Potential Association between Modular Structures of Brain Functional Connectivity Networks and Individual Variability in Foreign Language Ability

抄録

 The present study aimed to investigate the association between changes in the mod
ular structures of brain functional connectivity networks (BFCNs) and individual vari-
ability in foreign language learning ability. Six healthy Japanese students (all male,
age range: 16–21 years) completed both pre- and post-training EEG sessions and ex-
aminations in English words. BFCNs were constructed for pre- and post-training data.
Training sessions required participants to attempt to memorize 200 pairs of the same
English words as those in the examinations and their Japanese meanings. The con-
nectivity between any two different electrodes (nodes) was calculated by determining
the synchronization likelihood (SL) of the EEGs. An edge connecting the two nodes
was drawn when statistically significant differences in SL values were observed between
successful and unsuccessful trials. BFCNs for the pre-training data were higher in edge
density than those for the post-training data, though this difference was not statisti-
cally significant. Moreover, changes in the composition of modules of the BFCNs were
associated with the individual difference between two English-word examinations in
scores.