Although neuroscience has become an important part of understanding education and its association with brain development, few previous studies have applied neuroimaging techniques to multiliteracies research. To address this gap, my study used functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to investigate the association of multimodality and multiliteracies learning on adult English Second Language (ESL) students’ performance on multimodal tasks and brain activity. Emotional videos were selected as stimulus because they contain multimodal information and language learning was considered highly related to emotions.

Participants’ multimodality background was collected through a technology questionnaire. Behavioural and fNIRS data were collected in two sessions of experiment (i.e., before and after multiliteracies learning) in which participants need to answer questions after viewing and listening emotional videos. The behavioural data showed that there was no significance change in behavioural responses while the model for predicting the correctness and reaction time changed after multiliteracies learning. The fNIRS data showed that multimodality and multiliteracies learning is associated with activation of the learning network in the brain including the superior temporal gyrus (STG), premotor cortex (PMC), and the intraparietal sulcus (IPS). 

My name is Dr. Emily Nichols, and I’m a postdoctoral fellow in the DBL. Before joining the lab, I did a postdoc in physics, learning how to apply machine learning techniques to solve problems in neuroimaging. This has set me up really well to tackle the project I’m now working on, which is to solve some of the issues surrounding fetal brain imaging.

Taking MRIs of the fetal brain is a key way to learn about cognitive development, which starts well before the baby is born. Using fetal brain imaging, we can answer questions such as how the brain processes sound at different stages of development, whether the fetal brain differentiates between different sounds, and how functional brain networks, such as the auditory and language networks, develop over time.

Before we can answer these questions, we need to analyze the data. Fetal neuroimaging is relatively new, and there are a lot of issues that you don’t encounter when analyzing data from the brains of adults. First of all, there is a lot of tissue surrounding the fetus’s brain, much more than the adult brain. Some really smart people have developed tools to automatically erase all the non-brain tissue in adult brain images, but the tools to do this in the fetus are still being developed, and we’re helping to do that. Another issue is motion, which corrupts the data; in adults, you can ask them to hold still, but the fetus moves around a lot. This is another technical problem I’m trying to address.

Once we’ve figured out how to deal with the issues surrounding working with fetal brain imaging data, we’ll be able to answer some really fascinating questions we have about the developing brain. Specifically, I’m very interested in how language networks develop in the fetal brain, and how this is affected by other factors such as conditions like Intrauterine Growth Restriction. By studying the fetal brain, we hope to improve newborn brain health and cognitive outcomes, specifically later language development, especially in vulnerable populations.

Do you find that since the pandemic began, your kids are spending less time getting active? You’re not alone. ParticipACTION launched its Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth last week for April, and the results are grim. Only 39% of children ages 5-17 are meeting national guidelines of getting 60 minutes a day of vigorous activity. 

In some ways, this is unsurprising. With playdates cancelled, schools closed, and playgrounds off-limits, ways for kids to get active has been very limited. This is especially true for children who live in apartment complexes, or areas without a backyard or limited private areas to play outside. Without school, sedentary screen time may increase as children are stuck inside and unoccupied while parents are working. 

Dr. Leigh Vanderloo, an exercise scientist with ParticipACTION, mentions that exercise can play a huge protective role in mental health. “What we often overlook are the benefits to mental health. So dealing with stress, resiliency, symptoms of depression and anxiety. As well as cognitive, how kids think and learn,” she said. 

Concern for mental health is especially relevant right now, when families are facing dramatic upheaval and uncertainty. 

On the positive side, as the province begins to reopen, so do opportunities for children to get active. Public pools, parks, and splash pads are now open in most regions, and social circles have increased to 10, opening some limited opportunities for play dates. 

Vanderloo also suggests to parents what she describes as co-participation. “Actually engage in the activity with them. So kicking a ball with them, going on an after-dinner walk with them, that’s what we’re seeing is probably the biggest source of influence.”

What is your family doing to get active? 

For the full ParticipACTION report, see here: https://www.participaction.com/en-ca/resources/children-and-youth-report-card 

To learn more about our LEAP study for parents of school-aged children, which studies how factors like physical activity protect from the negative impacts of school closures, see here: http://www.leapstudy.ca/