Elise Barbeau | University of Montreal (original) (raw)

Papers by Elise Barbeau

bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory), Apr 11, 2023

Depression is an incapacitating psychiatric disorder with high prevalence in adolescent populatio... more Depression is an incapacitating psychiatric disorder with high prevalence in adolescent populations that is influenced by many risk factors, including family history of depression. The ability to predict who may develop depression before adolescence, when rates of depression increase markedly, is important for early intervention and prevention. Using a large longitudinal sample from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study (2658 participants after imaging quality control, between 9-10 years at baseline), we applied machine learning methods on a set of comprehensive multimodal neuroimaging features to predict depression risk at the two-year follow-up from the baseline visit. Features include derivatives from structural MRI, diffusion tensor imaging, and task and rest functional MRI. A rigorous cross-validation method of leave-one-site-out was used. Additionally, we tested the prediction models in a high-risk group of participants with parental history of depression (N=625). The results showed all brain features had prediction scores significantly better than expected by chance. When predicting depression onset in the high-risk group, brain features from resting-state functional connectomes showed the best classification performance, outperforming other brain features based on structural MRI and task-based fMRI. Results demonstrate that the functional connectivity of the brain can predict the risk of depression in early adolescence better than other univariate neuroimaging derivatives, highlighting the key role of the interacting elements of the connectome capturing more individual variability in psychopathology compared to measures of single brain regions. 2 .

Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging

Cerebral Cortex, 2021

There is considerable individual variability in second language (L2) learning abilities in adulth... more There is considerable individual variability in second language (L2) learning abilities in adulthood. The inferior parietal lobule, important in L2 learning success, is anatomically connected to language areas in the frontal lobe via the superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF). The second and third branches of the SLF (SLF II and III) have not been examined separately in the context of language, yet they are known to have dissociable frontoparietal connections. Studying these pathways and their functional contributions to L2 learning is thus of great interest. Using diffusion MRI tractography, we investigated individuals undergoing language training to explore brain structural predictors of L2 learning success. We dissected SLF II and III using gold-standard anatomical definitions and related prelearning white matter integrity to language improvements corresponding with hypothesized tract functions. SLF II properties predicted improvement in lexical retrieval, while SLF III propertie...

Cerebral Cortex Communications, 2020

Speech onset delays (SOD) and language atypicalities are central aspects of the autism spectrum (... more Speech onset delays (SOD) and language atypicalities are central aspects of the autism spectrum (AS), despite not being included in the categorical diagnosis of AS. Previous studies separating participants according to speech onset history have shown distinct patterns of brain organization and activation in perceptual tasks. One major white matter tract, the arcuate fasciculus (AF), connects the posterior temporal and left frontal language regions. Here, we used anatomical brain imaging to investigate the properties of the AF in adolescent and adult autistic individuals with typical levels of intelligence who differed by age of speech onset. The left AF of the AS group showed a significantly smaller volume than that of the nonautistic group. Such a reduction in volume was only present in the younger group. This result was driven by the autistic group without SOD (SOD−), despite their typical age of speech onset. The autistic group with SOD (SOD+) showed a more typical AF as adults r...

Results of the behavioral studies indicate that autistics have an excellent visual processing spe... more Results of the behavioral studies indicate that autistics have an excellent visual processing speed while Asperger individuals performed like typicals. Motor impairments also differed between the two subgroups; dexterity and bimanual coordination was impaired in Asperger individuals but not in autistics, who presented more difficulties in unimanual conditions. Autism and Asperger subgroups are characterized by different cognitive profiles in which visual processing and motor deficits are important factors.

NeuroImage: Clinical, 2018

Background: Behavioral, cognitive and functional particularities in autism differ according to au... more Background: Behavioral, cognitive and functional particularities in autism differ according to autism subgroups and might be associated with domain-specific cognitive strengths. It is unknown whether structural changes support this specialization. We investigated the link between cortical folding, its maturation and cognitive strengths in autism subgroups presenting verbal or visuo-spatial peaks of abilities. Methods: We measured gyrification, a structural index related to function, in 55 autistic participants with (AS-SOD, N = 27) or without (AS-NoSOD, N = 28) a speech onset delay (SOD) with similar symptom severity but respectively perceptual and verbal cognitive strengths, and 37 typical adolescents and young adults matched for intelligence and age. We calculated the local Gyrification Index (lGI) throughout an occipito-temporal region of interest and independently modeled age and peak of ability effects for each group. Results: Unique gyrification features in both autistic groups were detected in localized clusters. When comparing the three groups, gyrification was found lower in AS-SOD in a fusiform visual area, whereas it was higher in AS-NoSOD in a temporal language-related region. These particular areas presented age-related gyrification differences reflecting contrasting local maturation pathways in AS. As expected, peaks of ability were found in a verbal subtest for the AS-NoSOD group and in the Block Design IQ subtest for the AS-SOD group. Conclusions: Irrespective of their direction, regional gyrification differences in visual and language processing areas respectively reflect AS-SOD perceptual and AS-NoSOD language-oriented peaks. Unique regional maturation trajectories in the autistic brain may underline specific cognitive strengths, which are key variables for understanding heterogeneity in autism.

Scientific Reports

Three major white matter pathways connect the posterior temporal region and the adjacent inferior... more Three major white matter pathways connect the posterior temporal region and the adjacent inferior parietal lobule with the lateral frontal cortex: the arcuate fasciculus (AF), and the second and third branches of the superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF II and SLF III). These pathways are found also in nonhuman primate brains where they play specific roles in auditory and spatial processing. The precise origin, course, and termination of these pathways has been examined in invasive tract tracing studies in macaque monkeys. Here we use this prior knowledge to improve dissections of these pathways in vivo in the human brain using diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) tractography. In this study, the AF, originating from the posterior temporal cortex, has been successfully separated from the SLF II and SLF III tracts originating from the angular and supramarginal gyri of the inferior parietal lobule, respectively. The latter two pathways, i.e. SLF II and SLF III, have also been c...

Neuropsychologia, 2016

Research to date suggests that second language acquisition results in functional and structural c... more Research to date suggests that second language acquisition results in functional and structural changes in the bilingual brain, however, in what way and how quickly these changes occur remains unclear. To address these questions, we studied fourteen English-speaking monolingual adults enrolled in a 12-week intensive French language-training program in Montreal. Using functional MRI, we investigated the neural changes associated with new language acquisition. The participants were scanned before the start of the immersion program and at the end of the 12 weeks. The fMRI scan aimed to investigate the brain regions recruited in a sentence reading task both in English, their first language (L1), and in French, their second language (L2). For the L1, fMRI patterns did not change from Time 1 to Time 2, while for the L2, the brain response changed between Time 1 and Time 2 in language-related areas. Of note, for the L2, there was higher activation at Time 2 compared to Time 1 in the left inferior parietal lobule (IPL) including the supramarginal gyrus. At Time 2 this higher activation in the IPL correlated with faster L2 reading speed. Moreover, higher activation in the left IPL at Time 1 predicted improvement in L2 reading speed from Time 1 to Time 2. Our results suggest that learning-induced plasticity occurred as early as 12 weeks into immersive second-language training, and that the IPL appears to play a special role in language learning.

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, Jan 20, 2016

There is considerable variability in an individual's ability to acquire a second language (L2... more There is considerable variability in an individual's ability to acquire a second language (L2) during adulthood. Using resting-state fMRI data acquired before training in English speakers who underwent a 12 week intensive French immersion training course, we investigated whether individual differences in intrinsic resting-state functional connectivity relate to a person's ability to acquire an L2. We focused on two key aspects of language processing-lexical retrieval in spontaneous speech and reading speed-and computed whole-brain functional connectivity from two regions of interest in the language network, namely the left anterior insula/frontal operculum (AI/FO) and the visual word form area (VWFA). Connectivity between the left AI/FO and left posterior superior temporal gyrus (STG) and between the left AI/FO and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex correlated positively with improvement in L2 lexical retrieval in spontaneous speech. Connectivity between the VWFA and left mid-...

Background: The Inspection Time (IT) Task measures visual processing speed and has good face vali... more Background: The Inspection Time (IT) Task measures visual processing speed and has good face validity as a method to estimate neural information processing time. It is strongly correlated with the Wechsler IQ, particularly performance IQ, in typical populations. However, conflicting results have been reported concerning IT in autism when using standard IQ estimation procedures to match group properties (Scheuffgen et al., 2000; Wallace et al., 2009). An alternative matching procedure utilizes a test of matrix reasoning ability, the Raven’s Progressive Matrices (RPM), a test for estimating general intelligence that is expected to be less affected by differences in verbal abilities than the Wechsler IQ. Autistics are known to achieve higher RPM scores than their Wechsler IQ predicts. Objectives: Investigate the relationships among IT, RPM scores and Wechsler IQ measures in autistic and typically developing individuals. Methods: We measured IT, matrix reasoning, and Wechsler IQ in 21 a...

Background: On the autistic spectrum, autism and Asperger syndrome are distinguished with respect... more Background: On the autistic spectrum, autism and Asperger syndrome are distinguished with respect to early speech abilities. Speech onset delays and/or certain speech atypicalities are specific to autistics and distinguish them from Asperger individuals. Other reported demarcating features are perceptual and motor skills, with autistics displaying visuo-perceptual peaks and Asperger displaying motor clumsiness. Objectives: To investigate whether autistic spectrum individuals stratified on the basis of speech development atypicalities also differ on perceptual and motor variables. Methods: 30 typically developing, 18 autistic and 17 Asperger (based on clinical diagnosis and speech abilities) participants were assessed with a) an intelligence battery including the Wechsler’s scale of intelligence and the Raven Progressive Matrices b) a motor battery including the Purdue Pegboard and the Annett Peg Moving tests that measure gross and fine motor skills, dexterity, bi-manual and hand-eye...

Background: Raven’s Progressive Matrices (RPM) is a pre-eminent measure of fluid intelligence, as... more Background: Raven’s Progressive Matrices (RPM) is a pre-eminent measure of fluid intelligence, assaying abilities to infer rules, manage goal hierarchies, and form high-level abstractions. Autistics perform significantly better on RPM than on Wechsler intelligence scales, while no such discrepancy is found in nonautistics (Dawson et al., 2007). Neuroimaging studies of matrix reasoning and novel problem solving in nonautistics have demonstrated task-related activity in a bilateral frontoparietal network. Objectives: To investigate the neural basis of autistics’ RPM performance using fMRI. Methods: Fifteen autistics and 18 nonautistics participated, matched on age (mean 22 years), Wechsler IQ (mean 103), sex and manual preference. The 60 RPM problems were presented in random order in one continuous self-paced run using echoplanar imaging on a 3T MRI system. Sixty visual pattern matching problems, similar in format to RPM, but not involving complex reasoning, were presented in a separa...

Background: Although atypicalities in visuomotor coordination, often generically labelled as “clu... more Background: Although atypicalities in visuomotor coordination, often generically labelled as “clumsiness”, are commonly observed to varying degrees in autistics of all ages, their precise mechanism is poorly understood. The failure to achieve desired spatial and temporal accuracy in a relatively simple task like visually-guided reaching could arise from a range of sources, including visual analysis of target or hand position, hand/body/target coordinate transformation determination, or movement execution. In addition, while it has been suggested that the Asperger subgroup is particularly likely to exhibit atypical motor behavior, the empirical evidence supporting this assertion has been somewhat inconsistent. Objectives: To localize the potential sources of atypical visuomotor coordination, we undertook a behavioral analysis of the processes responsible for visually-guided reaching by investigating perceptual analysis, peg moving and simple response generation skills in autistic and...

Background: Autism is characterized by a broad range of atypicalities in perceptual processing, n... more Background: Autism is characterized by a broad range of atypicalities in perceptual processing, notably including advantages in visual search, figure/ground discrimination, block design and pitch discrimination. It has been suggested that these differences may arise from variations in the local influences governing the interactions among collections of neighboring, functionally related sensory regions responsible for the early stages of perception. The examination of resting state correlations allows exploration of inter-regional interactions occurring in a part of the frequency spectrum lower than that usually thought to support the flow of information associated with task-related activity. As such, the strength and spatial pattern of these correlations may provide complementary information concerning the anatomical and functional infrastructure supporting perceptual system operation in autistics. Objectives: To compare the patterns of functional correlations in perceptual brain re...

NeuroImage. Clinical, 2015

A small corpus callosum (CC) is one of the most replicated neurobiological findings in autism spe... more A small corpus callosum (CC) is one of the most replicated neurobiological findings in autism spectrum (AS). However, its effect on interhemispheric (IH) communication is unknown. We combined structural (CC area and DWI), functional (task-related fMRI activation and connectivity analyses) as well as behavioral (Poffenberger and Purdue tasks) measures to investigate IH integration in adult AS individuals of typical intelligence. Despite similar behavioral IH transfer time and performances in bimanual tasks, the CC sub-regions connecting frontal and parietal cortical areas were smaller in AS than in non-AS individuals, while those connecting visual regions were similar. The activation of visual areas was lower in AS than in non-AS individuals during the presentation of visual stimuli. Behavioral IH performances were related to the properties of CC subregions connecting motor areas in non-AS individuals, but to the properties of posterior CC regions in AS individuals. Furthermore, ther...

Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, Jan 29, 2015

Movement atypicalities in speed, coordination, posture, and gait have been observed across the au... more Movement atypicalities in speed, coordination, posture, and gait have been observed across the autism spectrum (AS) and atypicalities in coordination are more commonly observed in AS individuals without delayed speech (DSM-IV Asperger) than in those with atypical or delayed speech onset. However, few studies have provided quantitative data to support these mostly clinical observations. Here, we compared perceptual and motor performance between 30 typically developing and AS individuals (21 with speech delay and 18 without speech delay) to examine the associations between limb movement control and atypical speech development. Groups were matched for age, intelligence, and sex. The experimental design included: an inspection time task, which measures visual processing speed; the Purdue Pegboard, which measures finger dexterity, bimanual performance, and hand-eye coordination; the Annett Peg Moving Task, which measures unimanual goal-directed arm movement; and a simple reaction time ta...