xiaodan Chen

Brain development is characterized by an increase in structural and functional segregation, which supports the specialization of cognitive processes within the context of network neuroscience. In this study, we investigated age-related changes in morphological segregation using individual Regional Radiomics Similarity Networks (R2SNs) constructed with a longitudinal dataset of 494 T1-weighted MR scans from 309 typically developing children aged 6.2 to 13 years at baseline. Segertation indices were defined as the relative difference in connectivity strengths within and between modules and cacluated at the global, system and local levels. Linear mixed-effect models revealed longitudinal increases in both global and system segregation indices, particularly within the limbic and dorsal attention network, and decreases within the ventral attention network. Superior performance in working memory and inhibitory control was associated with higher system-level segregation indices in default, frontoparietal, ventral attention, somatomotor and subcortical systems, and lower local segregation indices in visual network regions, regardless of age. Furthermore, gene enrichment analysis revealed correlations between age-related changes in local segregation indices and regional expression levels of genes related to developmental processes. These findings provide novel insights into typical brain developmental changes using R2SN-derived segregation indices, offering a valuable tool for understanding human brain structural and cognitive maturation.

YNIMG Journal 2023 Journal Article

Intrinsic brain activity is increasingly complex and develops asymmetrically during childhood and early adolescence

• Gaoding Jia
• Catherine S. Hubbard
• Zhenyan Hu
• Jingping Xu
• Qi Dong
• Haijing Niu
• Hesheng Liu

A large body of evidence suggests that brain signal complexity (BSC) may be an important indicator of healthy brain functioning or alternately, a harbinger of disease and dysfunction. However, despite recent progress our current understanding of how BSC emerges and evolves in large-scale networks, and the factors that shape these dynamics, remains limited. Here, we utilized resting-state functional near-infrared spectroscopy (rs-fNIRS) to capture and characterize the nature and time course of BSC dynamics within large-scale functional networks in 107 healthy participants ranging from 6-13 years of age. Age-dependent increases in spontaneous BSC were observed predominantly in higher-order association areas including the default mode (DMN) and attentional (ATN) networks. Our results also revealed asymmetrical developmental patterns in BSC that were specific to the dorsal and ventral ATN networks, with the former showing a left-lateralized and the latter demonstrating a right-lateralized increase in BSC. These age-dependent laterality shifts appeared to be more pronounced in females compared to males. Lastly, using a machine-learning model, we showed that BSC is a reliable predictor of chronological age. Higher-order association networks such as the DMN and dorsal ATN demonstrated the most robust prognostic power for predicting ages of previously unseen individuals. Taken together, our findings offer new insights into the spatiotemporal patterns of BSC dynamics in large-scale intrinsic networks that evolve over the course of childhood and adolescence, suggesting that a network-based measure of BSC represents a promising approach for tracking normative brain development and may potentially aid in the early detection of atypical developmental trajectories.

JBHI Journal 2023 Journal Article

Repeated Photobiomodulation Induced Reduction of Bilateral Cortical Hemodynamic Activation During a Working Memory Task in Healthy Older Adults

• Zhishan Hu
• Xiujuan Qu
• Lexuan Li
• Xiaohan Zhou
• Qin Yang
• Qi Dong
• Hesheng Liu
• Xiaobo Li

Transcranial photobiomodulation (tPBM) is an emerging non-invasive light-based neuromodulation technique that shows promising potential for improving working memory (WM) performance in older adults. However, the neurophysiological mechanisms associated with tPBM that underlie the improvement of WM and the persistence of such improvement have not been investigated. Sixty-one healthy older adults were recruited to receive a baseline sham stimulation, followed by one-week active tPBM (12 min daily, 1064-nm laser, 250 mW/cm 2 ) and three-week follow-ups. N-back WM task was conducted on post-stimulation of the baseline, the first (Day 1) and seventh (Day 7) days of the active treatment, and at the follow-ups. During the task, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) imaging was employed to record the cortical hemodynamic changes. Brain activations during the active and follow-up sessions were compared with the baseline to determine how tPBM had changed cortical hemodynamic activity and how long these changes persisted. We found that tPBM stimulation on Day 1 induced significantly decreased activation in the right hemisphere during the 3-back. The decreased activation expanded from only the right hemisphere on Day 1 to both hemispheres on Day 7. The decreased activation persisted for one week in the right supramarginal gyrus and the left angular gyrus and two weeks in the left somatosensory association cortex. These activation changes were accompanied by significantly improved task accuracy during the N-back. These findings provide important evidence for understanding neural mechanisms underlying cognitive enhancement after tPBM.

YNICL Journal 2022 Journal Article

Reduced sensitivity to delayed time and delayed reward of the post-operative insular glioma patients in delay discounting

• Wenjin Fu
• Zhenxing Huang
• Jun Li
• Qi Dong
• Yang Li
• Gen Li
• Yaokai Xu
• Bowen Xue

Previous studies have shown that the insula is closely related to addiction, and the structure's role in delay discounting can be measured by a specific task, but the specific role of the insula has been less studied. In this study, we first conducted a lesion study in which we recruited healthy controls (n = 30) and patients with unilateral insula injury (n = 16) to complete a behavioral delay discounting task. Then we conducted a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, and a separate group healthy volunteers (n = 51) completed a delay discounting task during the fMRI scan. The lesion study showed a significant difference between the two groups in the delay discounting task, which revealed that insula injury was associated with impaired decision making. The fMRI study revealed choice-sensitive insula activation that was modulated by delayed time and delayed reward, indicating an important role of the insula in delay discounting. Overall, our results provide evidence for a role of the insular lobe in delay discounting and suggests that this structure may be considered an important factor in the future treatment and diagnosis of addiction disorders.

YNIMG Journal 2021 Journal Article

Development of the default-mode network during childhood and adolescence: A longitudinal resting-state fMRI study

• Fengmei Fan
• Xuhong Liao
• Tianyuan Lei
• Tengda Zhao
• Mingrui Xia
• Weiwei Men
• Yanpei Wang
• Mingming Hu

The default-mode network (DMN) is a set of functionally connected regions that play crucial roles in internal cognitive processing. Previous resting-state fMRI studies have demonstrated that the intrinsic functional organization of the DMN undergoes remarkable reconfigurations during childhood and adolescence. However, these studies have mainly focused on cross-sectional designs with small sample sizes, limiting the consistency and interpretations of the findings. Here, we used a large sample of longitudinal resting-state fMRI data comprising 305 typically developing children (6-12 years of age at baseline, 491 scans in total) and graph theoretical approaches to delineate the developmental trajectories of the functional architecture of the DMN. For each child, the DMN was constructed according to a prior parcellation with 32 brain nodes. We showed that the overall connectivity increased in strength from childhood to adolescence and became spatially similar to that in the young adult group (N = 61, 18-28 years of age). These increases were primarily located in the midline structures. Global and local network efficiency in the DMN also increased with age, indicating an enhanced capability in parallel information communication within the brain system. Based on the divergent developmental rates of nodal centrality, we identified three subclusters within the DMN, with the fastest rates in the cluster mainly comprising the anterior medial prefrontal cortex and posterior cingulate cortex. Together, our findings highlight the developmental patterns of the functional architecture in the DMN from childhood to adolescence, which has implications for the understanding of network mechanisms underlying the cognitive development of individuals.

YNICL Journal 2020 Journal Article

Effect of ZNF804A gene polymorphism (rs1344706) on the plasticity of the functional coupling between the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the contralateral hippocampal formation

• Wan Zhao
• Xiongying Chen
• Qiumei Zhang
• Boqi Du
• Xiaoxiang Deng
• Feng Ji
• Yu-Tao Xiang
• Chuanyue Wang

ZNF804A has now been recognized as a schizophrenia risk gene by multiple genome-wide association studies with its intronic polymorphism rs1344706 being reported as the first genome-wide significant risk variant for schizophrenia. Although the functional impact of this gene is still unknown, rs1344706's contribution to the functional coupling between the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and the contralateral hippocampal formation (HF) has been reported by several studies. The current study tested whether the right DLPFC-left HF functional coupling showed plasticity during cognitive training (Study I) and whether rs1344706 affected the plasticity (Study II). In Study I, we conducted a randomized controlled trial with 30 subjects receiving 20 sessions of adaptive training on a memory span task (the training group) and 30 subjects practicing on a non-adaptive easy version of the same memory span task for 20 sessions (the control group). All subjects were scanned using fMRI before and after the training. Analyses of resting-state and task-state fMRI data consistently showed that the adaptive memory span training significantly strengthened the right DLPFC-left HF functional coupling. In Study II, we conducted a genetic association study with 101 subjects (combining the data from the training group in Study I with those from an additional subsequent sample of 71 subjects who received the same training and fMRI scans). Results showed that rs1344706 was significantly associated with training-induced changes in functional coupling. Subjects carrying the non-risk allele (C) of rs1344706 showed greater training-induced plasticity than the risk allele (A) homozygotes. These findings expanded our current understanding of the functional impact of the schizophrenia risk variant of ZNF804A gene and suggested that the ZNF804A gene could be used as a prospective target for future antipsychotic drugs and clinical research.

AAAI Conference 2020 Conference Paper

Unsupervised Deep Learning via Affinity Diffusion

• Jiabo Huang
• Qi Dong
• Shaogang Gong
• Xiatian Zhu

Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have achieved unprecedented success in a variety of computer vision tasks. However, they usually rely on supervised model learning with the need for massive labelled training data, limiting dramatically their usability and deployability in real-world scenarios without any labelling budget. In this work, we introduce a general-purpose unsupervised deep learning approach to deriving discriminative feature representations. It is based on self-discovering semantically consistent groups of unlabelled training samples with the same class concepts through a progressive affinity diffusion process. Extensive experiments on object image classification and clustering show the performance superiority of the proposed method over the stateof-the-art unsupervised learning models using six common image recognition benchmarks including MNIST, SVHN, STL10, CIFAR10, CIFAR100 and ImageNet.

AAAI Conference 2019 Conference Paper

Single-Label Multi-Class Image Classification by Deep Logistic Regression

• Qi Dong
• Xiatian Zhu
• Shaogang Gong

The objective learning formulation is essential for the success of convolutional neural networks. In this work, we analyse thoroughly the standard learning objective functions for multiclass classification CNNs: softmax regression (SR) for singlelabel scenario and logistic regression (LR) for multi-label scenario. Our analyses lead to an inspiration of exploiting LR for single-label classification learning, and then the disclosing of the negative class distraction problem in LR. To address this problem, we develop two novel LR based objective functions that not only generalise the conventional LR but importantly turn out to be competitive alternatives to SR in single label classification. Extensive comparative evaluations demonstrate the model learning advantages of the proposed LR functions over the commonly adopted SR in single-label coarse-grained object categorisation and cross-class fine-grained person instance identification tasks. We also show the performance superiority of our method on clothing attribute classification in comparison to the vanilla LR function. The code had been made publicly available.

YNIMG Journal 2019 Journal Article

Unbiased age-specific structural brain atlases for Chinese pediatric population

• Tengda Zhao
• Xuhong Liao
• Vladimir S. Fonov
• Qiushi Wang
• Weiwei Men
• Yanpei Wang
• Shaozheng Qin
• Shuping Tan

In magnetic resonance (MR) imaging studies of child brain development, structural brain atlases usually serve as important references for the pediatric population, in which individual images are spatially normalized into a common or standard stereotactic space. However, the popular existing pediatric brain atlases (e. g. , National Institutes of Health pediatric atlases, NIH-PD) are mostly based on MR images obtained from Caucasian populations and thus are not ideal for the characterization of the brains of Chinese children due to neuroanatomical differences related to genetic and environmental factors. Here, we use an unbiased template construction algorithm to create a set of age-specific Chinese pediatric (CHN-PD) atlases based on high-quality T1-and T2-weighted MR images from 328 cognitively normal Chinese children aged 6–12 years. The CHN-PD brain atlases include asymmetric and symmetric templates, sex-specific templates and tissue probability templates, and contain multiple age-specific templates at one-year intervals. A direct comparison of the CHN-PD and NIH-PD atlases reveals dramatic anatomical differences mainly in the bilateral frontal and parietal regions. After applying the CHN-PD and NIH-PD atlases to two independent Chinese pediatric datasets (N = 114 and N = 71), we find that the CHN-PD atlases result in significantly higher accuracy than the NIH-PD atlases in both predicting “brain age” and guiding brain tissue segmentation. These results suggest that the CHN-PD brain atlases are necessary for studies of the typical and atypical development of the Chinese pediatric population. These CHN-PD atlases have been released on the Neuroimaging Informatics Tools and Resources Clearinghouse (NITRC) website (https: //www. nitrc. org/projects/chn-pd).

YNICL Journal 2018 Journal Article

Effect of rs1344706 in the ZNF804A gene on the brain network

• Xiongying Chen
• Zhifang Zhang
• Qiumei Zhang
• Wan Zhao
• Jinguo Zhai
• Min Chen
• Boqi Du
• Xiaoxiang Deng

ZNF804A rs1344706 (A/C) was the first SNP that reached genome-wide significance for schizophrenia. Recent studies have linked rs1344706 to functional connectivity among specific brain regions. However, no study thus far has examined the role of this SNP in the entire functional connectome. In this study, we used degree centrality to test the role of rs1344706 in the whole-brain voxel-wise functional connectome during the resting state. 52 schizophrenia patients and 128 healthy controls were included in the final analysis. In our whole-brain analysis, we found a significant interaction effect of genotype×diagnosis at the precuneus (PCU) (cluster size=52 voxels, peak voxel MNI coordinates: x=9, y=−69, z=63, F =32. 57, FWE corrected P <0. 001). When we subdivided the degree centrality network according to anatomical distance, the whole-brain analysis also found a significant interaction effect of genotype×diagnosis at the PCU with the same peak in the short-range degree centrality network (cluster size=72 voxels, F =37. 29, FWE corrected P <0. 001). No significant result was found in the long-range degree centrality network. Our results elucidated the contribution of rs1344706 to functional connectivity within the brain network, and may have important implications for our understanding of this risk gene's role in functional dysconnectivity in schizophrenia.

YNICL Journal 2018 Journal Article

Polymorphism in schizophrenia risk gene MIR137 is associated with the posterior cingulate Cortex's activation and functional and structural connectivity in healthy controls

• Zhifang Zhang
• Tongjun Yan
• Yanyan Wang
• Qiumei Zhang
• Wan Zhao
• Xiongying Chen
• Jinguo Zhai
• Min Chen

MIR137 gene has been repeatedly reported as a schizophrenia risk gene in genome-wide association studies (GWAS). A polymorphism (rs1625579) at the MIR137 gene has been associated with both neural activation and behavioral performance during a working memory task. This study examined MIR137's associations with task-related (N-back working memory) fMRI, resting state fMRI, and diffusion tensor images (DTI) data in 177 healthy adults. We found less deactivation of the PCC in risk allele homozygotes (TT) as compared to the GT heterozygotes (cluster size = 630 voxels, cluster level P FWE < 0. 001) during the N-back task, which replicated previous findings. Using the identified cluster within the PCC as the seed, we further found decreased functional connectivity between the PCC and the anterior cingulate cortex and its adjacent medial prefrontal cortex (ACC/MPFC) in risk allele homozygotes during both resting state (cluster size = 427 voxels, cluster level P FWE = 0. 001) and the N-back task (cluster size = 73 voxels, cluster level P FWE = 0. 05). Finally, an analysis of our DTI data showed decreased white matter integrity of the posterior cingulum in risk allele homozygotes (cluster size = 214 voxels, cluster level P FWE = 0. 03). Taken together, rs1625579 seems to play an important role in both functional and structural connectivity between the PCC and the ACC/MPFC, which may serve as the brain mechanisms for the link between rs1625579 and schizophrenia.

YNIMG Journal 2017 Journal Article

Corrigendum to “Long-term experience with Chinese language shapes the fusiform asymmetry of English reading” [NeuroImage 110 (2015) 3–10]

• Leilei Mei
• Gui Xue
• Zhong-Lin Lu
• Chuansheng Chen
• Miao Wei
• Qinghua He
• Qi Dong

YNIMG Journal 2017 Journal Article

Corrigendum to “Native language experience shapes neural basis of addressed and assembled phonologies” [Neuroimage 114 (2015) 38–48]

• Leilei Mei
• Gui Xue
• Zhong-Lin Lu
• Qinghua He
• Miao Wei
• Mingxia Zhang
• Qi Dong
• Chuansheng Chen

YNIMG Journal 2015 Journal Article

Long-term experience with Chinese language shapes the fusiform asymmetry of English reading

• Leilei Mei
• Gui Xue
• Zhong-Lin Lu
• Chuansheng Chen
• Miao Wei
• Qinghua He
• Qi Dong

Previous studies have suggested differential engagement of the bilateral fusiform gyrus in the processing of Chinese and English. The present study tested the possibility that long-term experience with Chinese language affects the fusiform laterality of English reading by comparing three samples: Chinese speakers, English speakers with Chinese experience, and English speakers without Chinese experience. We found that, when reading words in their respective native language, Chinese and English speakers without Chinese experience differed in functional laterality of the posterior fusiform region (right laterality for Chinese speakers, but left laterality for English speakers). More importantly, compared with English speakers without Chinese experience, English speakers with Chinese experience showed more recruitment of the right posterior fusiform cortex for English words and pseudowords, which is similar to how Chinese speakers processed Chinese. These results suggest that long-term experience with Chinese shapes the fusiform laterality of English reading and have important implications for our understanding of the cross-language influences in terms of neural organization and of the functions of different fusiform subregions in reading.

YNIMG Journal 2015 Journal Article

Native language experience shapes neural basis of addressed and assembled phonologies

• Leilei Mei
• Gui Xue
• Zhong-Lin Lu
• Qinghua He
• Miao Wei
• Mingxia Zhang
• Qi Dong
• Chuansheng Chen

Previous studies have suggested differential engagement of addressed and assembled phonologies in reading Chinese and alphabetic languages (e. g. , English) and the modulatory role of native language in learning to read a second language. However, it is not clear whether native language experience shapes the neural mechanisms of addressed and assembled phonologies. To address this question, we trained native Chinese and native English speakers to read the same artificial language (based on Korean Hangul) either through addressed (i. e. , whole-word mapping) or assembled (i. e. , grapheme-to-phoneme mapping) phonology. We found that, for both native Chinese and native English speakers, addressed phonology relied on the regions in the ventral pathway, whereas assembled phonology depended on the regions in the dorsal pathway. More importantly, we found that the neural mechanisms of addressed and assembled phonologies were shaped by native language experience. Specifically, one key region for addressed phonology (i. e. , the left middle temporal gyrus) showed greater activation for addressed phonology in native Chinese speakers, while one key region for assembled phonology (i. e. , the left supramarginal gyrus) showed more activation for assembled phonology in native English speakers. These results provide direct neuroimaging evidence for the effect of native language experience on the neural mechanisms of phonological access in a new language and support the assimilation–accommodation hypothesis.

YNIMG Journal 2014 Journal Article

Fiber connectivity between the striatum and cortical and subcortical regions is associated with temperaments in Chinese males

• Xuemei Lei
• Chuansheng Chen
• Feng Xue
• Qinghua He
• Chunhui Chen
• Qi Liu
• Robert K. Moyzis
• Gui Xue

The seven-factor biopsychosocial model of personality distinguished four biologically based temperaments and three psychosocially based characters. Previous studies have suggested that the four temperaments—novelty seeking (NS), reward dependence (RD), harm avoidance (HA), and persistence (P)—have their respective neurobiological correlates, especially in the striatum-connected subcortical and cortical networks. However, few studies have investigated their neurobiological basis in the form of fiber connectivity between brain regions. This study correlated temperaments with fiber connectivity between the striatum and subcortical and cortical hub regions in a sample of 50 Chinese adult males. Generally consistent with our hypotheses, results showed that: (1) NS was positively correlated with fiber connectivity from the medial and lateral orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC, lOFC) and amygdala to the striatum; (2) RD was positively correlated with fiber connectivity from the mOFC, posterior cingulate cortex/retrosplenial cortex (PCC), hippocampus, and amygdala to the striatum; (3) HA was positively linked to fiber connectivity from the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and PCC to the striatum; and (4) P was positively linked to fiber connectivity from the mOFC to the striatum. These results extended the research on the neurobiological basis of temperaments by identifying their anatomical fiber connectivity correlates within the subcortical–cortical neural networks.

YNIMG Journal 2014 Journal Article

Language-general and -specific white matter microstructural bases for reading

• Mingxia Zhang
• Chuansheng Chen
• Gui Xue
• Zhong-Lin Lu
• Leilei Mei
• Hongli Xue
• Miao Wei
• Qinghua He

In the past decade, several studies have investigated language-general and -specific brain regions for reading. However, very limited research has examined the white matter that connects these cortical regions. By using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), the current study investigated the common and divergent relationship between white matter integrity indexed by fractional anisotropy (FA) and native language reading abilities in 89 Chinese and 93 English speakers. Conjunction analysis revealed that for both groups, reading ability was associated with the FA of seven white matter fiber bundles in two main anatomical locations in the left hemisphere: the dorsal corona radiate/corpus callosum/superior longitudinal fasciculus which might be for phonological access, and the ventral uncinate fasciculus/external capsule/inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus which might be for semantic processing. Contrast analysis showed that the FA of the left temporal part of superior longitudinal fasciculus contributed more to reading in English than in Chinese, which is consistent with the notion that this tract is involved in grapheme-to-phoneme conversion for alphabetic language reading. These results are the first evidence of language-general and –specific white matter microstructural bases for reading.

YNIMG Journal 2014 Journal Article

Neural processes during encoding support durable memory

• Qi Liu
• Qi Dong
• Chuansheng Chen
• Gui Xue

The ability to form durable memory is critical for human survival and development, but its underlying cognitive and neural mechanisms have not been well understood. In particular, existing studies have not clearly dissociated the neural processes supporting short- and long-duration memories. The present study addressed this issue with functional MRI and a modified subsequent memory paradigm. Participants were asked to make semantic judgment on a list of 320 words in the scanner. Half of the words were tested after a short delay (i. e. , 1day, T1) and again after a long delay (i. e. , 1week, T12), whereas the other half were tested only once after the long delay (T2). Materials forgotten during T1 were categorized as forgotten trials, and those remembered during T2 were categorized as long-duration trials. In contrast, trials remembered during T1 but not during T12 were categorized as short-duration trials. We found that compared to forgotten trials, short-duration trials showed decreased activation in the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and precuneus, which is consistent with many previous observations. Importantly, long-duration trials showed stronger activity in the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) but less deactivation in the PCC relative to short-duration trials. Psychophysiological interactions (PPI) analysis revealed stronger functional connectivity between LIFG and PCC for long-duration trials than for forgotten trials. Our results suggest that strong PCC activity, in combination with strong LIFG activity, supports long-lasting memory.

YNIMG Journal 2014 Journal Article

Resting-state functional connectivity and reading abilities in first and second languages

• Mingxia Zhang
• Jin Li
• Chuansheng Chen
• Gui Xue
• Zhonglin Lu
• Leilei Mei
• Hongli Xue
• Feng Xue

An intriguing discovery in recent years is that resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) is associated with cognitive performance. The current study investigated whether RSFC within the reading network was correlated with Chinese adults' reading abilities in their native language (L1, Chinese) and second language (L2, English). Results showed that RSFC within the reading network was positively correlated to reading abilities in L1 and L2, and RSFC between reading areas and the default network was negatively correlated to reading abilities in L1 and L2. Further conjunction and contrast analyses revealed that L1 and L2 shared similar RSFC correlates including connectivities between the areas for visual analysis (e. g. , bilateral posterior fusiform gyrus, lateral occipital cortices, and right superior parietal lobules) and those for phonological processing (e. g. , bilateral precentral gyri and postcentral gyrus, Wernicke's area). These results indicate that RSFC is a potential neural marker for reading abilities in both L1 and L2, with important theoretical implications for reading in L1 and L2.

YNIMG Journal 2014 Journal Article

The GABRB1 gene is associated with thalamus volume and modulates the association between thalamus volume and intelligence

• Bi Zhu
• Chuansheng Chen
• Gui Xue
• Xuemei Lei
• Jin Li
• Robert K. Moyzis
• Qi Dong
• Chongde Lin

The GABRB1 gene encodes the beta 1 subunit of the gamma-aminobutyric acid A receptor (GABA A receptor), which is responsible for mediating inhibitory neurotransmission in the thalamus. Potential relationships between the GABRB1 gene, thalamus volume, and intelligence have been suggested by previous clinical studies, but have not been directly examined among nonclinical samples. The current study collected structural MRI, genetic, and behavioral data from 316 healthy Chinese adults (including 187 females and 129 males), and examined associations between GABRB1 variants, thalamus volume, and intelligence (measured by the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale Revised). After controlling for intracranial volume, sex, and age, GABRB1 genetic polymorphism at the SNP rs7435958 had the strongest association with thalamus volume (p =0. 002 and 0. 00008 for left and right thalamus volumes, respectively), with GG homozygotes having smaller bilateral thalamus volumes than the other genotypes. Furthermore, there were positive correlations between bilateral thalamus volumes and intelligence, especially for GABRB1 rs7435958 GG female homozygotes (r's=0. 31 and 0. 29, p <0. 01, for the correlations of intelligence with left and right thalamus volumes, respectively). This study provides the first evidence for the involvement of the GABRB1 gene in the thalamus structure and their interactive effects on intelligence. Future studies of the thalamus–intelligence associations should consider genetic factors as potential moderators.

YNIMG Journal 2014 Journal Article

The SEMA5A gene is associated with hippocampal volume, and their interaction is associated with performance on Raven's Progressive Matrices

• Bi Zhu
• Chuansheng Chen
• Gui Xue
• Robert K. Moyzis
• Qi Dong
• Chunhui Chen
• Jin Li
• Qinghua He

The Allen Brain Atlas shows that the semaphorin 5A (SEMA5A) gene, which encodes an important protein for neurogenesis and neuronal apoptosis, is predominantly expressed in the human hippocampus. Structural and functional neuroimaging studies have further shown that the hippocampus plays an important role in the performance on Raven's Progressive Matrices (RPM), a measure of reasoning ability and general fluid intelligence. Thus far, however, no study has examined the relationships between the SEMA5A gene polymorphism, hippocampal volume, and RPM performance. The current study collected both structural MRI, genetic, and behavioral data in 329 healthy Chinese adults, and examined associations between SEMA5A variants, hippocampal volume, and performance on RAPM (the advanced form of RPM). After controlling for intracranial volume (ICV), sex, and age, SEMA5A genetic polymorphism at the SNP rs42352 had the strongest association with hippocampal volume (p =0. 00000552 and 0. 000103 for right and left hippocampal volumes, respectively), with TT homozygotes having higher hippocampal volume than the other genotypes. Furthermore, there was a high correlation between right hippocampal volume and RAPM performance (r =0. 42, p =0. 0000509) for SEMA5A rs42352 TT homozygotes. This study provides the first evidence for the involvement of the SEMA5A gene in hippocampal structure and their interaction on RAPM performance. Future studies of the hippocampus–RPM associations should consider genetic factors as potential moderators.

YNIMG Journal 2013 Journal Article

The contribution of the left mid-fusiform cortical thickness to Chinese and English reading in a large Chinese sample

• Mingxia Zhang
• Jin Li
• Chuansheng Chen
• Leilei Mei
• Gui Xue
• Zhonglin Lu
• Chunhui Chen
• Qinghua He

Previous functional neuroimaging studies have shown that the left mid-fusiform cortex plays a critical role in reading. However, there is very limited research relating this region's anatomical structure to reading performance either in native or second language. Using structural MRI and three reading tasks (Chinese characters, English words, and alphabetic pseudowords) and a non-reading task (visual–auditory learning), this study investigated the contributions of the left mid-fusiform cortical thickness to reading in a large sample of 226 Chinese subjects. Results showed that the cortical thickness in the left mid-fusiform gyrus was positively correlated with performance on all three reading tasks but not with the performance on the non-reading task. Our findings provide structural evidence for the left mid-fusiform cortex as the “gateway” region for reading Chinese and English. The absence of the association between the left mid-fusiform cortical thickness and non-reading performance implied the specific role of this area in reading skills, not in general language skills.

YNIMG Journal 2013 Journal Article

The NTSR1 gene modulates the association between hippocampal structure and working memory performance

• Jin Li
• Chuansheng Chen
• Xuemei Lei
• Yunxin Wang
• Chunhui Chen
• Qinghua He
• Robert K. Moyzis
• Gui Xue

The genetic and neural basis of working memory (WM) has been extensively studied. Many dopamine (DA) related genes, including the NTSR1 gene (a DA modulator gene), have been reported to be associated with WM performance. The NTSR1 protein is predominantly expressed in the cerebral cortex and the hippocampus, the latter of which is closely involved in WM processing based on both lesion and fMRI studies. Thus far, however, no study has examined the joint effects of NTSR1 gene polymorphism and hippocampal morphology on WM performance. Participants of the current study were 330 healthy Chinese college students. WM performance was measured with a 2-back WM paradigm. Structural MRI data were acquired and then analyzed using an automated procedure with atlas-based FreeSurfer segmentation software (v 4. 5. 0) package. Linear regression analyses were conducted with a NTSR1 C/T polymorphism which was previously reported to be associated with WM (rs4334545), hippocampal volume, and their interaction as predictors of WM performance, with gender and intracranial volume (ICV) as covariates. Results showed a significant interaction between NTSR1 genotype and hippocampal volume (p <. 05 for both the left and right hippocampi). Further analysis showed that the correlation between hippocampal volume and WM scores was significant for carriers of the NTSR1 T-allele (p <. 05 for both hippocampi), but not for CC homozygotes. These results indicate that the association between hippocampal structure and WM performance was modulated by variation in the NTSR1 gene, and suggest that further studies of brain–behavior associations should take genetic background information into account.

YNIMG Journal 2010 Journal Article

The “visual word form area” is involved in successful memory encoding of both words and faces

• Leilei Mei
• Gui Xue
• Chuansheng Chen
• Feng Xue
• Mingxia Zhang
• Qi Dong

Previous studies have identified the critical role of the left fusiform cortex in visual word form processing, learning, and memory. However, this so-called visual word form area's (VWFA) other functions are not clear. In this study, we used fMRI and the subsequent memory paradigm to examine whether the putative VWFA was involved in the processing and successful memory encoding of faces as well as words. Twenty-two native Chinese speakers were recruited to memorize the visual forms of faces and Chinese words. Episodic memory for the studied material was tested 3h after the scan with a recognition test. The fusiform face area (FFA) and the VWFA were functionally defined using separate localizer tasks. We found that, both within and across subjects, stronger activity in the VWFA was associated with better recognition memory of both words and faces. Furthermore, activation in the VWFA did not differ significantly during the encoding of faces and words. Our results revealed the important role of the so-called VWFA in face processing and memory and supported the view that the left mid-fusiform cortex plays a general role in the successful processing and memory of different types of visual objects (i. e. , not limited to visual word forms).

YNIMG Journal 2009 Journal Article

Sustained and transient language control in the bilingual brain

• Yapeng Wang
• Patricia K. Kuhl
• Chunhui Chen
• Qi Dong

Bilingual speakers must have effective neural mechanisms to control and manage their two languages, but it is unknown whether bilingual language control includes different control components. Using mixed blocked and event-related designs, the present study explored the sustained and transient neural control of two languages during language processing. 15 Chinese–English bilingual speakers were scanned when they performed language switching tasks. The results showed that, compared to the single language condition, sustained bilingual control (mixed language condition) induced activation in the bilateral inferior frontal, middle prefrontal and frontal gyri (BA 45/46). In contrast, relative to the no switch condition, transient bilingual control (language switching condition) activated the left inferior parietal lobule (BA 2/40), superior parietal lobule (BA 7), and middle frontal gyrus (BA 11/46). Importantly, the right superior parietal activity correlated with the magnitude of the mixing cost, and the left inferior and superior parietal activity covaried with the magnitude of the asymmetric switching costs. These results suggest that sustained and transient language control induced differential lateral activation patterns, and that sustained and transient activities in the human brain modulate the behavioral costs during switching-related language control.

YNIMG Journal 2008 Journal Article

Language experience shapes early electrophysiological responses to visual stimuli: The effects of writing system, stimulus length, and presentation duration

• Gui Xue
• Ting Jiang
• Chuansheng Chen
• Qi Dong

How language experience affects visual word recognition has been a topic of intense interest. Using event-related potentials (ERPs), the present study compared the early electrophysiological responses (i. e. , N1) to familiar and unfamiliar writings under different conditions. Thirteen native Chinese speakers (with English as their second language) were recruited to passively view four types of scripts: Chinese (familiar logographic writings), English (familiar alphabetic writings), Korean Hangul (unfamiliar logographic writings), and Tibetan (unfamiliar alphabetic writings). Stimuli also differed in lexicality (words vs. non-words, for familiar writings only), length (characters/letters vs. words), and presentation duration (100 ms vs. 750 ms). We found no significant differences between words and non-words, and the effect of language experience (familiar vs. unfamiliar) was significantly modulated by stimulus length and writing system, and to a less degree, by presentation duration. That is, the language experience effect (i. e. , a stronger N1 response to familiar writings than to unfamiliar writings) was significant only for alphabetic letters, but not for alphabetic and logographic words. The difference between Chinese characters and unfamiliar logographic characters was significant under the condition of short presentation duration, but not under the condition of long presentation duration. Long stimuli elicited a stronger N1 response than did short stimuli, but this effect was significantly attenuated for familiar writings. These results suggest that N1 response might not reliably differentiate familiar and unfamiliar writings. More importantly, our results suggest that N1 is modulated by visual, linguistic, and task factors, which has important implications for the visual expertise hypothesis.

YNIMG Journal 2007 Journal Article

Dissociated brain organization for single-digit addition and multiplication

• Xinlin Zhou
• Chuansheng Chen
• Yufeng Zang
• Qi Dong
• Chunhui Chen
• Sibing Qiao
• Qiyong Gong

This study compared the patterns of brain activation elicited by single-digit addition and multiplication problems. 20 Chinese undergraduates were asked to verify whether arithmetic equations were true or false during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Results showed that both addition and multiplication were supported by a broad neural system that involved regions within SMA, precentral gyrus, intraparietal sulcus, occipital gyri, superior temporal gyrus, and middle frontal gyrus, as well as some subcortical structures. Nevertheless, addition problems elicited more activation in the intraparietal sulcus and middle occipital gyri at the right hemisphere, and superior occipital gyri at both hemispheres, whereas multiplication had more activation in precentral gyrus, supplementary motor areas, and posterior and anterior superior temporal gyrus at the left hemisphere. This pattern of dissociated activation supports our hypothesis that addition has greater reliance on visuospatial processing and multiplication on verbal processing.

YNIMG Journal 2007 Journal Article

Neural bases of asymmetric language switching in second-language learners: An ER-fMRI study

• Yapeng Wang
• Gui Xue
• Chuansheng Chen
• Feng Xue
• Qi Dong

Using the ER-fMRI technique, the present study was designed to investigate the neural substrates of language switching among second-language learners. Twelve Chinese college students who were learning English were scanned when they performed language switching tasks (naming pictures in their first [L1, Chinese] and second [L2, English] languages according to response cues). Compared to non-switching conditions, language switching elicited greater activation in the right superior prefrontal cortex (BA9/10/32), left middle and superior frontal cortex (BA8/9/46), and right middle cingulum and caudate (BA11). When the direction of switching was considered, forward switching (from L1 to L2), but not backward switching (from L2 to L1), activated several brain regions related to executive functions (i. e. , bilateral frontal cortices and left ACC) relative to non-switching conditions. These results suggest that neural correlates of language switching differ depending on the direction of the switch and that there does not seem to be a specific brain area acting as a “language switch”.

YNIMG Journal 2006 Journal Article

Language experience shapes fusiform activation when processing a logographic artificial language: An fMRI training study

• Gui Xue
• Chuansheng Chen
• Zhen Jin
• Qi Dong

The significant role of the left midfusiform cortex in reading found in recent neuroimaging studies has led to the visual word form area (VWFA) hypothesis. This hypothesis suggests that years of experience reading native language change the visual expertise of this region to be especially sensitive to the visual form of native language. The present study aimed at testing this hypothesis by exploring the role of language experience in shaping the fusiform activation. We designed a logographic artificial language (LAL) using the visual form and pronunciation of Korean Hangul characters (but their correspondence was shuffled) and assigning arbitrary meanings to these characters. Twelve native Chinese Mandarin speakers (6 male and 6 female, 18 to 21 years old) with no prior knowledge of Korean language were trained in the visual form of these characters for 2 weeks, followed by 2 weeks each of phonological and semantic training. Behavioral data indicated that training was effective in increasing the efficiency of visual form processing and establishing the connections among visual form, sounds, and meanings. Imaging data indicated that at the pre-training stage, subjects showed stronger activation in the fusiform regions for LAL than for Chinese across both one-back visual matching task and the passive viewing task. Visual form training significantly decreased the activation of bilateral fusiform cortex and the left inferior occipital cortex, whereas phonological training increased activation in these regions, and the right fusiform remained more active after semantic training. Increased activations after phonological and semantic training were also evident in other regions involved in language processing. These findings thus do not seem to be consistent with the visual-expertise-induced-sensitivity hypothesis about fusiform regions. Instead, our results suggest that visual familiarity, phonological processing, and semantic processing all make significant but different contributions to shaping the fusiform activation.

YNIMG Journal 2004 Journal Article

Mapping of verbal working memory in nonfluent Chinese–English bilinguals with functional MRI

• Gui Xue
• Qi Dong
• Zhen Jin
• Chuansheng Chen

Existing cognitive and neural imaging studies have suggested a frontoparietal network of multiple, cooperative components for verbal working memory (WM). We used functional MRI to investigate whether this neural network is also involved in the processing of second language by nonfluent bilinguals. Twelve (five males, seven females) native Chinese speakers who had limited English proficiency were scanned while performing working memory tasks in Chinese and English. They were asked to make judgment continuously whether the word presented on the screen was semantically related to (i. e. , the semantic tasks) another word presented two words earlier. On a different task (i. e. , the phonological tasks), they were asked to make judgment whether the target word rhymed with the other word. A naming and judgment task in each language was adopted to control for the visual process, initial lexical process, and motor responses. Behavioral data showed that subjects performed better at tasks in their native language (Chinese, L1) than in English (L2). Imaging results showed that all working memory tasks in both L1 and L2 elicited a very similar pattern of left-hemisphere-dominated activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, pars opercularis region, pars triangularis region, precentral cortex, and parietal lobule. Consistent with the behavioral data, the volume of activation in the left opercularis region, left parietal lobule, and right precentral region was greater for L2 than for L1. These results suggest that working memory in L1 and L2 is mediated by a unitary neural system (i. e. , frontoparietal region), which is capable of recruiting surrounding cortical resources to meet the increased computational demand caused by low L2 proficiency.