Differences in spatiotemporal brain network dynamics of Montessori and traditionally schooled students.
Paola Zanchi, Emeline Mullier, Eleonora Fornari, Priscille Guerrier de Dumast, Yasser Alemán-Gómez, Jean-Baptiste Ledoux, Roger Beaty, Patric Hagmann, Solange Denervaud
Author Information
Paola Zanchi: Department of Radiology, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne (CHUV-UNIL), Lausanne, Switzerland. ORCID
Emeline Mullier: Department of Radiology, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne (CHUV-UNIL), Lausanne, Switzerland.
Eleonora Fornari: Department of Radiology, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne (CHUV-UNIL), Lausanne, Switzerland.
Priscille Guerrier de Dumast: Department of Radiology, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne (CHUV-UNIL), Lausanne, Switzerland. ORCID
Yasser Alemán-Gómez: Department of Radiology, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne (CHUV-UNIL), Lausanne, Switzerland.
Jean-Baptiste Ledoux: Department of Radiology, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne (CHUV-UNIL), Lausanne, Switzerland. ORCID
Roger Beaty: Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, TX, USA. ORCID
Patric Hagmann: Department of Radiology, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne (CHUV-UNIL), Lausanne, Switzerland.
Solange Denervaud: Department of Radiology, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne (CHUV-UNIL), Lausanne, Switzerland. solange.denervaud@epfl.ch. ORCID
Across development, experience has a strong impact on the way we think and adapt. School experience affects academic and social-emotional outcomes, yet whether differences in pedagogical experience modulate underlying brain network development is still unknown. In this study, we compared the brain network dynamics of students with different pedagogical backgrounds. Specifically, we characterized the diversity and stability of brain activity at rest by combining both resting-state fMRI and diffusion-weighted structural imaging data of 87 4-18 years old students experiencing either the Montessori pedagogy (i.e., student-led, trial-and-error pedagogy) or the traditional pedagogy (i.e., teacher-led, test-based pedagogy). Our results revealed spatiotemporal brain dynamics differences between students as a function of schooling experience at the whole-brain level. Students from Montessori schools showed overall higher functional integration (higher system diversity) and neural stability (lower spatiotemporal diversity) compared to traditionally schooled students. Higher integration was explained mainly through the cerebellar (CBL) functional network. In contrast, higher temporal stability was observed in the ventral attention, dorsal attention, somatomotor, frontoparietal, and CBL functional networks. This study suggests a form of experience-dependent dynamic functional connectivity plasticity, in learning-related networks.
References
Front Neuroinform. 2011 Aug 22;5:13
[PMID: 21897815]
