Macromolecular Proton Fraction (MPF): Quantitative Myelin Mapping Technique for Neuroscience

Featured Article in the Journal of Neuroscience

The paper by the research team from the University of Washington Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences (I-LABS) in the Journal of Neuroscience was selected as a Featured Article:

Huber E, Corrigan NM, Yarnykh VL, Ferjan Ramírez N, Kuhl PK. Language Experience during Infancy Predicts White Matter Myelination at Age 2 Years. J Neurosci. 2023 Mar 1;43(9):1590-1599.

I-LABS researchers emloyed the high-resolution fast MPF mapping method to study associations between white matter myelination and prior languge exposure in two-year-old children. The study reports that parent–infant turn-taking during home language interactions correlates with myelination of language-related white matter pathways (the left arcuate fasciculus and superior longitudinal fasciculus) through age 2 years. Effects were independent of total speech exposure and infant vocalizations and evident starting at 6 months of age, suggesting that structured language interactions throughout infancy may uniquely support the ongoing development of brain systems critical to long-term language ability.