Program for Cognitive Sciences (PICS) Dr. Joy Hirsch, Director

1. Program for Cognitive Sciences (PICS) Dr. Joy Hirsch, Director Harry D. Schneider, MD. Co-Investigator Debra Schneider Clinical Coordinator Autism Research Program COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

2. TODAY’S CHAT… • The discovery of language-specific areas and their connections in the brains of children with low-functioning autism. • FMRI-based emerging theories leading to practical applications and treatments for restoring language. • Our mathematicians calculated that…

3. Sharing knowledge is a good thing! • Most of what I know is from parents who keep me up to date about new biomedical interventions and behavioral treatments. • In return, I try to teach them something about functional MRI and linguistics.

4. Combining Existing Science with Innovative Research • We can restore language to stroke victims, because they have neurotypical anatomy. • To restore language to ASD children without neurotypical anatomy, we used fMRI to discover how their brains functioned for language. • We developed a map of the autistic brain and existing treatment technology for language. • We had the beginnings of a treatment plan!

5. I. Principles of Functional Specificity in the Brain • The Real Estate Principle: a fundamental notion of brain organization. • It suggests thebrain’s real estate is divided into subunits based on function.

6. To understand MRI we need to review the atom. MRI is based on the spinning of protons:

7. B. Spinning protons are little magnets: they make electricity. • Scanner Environment [1.5] T [3.0] T • Protons align along an axis Protons in Brain Protons in Brain Outside Field Inside Field (scattered) (aligned)

8. RFi (precess) (wobble) MAGNETISM MAKES ELECTRICITY! • A radio frequency pulse (63.3 mHz on an “FM radio”) is applied to aligned protons • Protons precess around the axis and create a small electrical current (MRI signal)

9. gradieield field uniform RFo FINDING THE REAL ESTATE This electrical current is emitted by the protons as they relax into their aligned state. These currents have different strengths depending upon local magnetic field strengths: we use them to find their location of origin in the brain Location of signals are recorded for structural MRI

10. For functional MRI: Blood Oxygen Level Dependent Signal (BOLD SIGNAL) Physiology Physics Neural activation is associated with an increase in blood flow and oxygen use. (Roy & Sherrington, 1890) Deoxy-HGB is paramagnetic and distorts the local magnetic field, causing signal loss (Pauling,1936) Result: Reduction in the proportion of deoxy-HGB in the local vasculature. Result: Less distortion of the magnetic field in local MR signal increase

11. Computations to get a Functional MRI Map Reconstruction Alignment Voxel by voxel analysis Graphical representation Functional Brain Map

12. Functional MRI • Is safe! • No x-rays are used. • No contrast agents are injected. • It has been used on infants and pregnant women without complications. • But…it is noisy, so it is not always patient friendly, especially to kids on the spectrum.

13. A one-minute review of Brains and Blobs. • Gross anatomy. • Brain activations (called “blobs”). • Brain connectivity.

14. Normal Language Areas of the Cortex

15. With fMRI we use Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) Passive listening: DTI: Neural Connections Broca Arcuate Fasciculus Wernicke Sagittal view of DTI Connections between Broca’s and Wernicke’s Areas Axial view of functional activity DTI map of a typical language system.

16. Applications of the Real Estate Principle Sensory Touch Motor Finger Thumb Tapping Language Vision Reversing Checkerboard Picture Naming Listening to Words (passive) (active) (active) (passive) (passive) GPoC GPrC GOi GTT GFi GTs CaS Neurosurgical planning: fMRI Task Battery From Hirsch, J., et al; Neurosurgery 47: 711-722, 2000 Hirsch, J., Columbia University.

17. CLINICAL APPLICATIONS OF fMRI The science of the mind leads to the treatment of the mind. • Mapping for neurosurgical planning • Assessment of cognitive function in non-responsive adults and babies • Neural reorganization in dyslexia. • Low-functioning language Autism!

18. Diagnoses Based On Variations in Neurocircuitry Program for Imaging and Cognitive Sciences J. Hirsch, Columbia University fMRI TO DIAGNOSE AND INFORM TREATMENT OF ALTERNATIVE AND ATYPICAL NEUROCIRCUITRY OF BRAIN Dyslexia Non-impaired Shaywitz, et al. 1998 Howard & Hirsch, 2004 Dyslexia occurs in 15% of the U.S. population

19. Translational Neuroscience Anxiety Disorders, PTSD Decision Sciences Neural Surgical Planning Eating Disorders, AN, Obesity Autism Seizure Localization Neural Reorganization Disorders of Consciousness Deception NeuroLaw Language Acquisition Pain NeuroGenetics FUTURE DIRECTIONS FOR BRAIN MAPPING IN CLINICAL NEUROSCIENCE

20. Now on to even more boring stuff! LINGUISTICS 

21. HOW DID YOU LEARN YOUR (FIRST) LANGUAGE? • No one really taught it to you! • There were no verbs to conjugate. • There were no behavioral interventions. • You just looked, listened and one day you began speaking!

22. How can children do what every second language learner dreams about - learn grammar without even thinking about it? • Children all know more about the language than they could reasonably have learned if they had to depend entirely on the input they were exposed to. • This is the “ poverty of stimulus theory” – the fact that grammar is unlearnable given the linguistic data available to children. Conclusion: grammar cannot be learnt but is rather an innate knowledge of the possibilities and impossibilities for any human language.

23. What about language development in a neurotypical child? • Because languages are infinite and a childhood is only finite, children can not just memorize language, they must leap into the linguistic unknown and generalize to an infinite world of as-yet unspoken sentences. (Pinker, 1994) • This is done by acquiring grammar. The child is a ‘naturalist’, passively observing the speech of other‘s. The child picks up grammar “implicitly” (unconsciously). • Chomsky: “Language is innate” (we are born “hard-wired” to learn a language.

24. Neurotypical grammar (cont’d): • Although some children might say “Mommy gived the book” • A child never says: “Mommy the gives book” or “Mommy gives book the” • The unconscious grammar machine does not allow for too much error!

25. How do we become fluent? • To achieve fluency in our native or a foreign language, two things should be combined: the words and their use. in other words, Grammar and pragmatics of language.

26. The Grammar is Universal • The evidence includes: • the spontaneous production of language • that children can learn to speak on a basis of minimal linguistic experience • the fact that language choices need to be constrained in order to make learning quick and efficient • the ability to change from one structure to another easily

27. What is changing from one structure? Structure Dependency • All languages are “structure dependant”. This relationship between different elements of a sentence is learnt by children through Universal Grammar. • If every structure had a rule, our language systems would be too complicated and could not be adopted by adults, let alone infants. • Rearranging structures of a sentence is not just a matter of recognizing phrases and then moving them around: It is moving the correct element within the right phrase

28. An example of “moving things around correctly ! A child’s learns how to move things around to ask a question. • The boy who is sitting on the rug is hungry. Q. Is the boy who is sitting on the rug hungry? • Is the boy sitting on the rug that is being vacuumed by his mother? Q. The boy is sitting on the rug that is being vacuumed by his mother.

29. What about Pragmatics ? • Pragmatics is concerned with how communication is achieved in a given instance of language use. • It is the study of how the meaning of a sentence (or other linguistic unit) changes depending on how and where it is expressed. • It is concerned with transmission of meaning based on the context of an utterance, knowledge about the status of those speaking, the inferred intent of the speaker and the way in which we reach our goals in communication. • E.g. : “We could say: no eating in this lecture room”. • or “Somebody’s pizza is making me hungry and I can’t concentrate”.

30. What do we need to know about grammar? • Grammar is not learned, it is implicitly acquired! • Acquired means learning something: • unconsciously • almost inadvertently • becoming automatic in its use. • not quite knowing how we do it!

31. OUR BRAINS HAVE TWO (2) Memory systems • 1) The Explicit System – also called the “declarative” system and the conscious memory systems. Conscious vs. Unconscious! • 2) The Implicit System – also called the “procedural” and unconscious systems”

32. OUR BRAINS HAVE TWO (2) memory systems • 1) The Explicit System – also called the “declarative” system and the conscious memory systems. • REMEMBER THE 2 MEMORY SYSTEMS! • 2) The Implicit System – also called the “procedural” and unconscious systems”

33. Implicit and Explicit Memory: an important distinction! • Implicit memory: our previous experiences aid in the performance of tasks without conscious awareness of these previous experiences (Schacter, 1987). “déjà vu”: “If you give me the first letter, I will remember the word.” • In daily life, people rely on implicit memory (procedural memory) that allows us to remember how to tie our shoes or ride a bicycle without consciously thinking about these activities.

34. On the other hand, Explicit Memory • Explicit memory is the conscious, intentional recollection of previous experiences and information. • In daily life, people rely on explicit memory (declarative memory), that stores facts: memories that can be consciously discussed, textbook learning, knowledge, memories of personal events, and learning new vocabulary.

35. A good example: How do we drive a car? • Implicitly ? (automatic and unconscious) • Explicitly? (thinking about what we learned in driving school)? • Or both ways? e.g. “Did you ever drive home…”

36. Implicit Learning: New Frontiers • Implicit learning is what happens when people are just going about their daily life activitie not on memorizing or on learning per se,” • It is involved in learning new motor skills such as bike riding, and learning new languages, picking up new cognitive skills such as chess playing, and in developing intuitions about how other people will act. • A child’s learning its first languge from birth to age 3 is IMPLICIT • This style of learning is subtle, occurring without intention or conscious awareness that the learning is taking place. It is also not easy to explain. Often people can’t fully articulate what they’ve learned, even though they may have absorbed and retained significant amounts of information. • We think it is much more important for adapting to new places and people than more conscious forms of learning

37. The 2 memory systems use 2 different brain areas! • Our mental grammar (SVO), relies onimplicit, unconscious and procedural memory uses a primitive network of areas deep in the brain • Learning words relies onconscious, explicit declarative memory, which also stores facts and events you can recall and depends on a different brain network: surface brain areas and the hippocampus

38. The Procedural Brain (“Reptile” Brain)- for the infant’s language!

39. What are the parts of the Procedural Memory Machine: • Basal Ganglia (Parkinson's disease). • Cerebellum (balance, movement) • Substantia Nigra (dopamine) • Thalamus (a translator for brain) • SMA : motor planning areas. • Parts of Wernicke’s and Broca’s area

40. Language Areas of the Cortex: explicit learning

41. How do children “learn to speak”? • The do not “learn” it, they “acquire” it. • ALL CHILDREN FROM BIRTH TO ABOUT AGE TWO (2) USE THE IMPLICIT SYSTEM FOR LANGUAGE. • IT IS AN UNCONSCIOUS PROCESS THAT DOES NOT INVOLVE TEACHING!

42. For the Purposes of this talk,Let’s keep it simple: • Implicit = Unconscious = Procedural MEMORY • Explicit = Conscious = Declarative

43. Do the two systems work together? • NO ! But, teaching explicitly face to face can “help” implicit learning indirectly: • It can help the brain focus on relevant items, such as sounds, or parts of words. • It can make these relevant language features stand out more, such as concentrating on the ends of words or what happens between words.

44. Is Grammar just another skill, like driving a car? • YES! • It is no coincidence that the beginnings of grammar follow closely on the heels of a baby – the ability to walk and talk both appear around fifteen months! (Pinker, 1994)

45. THINK OF AMNESIA • A person with amnesia (retrograde) can not remember what happened in the past – but they can remember how to drive a car! They do NOT forget implicit stuff! • People with anterograde amnesia can not remember what was just learned: “each day is a new day” – but they can be taught to drive! They can be taught implicit stuff!

46. A NEUROTYPICAL CHILD’S LANGUAGE

47. What about an ‘autistic’ child’s language acquisition? Language Production • No words by 12 to 14 months. • Less than one dozen words by age 18 months. • No two-word phrases by age two years or sentences by age three years • Inability to use initiate and maintain language conversationally using colloquial conversation. • Inability to recount an event or tell a coherent story. Language Comprehension: • How much do they really understand? • Have they acquired the procedural grammar “blueprint”.? • If they can understand: “ the boy hugs the girl”, can they also understand “the girl is hugged by the boy’?

48. Do “LFA” children use implicit or explicit processes ? • Low-functioning children with autism (generally) have to MEMORIZE almost of the language they can produce ! This is explicit or declarative memory and it takes up a lot of space on the brain’s “hard drive”. • This is a huge mental process, using up a lot of brain energy and by itself may not lead to full language recovery.

49. SYNTAX DEPENDS ON PROCEDURAL MEMORY • Faulty procedural learning is due to those deep brain areas that were partially damaged both in utero and after birth • This is the cause of ASD kids having no grammar and having to memorize everything! • Without the grammar machine a child can not become fluent nor verbally communicate!

50. Faulty procedural memory A child with ASD will have difficulty with: • prepositions, adjectives, adverbs • pronouns: I, you, he, she, my, your, etc.), • things (this, that, these, those), • places (here, there, above, below, etc.), • times (now, tomorrow, yesterday); • Recognizing ungrammatical sentences • Word meaning (frequently used words)