BraIns Database

This database contains neuroimaging from the following projects carried out at the BraIns (Brain Institute https://www.pucrs.br/brains/), PUCRS (Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul).

Datasets

GERMAN-PORTUGUESE BILINGUALS

Description

Brain imaging data from the GERMAN DIALECTAL and PORTUGUESE BILINGUALS/MULTILINGUALS project that started in 2018. The project aimed to investigate word reading by speakers of the minority, mostly unwritten language Hunsrückisch and Portuguese, and by trilingual speakers of these two languages plus German. The database contains 6 participants between ages 22-36 (M= 25.3 years; SD=5.8). The data collection was significantly affected by the COVID19 pandemic, and we could not collect data beyond the first 8 participants from the 2017 pilot and the beginning of the larger study (funded by FAPERGS; PQG).

Brain Imaging

• Scanner type: GE HDxT 3.0T
• Head coil: 8 channels
• Resting-state: participants were asked to fixate on a crosshair sign, at the center of a screen, for 7 minutes and to clear their minds and not think about anything specifics.
• Word reading task: we carried out a multilingual lexical decision task using a mixed event\block design. Stimuli consisted of words in Portuguese, German and Hunsrückisch presented in separate epochs. Participants read each word silently and were instructed to identify if the word existed (lexical decision task). (yes – right-hand button; no – left-hand button).
• Morphometric Imaging: Morphometric consisted of a T1-weighted scan. T1-weighted images were collected with 1mm3 isotropic voxels using an MPRAGE sequence. The run took 3 minutes to collect.

BILINGUALISM and DYSLEXIA

Description

This database contains neuroimaging data from the BILINGUAL project that began in 2013. The objectives are to investigate the relationship between reading by people who are dyslexic and bilinguals. We investigated the neural correlates of and monolingual individuals with dyslexia. The database includes twelve participants between ages 13-18 (M = 14.8, SD = 1.77). The participants were Brazilian enrolled in elementary school. Participants were matched for age and IQ. Participants were divided into 3 groups:

Experimental group 1 (DB): – 4 learners of English as L2 and who are dyslexic: 4 participants, age range 13 to 18 years;

Control group (C): 4 learners of English as L2 and typical readers: 4 participants, age range;

Control Group 2 (C2): 4 monolingual participants who are dyslexic.

Brain Imaging

• Scanner type: GE HDxT 3.0T
• Head coil: 8 channels
• Resting-state: participants were asked to fixate on a crosshair sign, at the center of a screen, for 7 minutes and to clear their minds and not think about anything specifics.
• Pseudowords task: A mixed event-related experiment using a lexical decision task validated for Brazilian children (Salles et al., 2013). The task consists of 20 regular words, 20 irregular words and 20 pseudowords. We divided the 60 stimuli randomly into two runs of 30 items each. Words and pseudowords were presented on the screen, one at a time, for seven seconds each. The seven-second duration was established in a pilot behavioral study (unpublished) with dyslexic children (the average time to read the words was approximately four and a half seconds, with a standard deviation of two seconds). Participants were instructed to silently read the words that appeared on the screen and answer whether the words existed (YES - left hand button) or not (NO - right hand button). We inserted random intervals between new word presentations, which ranged from one to three seconds (in 1-S intervals) after each trial. After 10 attempts (10 words) the participant had a short rest of either seven or thirty seconds. The 30s rest was to be explicitly modeled as the rest/baseline condition. We have published data from another population sample of children with dyslexia and who were typical readers using this paradigm (Buchweitz, Costa, et al., 2019).
• Fast Localizer (Portuguese): This paradigm is a Brazilian Portuguese version of a paradigm developed in different languages (Chyl et al., 2021). It involves a word reading and word listening task, divided into two runs. There are 4 conditions: word reading, word listening, visual symbols (Wingdings-word font) and “synthesized audio” (incomprehensible vocoded speech). Visual stimuli and synthesized audio are the baseline conditions. Blocks of each condition were randomly distributed and included of 4 items. Visual stimuli (written words and “symbols”) appeared on the screen for 250 milliseconds each. For example: 1 block of written words/symbols contains 4 words presented in sequence for 250 miliseconds each. Auditory stimuli items (words and vocoded speech) was presented for 800 milliseconds each. During presentation of auditory stimuli, the screen inside the MRI scanner was left blank (no visual stimulation). The instruction was to silently read words and silently listen to words, and to pay attention to the other conditions. No explicit instruction was given in addition to paying attention to the task.
• English Fast Localizer: : this is the original paradigm, see (Chyl et al., 2021).
• Morphometric Imaging: Morphometric consisted of a T1-weighted scan. T1-weighted images were collected with 1mm3 isotropic voxels using an MPRAGE sequence. The run took 3 minutes to collect.

BRAIN AND SOCIAL MEDIA

Description

The brain imaging data are from project aimed at investigating the Brain and Social Media. The project aimed to investigate whether use of social media was associated with alterations in brain function and state. There were three groups based on an Internet Addiction Test (Young, 2016): internet addicted (5 participants), frequent users (10 participants) and regular users (12 participants). The task-based experiments are unpublished and not included, as of yet. The database includes thus 27 participants whose ages ranged from 19 to 52 years (M = 25 years; SD=6.42; 14 female).

Brain Imaging

• Scanner type: GE HDxT 3.0T
• Head coil: 8 channels
• Resting-state: participants were asked to fixate on a crosshair sign, at the center of a screen, for 7 minutes and to clear their minds and not think about anything specifics.
• Morphometric Imaging: Morphometric consisted of a T1-weighted scan. T1-weighted images were collected with 1mm3 isotropic voxels using an MPRAGE sequence. The run took 3 minutes to collect.

ACERTA: Longitudinal Study of Reading (SCHOOLS) and the database for Dyslexia (Reading Clinic, AMBAC)

Description - SCHOOLS

The database contains brain imaging data from a longitudinal study of children aged 8-11 years. The brain imaging data were collected twice for each child, once in 2015 and once in 2016, generally, with 12 months in between scans. The academic performance data were collected annually, in 2014, 15, 16 and 17; the neuropsychological evaluations were carried out once. The 2015 scan of the “first visit” for brain imaging data collection. A total 61 participants were scanned. Their ages ranged from 8 to 9 years (M=8.6; SD=0.5) and there were 28 girls (M= 8.7 years; SD=0.5) and 33 boys (M=8.6 years; SD=0.5). For the second visit (2016 scan), we present brain imaging data from 45 participants whose ages ranged from 9 to 10 years (M=9.4; SD=0.5), including 22 girls (M=9.4 years; SD=0.5) and 23 boys (M=9.3 years; SD=0.5). Of the 61 participants enrolled for the first visit, 43 participants completed the second visit. Two participants have only usable data for the second visit.

Brain Imaging

• Scanner type: GE HDxT 3.0T
• Head coil: 8 channels
• Resting-state: participants were asked to fixate on a crosshair sign, at the center of a screen, for 7 minutes and to clear their minds and not think about anything specifics.
• Pseudowords task: The second protocol was conducted using a word and pseudoword reading test validated for Brazilian children (Salles et al., 2013). The task consists of 20 regular words, 20 irregular words, and 20 pseudowords. The 60 stimuli were divided into two 30-item runs to give participants a break halfway into the task. Words and pseudowords were presented on the screen one at a time, for 7 sec each. A question was presented to participants together with each word (does the word exist?), to which participants had to select “Yes” or “No” by pressing response buttons.
• Diffusion Tensor Imaging: DTI scans consisted of 16 diffusion directions with a b-value equal to 750 s/mm2, with 1mm isotropic voxels, data collected in the AP direction. During the scans participants watched a video of their preference.
• Morphometric Imaging:Morphometric consisted of a T1-weighted scan. T1-weighted images were collected with 1mm3 isotropic voxels using an MPRAGE sequence. The run took 3 minutes to collect.

Description - Reading Clinic, AMBAC

The database presents brain imaging data from a study of children who were diagnosed with developmental dyslexia by our pro-bono reading clinic at the BraIns. The database includes 90 participants who are dyslexic and whose ages range from 8 to 14 years (M=11 years; SD=1.42; 29 female). The database includes two groups, dyslexic children (67 participants), children with learning difficulties, but no diagnosis (5 participants) and typical readers (18 participants). This data has been partially published (Buchweitz, Costa, et al., 2019).

Brain Imaging

• Scanner type: GE HDxT 3.0T
• Head coil: 8 channels
• Resting-state: participants were asked to fixate on a crosshair sign, at the center of a screen, for 7 minutes and to clear their minds and not think about anything specifics.
• Pseudowords task: The second protocol was conducted using a word and pseudoword reading test validated for Brazilian children (Salles et al., 2013). The task consists of 20 regular words, 20 irregular words, and 20 pseudowords. The 60 stimuli were divided into two 30-item runs to give participants a break halfway into the task. Words and pseudowords were presented on the screen one at a time, for 7 sec each. A question was presented to participants together with each word (does the word exist?), to which participants had to select “Yes” or “No” by pressing response buttons.
• Diffusion Tensor Imaging: DTI scans consisted of 16 diffusion directions with a b-value equal to 750 s/mm2, with 1mm isotropic voxels, data collected in the AP direction. During the scans participants watched a video of their preference.
• Morphometric Imaging: Morphometric consisted of a T1-weighted scan. T1-weighted images were collected with 1mm3 isotropic voxels using an MPRAGE sequence. The run took 3 minutes to collect.

VIVA

Description

This database contains neuroimaging data from the VIVA (project, which aimed to investigate the association between exposure to violence and preadolescent cognition. The database contains 57 participants between ages 10-14 years (M = 11.45; SD = 1.01; 23 females). The two task-based fMRI paradigms described below have been previously published (Buchweitz, de Azeredo, et al., 2019; Cará et al., 2019).

Brain Imaging

• Scanner type: GE HDxT 3.0T
• Head coil: 8 channels
• Resting-state: participants were asked to fixate on a crosshair sign, at the center of a screen, for 7 minutes and to clear their minds and not think about anything specifics.
• RMET: The participants also performed the ‘Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test’ (RMET) (Baron-Cohen et al., 2001). The test include two conditions, ‘Mental State’ and ‘Sex’ that are made up of pictures of pairs of eyes. In the Mental State condition, participants were asked to infer a state of mind from the pair of eyes; in the Sex Condition participants had to identify the sex of the person in the picture (Buchweitz, de Azeredo, et al., 2019).
• Change: The second paradigm applied an fMRI variant of the traditional Go/No Go and Stop tasks. This task included Go trials and Change trials. The Go trials was a visual presentation of either an X or an O, to wich participants have to respond by pressing a button with their left middle finger for X and index finger for O; the Change trials was the presentation of a blue square, to wich participants have to press a button with their right index finger (Cará et al., 2019).
• Morphometric Imaging: Morphometric consisted of a T1-weighted scan. T1-weighted images were collected with 1mm3 isotropic voxels using an MPRAGE sequence. The run took 3 minutes to collect.

Publications

• BUCHWEITZ, Augusto et al. Decoupling of the occipitotemporal cortex and the brain’s default-mode network in dyslexia and a role for the cingulate cortex in good readers: a brain imaging study of Brazilian children. (2019) Developmental neuropsychology. 44(1):146-157.
• BUCHWEITZ, Augusto et al. Violence and Latin-American preadolescents: A study of social brain function and cortisol levels. (2019) Developmental science. 22(5):e12799.
• CARÁ, Valentina Metsavaht et al. An fMRI study of inhibitory control and the effects of exposure to violence in Latin-American early adolescents: alterations in frontoparietal activation and performance. (2019)Social cognitive and affective neuroscience. 14(10):1097-1107.

References

• BARON-COHEN, Simon et al. The “Reading the Mind in the Eyes” Test revised version: a study with normal adults, and adults with Asperger syndrome or high- functioning autism. (2001) The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines. 42(2):241-251.
• SALLES, J., Piccolo, L. R., Zamo, R. S., & Toazza, R. (2013). Normas de desempenho em tarefa de leitura de palavras/pseudopalavras isoladas (LPI) para crianças de 1° ano a 7° ano [Developmental Standards in a Word/Pseudoword Reading Task for Children in Elementary School]. (2013) Estudos E Pesquisas Em Psicologia. 13(2):397-419.
• CHYL, Katarzyna et al. The brain signature of emerging reading in two contrasting languages. (2021) NeuroImage 225:117503.
• YOUNG, Kimberly. Internet addiction test (IAT). (2016) Stoelting

Personnel

• Augusto Buchweitz, PhD (Principal Investigator)
• Aline Fay, PhD
• Bernardo Limberger, PhD
• Nythamar Franco de Oliveira, PhD
• Mirna Wetters Portuguez, PhD
• Jaderson Costa da Costa, MD, PhD

Funding

This work was supported by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior – Brasil (CAPES) [grant number 001], the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) [grant number 1322], Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) – Brasil [grant number 459605/2014-3 MCTI/CNPQ/Universal 14/2014] and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do RS (FAPERGS) [grant number 17/2551-0000957-6].

Downloads

Click here to download the data. Users will first be prompted to log on to NITRC and will need to register with the 1000 Functional Connectomes Project website on NITRC to gain access to the BraIns datasets.