In the present longitudinal study, we investigated the joint effect of early family factors and long-term vocabulary development on the structure of reading-related white matter pathways in adolescents. Seventy-nine children participated in this study. Family environment was measured via parental questionnaire between age 1 and age 3. From age 4 to age 10, children’s vocabulary skills were tested annually. At age 14, diffusion tensor imaging data of the children were collected. Using individual-based tractography, 10 reading-related tracts of the two hemispheres were delineated. Different family factors were found to be correlated with different pathways: Age of literacy exposure was correlated with fractional anisotropy of the direct segment of the left arcuate fasciculus, while an association trend was found between early family socioeconomic status and fractional anisotropy of the left inferior frontal occipital fasciculus. Further regression analyses showed that the age of literacy exposure modulated the relationships between vocabulary development and the structure of the left arcuate fasciculus. Specifically, in the earlier literacy exposure group, no association was found between vocabulary development and the strength of the arcuate fasciculus, whereas in the later literacy exposure group, significant associations were found between vocabulary development and the strength of the arcuate fasciculus.

在目前的纵向研究中，我们调查了早期家庭因素和长期词汇发展对青少年阅读相关白质途径结构的联合影响。七十九名儿童参加了这项研究。家庭环境通过1岁至3岁之间的父母问卷进行测量。从4岁至10岁，每年对儿童的词汇技能进行测试。在14岁时，收集了儿童的扩散张量成像数据。使用基于个人的谱图，划定了两个半球的10个与阅读相关的谱图。发现不同的家庭因素与不同的途径相关：识字暴露的年龄与左弓形筋膜直接段的分数各向异性有关，而早期家庭社会经济状况与左下额枕枕筋膜的分数各向异性之间存在关联趋势。进一步的回归分析表明，识字暴露的年龄调节了词汇发展与左弓形筋膜结构之间的关系。具体而言，在较早的识字暴露组中，词汇发展与弓形筋膜的强度之间没有关联，而在较后的识字暴露组中，词汇发育与弓形筋膜的强度之间无显着关联。进一步的回归分析表明，识字暴露的年龄调节了词汇发展与左弓形筋膜结构之间的关系。具体而言，在较早的识字暴露组中，词汇发展与弓形筋膜的强度之间没有关联，而在较后的识字暴露组中，词汇发育与弓形筋膜的强度之间无显着关联。进一步的回归分析表明，识字暴露的年龄调节了词汇发展与左弓形筋膜结构之间的关系。具体而言，在较早的识字暴露组中，词汇发展与弓形筋膜的强度之间没有关联，而在较后的识字暴露组中，词汇发育与弓形筋膜的强度之间无显着关联。