# Intergenerational Neuroimaging of Language and Reading Networks Using a Natural Cross-Fostering Design

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT STORRS · 2022 · $645,237

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
The main objective of the proposed research is to examine, for the first time, intergenerational transmission of
human brain networks using a natural cross-fostering design. We take reading-related brain networks, in
particular those related to phonological and orthographic processing (as well as in language- and more
preliminarily in math-related processes), as model systems because of the potentially differential impact of
genetic and environmental factors on these networks and corresponding behavioral phenotypes. In addition,
impairment of these neurocognitive processes is associated with specific learning disorder of word reading
(aka decoding-based reading disorder [RD] or developmental dyslexia) that has a lifetime prevalence of 5-
10%, and an increased risk of the offspring developing RD by 4 to 8 times the general population with an
immediate family member with RD. The proposed natural cross-fostering design addresses a critical question
about the mechanisms of intergenerational effects, i.e., whether they are genetic (G), prenatal (PreE) or
postnatal environmental (PostE) in origin. This is only now possible with the widespread availability of in-vitro
fertilization (IVF). We will obtain cognitive measures, and functional and structural MRI, in healthy families
(triads) at a pace of 30 families per site per year. We will examine parent-offspring correlations, including brain-
brain correlations, across four groups of IVF children that receive distinctive G/PreE/PostE contributions from
their rearing parents as well as a fifth group of naturally conceived children (N=60 triads per group, with
children of ages 8-11, half with daughters and the other half with sons): (1) the HOMOLOGOUS group in which
offspring conceived through IVF are borne and reared by their genetic parents, thus being exposed to maternal
and paternal G/PreE/PostE influences; (2) the DONOR EGG and (3) DONOR SPERM groups, in which
offspring are conceived from donor eggs/sperm, and hence rearing mothers/fathers only have PreE/PostE, not
G, influence on their offspring; (4) the gestational SURROGACY group in which offspring are borne through
non-genetic, non-rearing mothers, and hence rearing parents only have G/PostE but no PreE influences over
their offspring; and (5) the NATURAL conception group in which naturally conceived offspring are borne and
reared by their genetic parents, thus being exposed to maternal and paternal G/PreE/PostE influences and
without the influence of IVF. Fathers’ PreE influence is typically considered minimal. The specific aims of the
proposal are: to examine parent-offspring (dyad) correlations, to examine the extent to which environmental and
genetic factors contribute to shared variance in reading- and language-related cognitive and neurobiological
processes, to examine parent-of-origin effects, and to dissociate G, PreE and PostE influences. A successful
outcome will establish a new paradigm for studying genetic and environmental in...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10403943
- **Project number:** 5R01HD094834-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT STORRS
- **Principal Investigator:** FUMIKO HOEFT
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $645,237
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-04-10 → 2025-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10403943

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10403943, Intergenerational Neuroimaging of Language and Reading Networks Using a Natural Cross-Fostering Design (5R01HD094834-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10403943. Licensed CC0.

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