The VWFA: it's not just for words anymore

White matter microstructure integrity in relation to reading proficiency☆

Components of reading proficiency such asaccuracy, fluency, and comprehension require the successful coordination of numerous, yet distinct, cortical regions. Underlying white matter tracts allow for communication among these regions. This study utilized unique residualized tract - based spatial statistics methodology to identify the relations of white matter microstructure integrity to three components of reading proficiency in 49 school - aged children with typically developing phonological decoding skills and 27 readers with poor decoders. Results indicated that measures of white matter integrity were differentially associated with components of reading proficiency. In both typical and poor decoders, reading comprehension correlated with measures of integrity of the right uncinate fasciculus; reading comprehension was also related to the left inferior longitudinal fasciculus in poor decoders. Also in poor decoders, word reading fluency was related to the right uncinate and left inferior fronto - occipital fasciculi. Word reading was unrelated to white matter integrity in either group. These findings expand our knowledge of the association between white matter integrity and different elements of reading proficiency.

Perceptual integration and attention in human extrastriate cortex

Visual crowding is a perceptual phenomenon with far-reaching implications in both perceptual (e.g., object recognition and reading) and clinical (e.g., developmental dyslexia and visual agnosia) domains. Here, we combined event-related fMRI measurements and wide-field brain mapping methods to investigate whether the BOLD response evoked by visual crowding is modulated by different attentional conditions. Participants underwent two sessions of psychophysical training outside the scanner, and then fMRI BOLD activity was measured simultaneously in early visual areas (including the visual word form area, VWFA), while they viewed strongly-crowded and weakly-crowded Gabor patches in attended and unattended conditions. We found that crowding increased BOLD activity in a network of areas including V1, V2, V3A, V4/V8, and VWFA. In V4/V8 and VWFA we found an increased activity related to attention. The effect of crowding in V1 was recorded only when attention was fully devoted to the target location. Our results provide evidence that some area beyond V1 might be the likely candidate for the site of crowding, thus supporting the view of visual crowding as a mid-level visual phenomenon.

Neural activation patterns and connectivity in visual attention during Number and Non-number processing: An ERP study using the Ishihara pseudoisochromatic plates

Visual cognitive function is important to build up executive function in daily life. Perception of visual Number form (e.g., Arabic digit) and numerosity (magnitude of the Number) is of interest to cognitive neuroscientists. Neural correlates and the functional measurement of Number representations are complex occurrences when their semantic categories are assimilated with other concepts of shape and colour. Colour perception can be processed further to modulate visual cognition. The Ishihara pseudoisochromatic plates are one of the best and most common screening tools for basic red-green colour vision testing. However, there is a lack of study of visual cognitive function assessment using these pseudoisochromatic plates. We recruited 25 healthy normal trichromat volunteers and extended these studies using a 128-sensor net to record event-related EEG. Subjects were asked to respond by pressing Numbered buttons when they saw the Number and Non-number plates of the Ishihara colour vision test. Amplitudes and latencies of N100 and P300 event related potential (ERP) components were analysed from 19 electrode sites in the international 10-20 system. A brain topographic map, cortical activation patterns and Granger causation (effective connectivity) were analysed from 128 electrode sites. No major significant differences between N100 ERP components in either stimulus indicate early selective attention processing was similar for Number and Non-number plate stimuli, but Non-number plate stimuli evoked significantly higher amplitudes, longer latencies of the P300 ERP component with a slower reaction time compared to Number plate stimuli imply the allocation of attentional load was more in Non-number plate processing. A different pattern of asymmetric scalp voltage map was noticed for P300 components with a higher intensity in the left hemisphere for Number plate tasks and higher intensity in the right hemisphere for Non-number plate tasks. Asymmetric cortical activation and connectivity patterns revealed that Number recognition occurred in the occipital and left frontal areas where as the consequence was limited to the occipital area during the Non-number plate processing. Finally, the results displayed that the visual recognition of Numbers dissociates from the recognition of Non-numbers at the level of defined neural networks. Number recognition was not only a process of visual perception and attention, but it was also related to a higher level of cognitive function, that of language.

Neuropsychology of Learning Disabilities: The Past and the Future

Over the past 50 years, research on children and adults with learning disabilities has seen significant advances. Neuropsychological research historically focused on the administration of tests sensitive to brain dysfunction to identify putative neural mechanisms underlying learning disabilities that would serve as the basis for treatment. Led by research on classifying and identifying learning disabilities, four pivotal changes in research paradigms have produced a contemporary scientific, interdisciplinary, and international understanding of these disabilities. These changes are (1) the emergence of cognitive science, (2) the development of quantitative and molecular genetics, (3) the advent of noninvasive structural and functional neuroimaging, and (4) experimental trials of interventions focused on improving academic skills and addressing comorbid conditions. Implications for practice indicate a need to move neuropsychological assessment away from a primary focus on systematic, comprehensive assessment of cognitive skills toward more targeted performance-based assessments of academic achievement, comorbid conditions, and intervention response that lead directly to evidence-based treatment plans. Future research will continue to cross disciplinary boundaries to address questions regarding the interaction of neurobiological and contextual variables, the importance of individual differences in treatment response, and an expanded research base on (a) the most severe cases, (b) older people with LDs, and (c) domains of math problem solving, reading comprehension, and written expression. (JINS, 2017, 23, 930-940).

Familial history of reading difficulty is associated with diffused bilateral brain activation during reading and greater association with visual attention abilities

Reading difficulty (RD; or dyslexia) is a heritable condition characterized by slow, inaccurate reading accompanied by executive dysfunction, specifically with respect to visual attention. The current study was designed to examine the effect of familial history of RD on the relationship between reading and visual attention abilities in children with RD using a functional MRI reading task. Seventy-one children with RD participated in the study. Based on parental reports of the existence of RD in one or both of each child's parents, children with RD were divided into two groups: (1) those with a familial history of RD and (2) those without a familial history of RD. Reading and visual attention measures were collected from all participants. Functional MRI data during word reading was acquired in 30 participants of the entire cohort. Children with or without a familial history of RD demonstrated below-average reading and visual attention scores, with greater interaction between these measures in the group with a familial history of RD. Greater bilateral and diffused activation during word reading also were found in this group. We suggest that a familial history of RD is related to greater association between lower reading abilities and visual attention abilities. Parental history of RD therefore may be an important preschool screener (before reading age) to prompt early intervention focused on executive functions and reading-related skills.

Development of sensitivity versus specificity for print in the visual word form area

An area near the left lateral occipito-temporal sulcus that responds preferentially to print has been designated as the visual word form area (VWFA). Research suggests that specialization in this brain region increases as reading expertise is achieved. Here we aimed to characterize that development in terms of sensitivity (response to printed words relative to non-linguistic faces) versus specificity (response to printed words versus line drawings of nameable objects) in typically reading children ages 7-14 versus young adults as measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Relative to adults, children displayed equivalent sensitivity but reduced specificity. These findings suggest that sensitivity for print relative to non-linguistic stimuli develops relatively early in the VWFA in the course of reading development, but that specificity for printed words in VWFA is still developing through at least age 14.

Reading related white matter structures in adolescents are influenced more by dysregulation of emotion than behavior

Mood disorders and behavioral are broad psychiatric diagnostic categories that have different symptoms and neurobiological mechanisms, but share some neurocognitive similarities, one of which is an elevated risk for reading deficit. Our aim was to determine the influence of mood versus behavioral dysregulation on reading ability and neural correlates supporting these skills in youth, using diffusion tensor imaging in 11- to 17-year-old children and youths with mood disorders or behavioral disorders and age-matched healthy controls. The three groups differed only in phonological processing and passage comprehension. Youth with mood disorders scored higher on the phonological test but had lower comprehension scores than children with behavioral disorders and controls; control participants scored the highest. Correlations between fractional anisotropy and phonological processing in the left Arcuate Fasciculus showed a significant difference between groups and were strongest in behavioral disorders, intermediate in mood disorders, and lowest in controls. Correlations between these measures in the left Inferior Longitudinal Fasciculus were significantly greater than in controls for mood but not for behavioral disorders. Youth with mood disorders share a deficit in the executive-limbic pathway (Arcuate Fasciculus) with behavioral-disordered youth, suggesting reduced capacity for engaging frontal regions for phonological processing or passage comprehension tasks and increased reliance on the ventral tract (e.g., the Inferior Longitudinal Fasciculus). The low passage comprehension scores in mood disorder may result from engaging the left hemisphere. Neural pathways for reading differ mainly in executive-limbic circuitry. This new insight may aid clinicians in providing appropriate intervention for each disorder.

An fMRI study of visual hemifield integration and cerebral lateralization

The human brain integrates hemifield-split visual information via interhemispheric transfer. The degree to which neural circuits involved in this process behave differently during word recognition as compared to object recognition is not known. Evidence from neuroimaging (fMRI) suggests that interhemispheric transfer during word viewing converges in the left hemisphere, in two distinct brain areas, an "occipital word form area" (OWFA) and a more anterior occipitotemporal "visual word form area" (VWFA). We used a novel fMRI half-field repetition technique to test whether or not these areas also integrate nonverbal hemifield-split string stimuli of similar visual complexity. We found that the fMRI responses of both the OWFA and VWFA while viewing nonverbal stimuli were strikingly different than those measured during word viewing, especially with respect to half-stimulus changes restricted to a single hemifield. We conclude that normal reading relies on left-lateralized neural mechanisms, which integrate hemifield-split visual information for words but not for nonverbal stimuli.

How to create a successful reader? Milestones in reading development from birth to adolescence

Reading is one of the most important academic abilities that establishes the foundation for a child's success in school. Therefore, early and accurate diagnosis of reading challenges is crucial for prevention of later academic failure. One challenge in early detection of reading difficulties is that the ability to read typically is acquired explicitly when a child is four to six years of age. However, reading ability relies on development of more basic abilities prior to reading acquisition, starting from birth.

CONCLUSION

Language, cognitive control and literacy milestones can be evaluated and trained from birth to better acquire reading later in life.

Comprehending text versus reading words in young readers with varying reading ability: distinct patterns of functional connectivity from common processing hubs

Skilled reading depends on recognizing words efficiently in isolation (word-level processing; WL) and extracting meaning from text (discourse-level processing; DL); deficiencies in either result in poor reading. FMRI has revealed consistent overlapping networks in word and passage reading, as well as unique regions for DL processing; however, less is known about how WL and DL processes interact. Here we examined functional connectivity from seed regions derived from where BOLD signal overlapped during word and passage reading in 38 adolescents ranging in reading ability, hypothesizing that even though certain regions support word- and higher-level language, connectivity patterns from overlapping regions would be task modulated. Results indeed revealed that the left-lateralized semantic and working memory (WM) seed regions showed task-dependent functional connectivity patterns: during DL processes, semantic and WM nodes all correlated with the left angular gyrus, a region implicated in semantic memory/coherence building. In contrast, during WL, these nodes coordinated with a traditional WL area (left occipitotemporal region). In addition, these WL and DL findings were modulated by decoding and comprehension abilities, respectively, with poorer abilities correlating with decreased connectivity. Findings indicate that key regions may uniquely contribute to multiple levels of reading; we speculate that these connectivity patterns may be especially salient for reading outcomes and intervention response.

Massive cortical reorganization in sighted Braille readers

The brain is capable of large-scale reorganization in blindness or after massive injury. Such reorganization crosses the division into separate sensory cortices (visual, somatosensory...). As its result, the visual cortex of the blind becomes active during tactile Braille reading. Although the possibility of such reorganization in the normal, adult brain has been raised, definitive evidence has been lacking. Here, we demonstrate such extensive reorganization in normal, sighted adults who learned Braille while their brain activity was investigated with fMRI and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Subjects showed enhanced activity for tactile reading in the visual cortex, including the visual word form area (VWFA) that was modulated by their Braille reading speed and strengthened resting-state connectivity between visual and somatosensory cortices. Moreover, TMS disruption of VWFA activity decreased their tactile reading accuracy. Our results indicate that large-scale reorganization is a viable mechanism recruited when learning complex skills.

DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.10762.001

According to most textbooks, our brain is divided into separate areas that are dedicated to specific senses. We have a visual cortex for vision, a tactile cortex for touch, and so on. However, researchers suspect that this division might not be as fixed as the textbooks say. For example, blind people can switch their 'leftover' visual cortex to non-visual purposes, such as reading Braille – a tactile alphabet.

Can this switch in functional organization also happen in healthy people with normal vision? To investigate this, Siuda-Krzywicka, Bola et al. taught a group of healthy, sighted people to read Braille by touch, and monitored the changes in brain activity that this caused using a technique called functional magnetic resonance imaging. According to textbooks, tactile reading should engage the tactile cortex. Yet, the experiment revealed that the brain activity critical for reading Braille by touch did not occur in the volunteers’ tactile cortex, but in their visual cortex.

Further experiments used a technique called transcranial magnetic stimulation to suppress the activity of the visual cortex of the volunteers. This impaired their ability to read Braille by touch. This is a clear-cut proof that sighted adults can re-program their visual cortex for non-visual, tactile purposes.

These results show that intensive training in a complex task can overcome the sensory division-of-labor of our brain. This indicates that our brain is much more flexible than previously thought, and that such flexibility might occur when we learn everyday, complex skills such as driving a car or playing a musical instrument.

The next question that follows from this work is: what enables the brain’s activity to change after learning to read Braille? To understand this, Siuda-Krzywicka, Bola et al. are currently exploring how the physical structure of the brain changes as a result of a person acquiring the ability to read Braille by touch.

DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.10762.002

Right is not always wrong: DTI and fMRI evidence for the reliance of reading comprehension on language-comprehension networks in the right hemisphere

The Simple View theory suggests that reading comprehension relies on automatic recognition of words combined with language comprehension. The goal of the current study was to examine the structural and functional connectivity in networks supporting reading comprehension and their relationship with language comprehension within 7-9 year old children using Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) and fMRI during a Sentence Picture Matching task. Fractional Anisotropy (FA) values in the left and right Inferior Longitudinal Fasciculus (ILF) and Superior Longitudinal Fasciculus (SLF), known language-related tracts, were correlated from DTI data with scores from the Woodcock-Johnson III (WJ-III) Passage Comprehension sub-test. Brodmann areas most proximal to white-matter regions with significant correlation to Passage Comprehension scores were chosen as Regions-of-Interest (ROIs) and used as seeds in a functional connectivity analysis using the Sentence Picture Matching task. The correlation between percentile scores for the WJ-III Passage Comprehension subtest and the FA values in the right and left ILF and SLF indicated positive correlation in language-related ROIs, with greater distribution in the right hemisphere, which in turn showed strong connectivity in the fMRI data from the Sentence Picture Matching task. These results support the participation of the right hemisphere in reading comprehension and may provide physiologic support for a distinction between different types of reading comprehension deficits vs difficulties in technical reading.

Visual Cortical Representation of Whole Words and Hemifield-split Word Parts

Reading requires the neural integration of visual word form information that is split between our retinal hemifields. We examined multiple visual cortical areas involved in this process by measuring fMRI responses while observers viewed words that changed or repeated in one or both hemifields. We were specifically interested in identifying brain areas that exhibit decreased fMRI responses as a result of repeated versus changing visual word form information in each visual hemifield. Our method yielded highly significant effects of word repetition in a previously reported visual word form area (VWFA) in occipitotemporal cortex, which represents hemifield-split words as whole units. We also identified a more posterior occipital word form area (OWFA), which represents word form information in the right and left hemifields independently and is thus both functionally and anatomically distinct from the VWFA. Both the VWFA and the OWFA were left-lateralized in our study and strikingly symmetric in anatomical location relative to known face-selective visual cortical areas in the right hemisphere. Our findings are consistent with the observation that category-selective visual areas come in pairs and support the view that neural mechanisms in left visual cortex—especially those that evolved to support the visual processing of faces—are developmentally malleable and become incorporated into a left-lateralized visual word form network that supports rapid word recognition and reading.

Language at rest: A longitudinal study of intrinsic functional connectivity in preterm children

BACKGROUND

Preterm (PT) children show early cognitive and language deficits and display altered cortical connectivity for language compared to term (T) children. Developmentally, functional connectivity networks become more segregated and integrated, through the weakening of short-range and strengthening of long-range connections.

METHODS

Longitudinal intrinsic connectivity distribution (ICD) values were assessed in PT (n = 13) compared to T children (n = 12) at ages 8 vs. 16 using a Linear Mixed Effects model. Connectivity values in regions generated by the group × age interaction analysis were then correlated to scores on full IQ (FSIQ), verbal IQ (VIQ), verbal comprehension IQ (VCIQ), performance IQ (PIQ), Peabody picture vocabulary test-revised (PPVT-R), and Rapid Naming Composite (RDRL_Cmp).

RESULTS

Nine regions were generated by the group × age interaction analysis. PT connectivity significantly increased over time in all but two regions, and they ultimately displayed greater relative connectivity at age 16 than Ts in all areas except the left occipito-temporal cortex (OTC). PTs underwent significant connectivity reductions in the left OTC, which corresponded with worse performance on FSIQ, VIQ, and PIQ. These findings differed from Ts, who did not undergo any significant changes in connectivity over time.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggest that the developmental alterations in connectivity in PT children at adolescence are both pervasive and widespread. The persistent and worsening cognitive and language deficits noted in the PT subjects may be attributed to the loss of connections in the left OTC.

Increased Resting-State Functional Connectivity in the Cingulo-Opercular Cognitive-Control Network after Intervention in Children with Reading Difficulties

Dyslexia, or reading difficulty, is characterized by slow, inaccurate reading accompanied by executive dysfunction. Reading training using the Reading Acceleration Program improves reading and executive functions in both children with dyslexia and typical readers. This improvement is associated with increased activation in and functional connectivity between the anterior cingulate cortex, part of the cingulo-opercular cognitive-control network, and the fusiform gyrus during a reading task after training. The objective of the current study was to determine whether the training also has an effect on functional connectivity of the cingulo-opercular and fronto-parietal cognitive-control networks during rest in children with dyslexia and typical readers. Fifteen children with reading difficulty and 17 typical readers (8-12 years old) were included in the study. Reading and executive functions behavioral measures and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data were collected before and after reading training. Imaging data were analyzed using a graphical network-modeling tool. Both reading groups had increased reading and executive-functions scores after training, with greater gains among the dyslexia group. Training may have less effect on cognitive control in typical readers and a more direct effect on the visual area, as previously reported. Statistical analysis revealed that compared to typical readers, children with reading difficulty had significantly greater functional connectivity in the cingulo-opercular network after training, which may demonstrate the importance of cognitive control during reading in this population. These results support previous findings of increased error-monitoring activation after reading training in children with dyslexia and confirm greater gains with training in this group.

Increased resting-state functional connectivity of visual- and cognitive-control brain networks after training in children with reading difficulties

The Reading Acceleration Program, a computerized reading-training program, increases activation in neural circuits related to reading. We examined the effect of the training on the functional connectivity between independent components related to visual processing, executive functions, attention, memory, and language during rest after the training. Children 8-12 years old with reading difficulties and typical readers participated in the study. Behavioral testing and functional magnetic resonance imaging were performed before and after the training. Imaging data were analyzed using an independent component analysis approach. After training, both reading groups showed increased single-word contextual reading and reading comprehension scores. Greater positive correlations between the visual-processing component and the executive functions, attention, memory, or language components were found after training in children with reading difficulties. Training-related increases in connectivity between the visual and attention components and between the visual and executive function components were positively correlated with increased word reading and reading comprehension, respectively. Our findings suggest that the effect of the Reading Acceleration Program on basic cognitive domains can be detected even in the absence of an ongoing reading task.

From emergent literacy to reading: how learning to read changes a child's brain

The ability to comprehend language is uniquely human. Behavioural and neuroimaging data reinforce the importance of intact oral language as foundational for the establishment of proficient reading. However, proficient reading is achieved not only via intact biological systems, but also a stimulating Home Literacy Environment.

CONCLUSION

Behavioural and neuroimaging correlates for linguistic ability and literacy exposure support the engagement of neural circuits related to reading acquisition.

Greater functional connectivity between reading and error-detection regions following training with the reading acceleration program in children with reading difficulties

The Reading Acceleration Program is a computerized program that improves reading and the activation of the error-detection mechanism in individuals with reading difficulty (RD) and typical readers (TRs). The current study aims to find the neural correlates for this effect in English-speaking 8-12-year-old children with RD and TRs using a functional connectivity analysis. Functional magnetic resonance imaging data were collected during a lexical decision task before and after 4 weeks of training with the program, together with reading and executive functions measures. Results indicated improvement in reading, visual attention, and speed of processing in children with RD. Following training, greater functional connectivity was observed between the left fusiform gyrus and the right anterior cingulate cortex in children with RD and between the left fusiform gyrus and the left anterior cingulate cortex in TRs. The change in functional connectivity after training was correlated with increased behavioral scores for word reading and visual attention in both groups. The results support previous findings of improved monitoring and mental lexicon after training with the Reading Acceleration Program in children with RD and TRs. The differences in laterality of the anterior cingulate cortex in children with RD and the presumable role of the cingulo-opercular control network in language processing are discussed.

Review of neural rehabilitation programs for dyslexia: how can an allophonic system be changed into a phonemic one?

Neural investigations suggest that there are three possible core deficits in dyslexia: phonemic, grapho-phonemic, and graphemic. These investigations also suggest that the phonemic deficit resides in a different mode of speech perception which is based on allophonic (subphonemic) units rather than phonemic units. Here we review the results of remediation methods that tap into each of these core deficits, and examine how the methods that tap into the phonemic deficit might contribute to the remediation of allophonic perception. Remediation of grapho-phonemic deficiencies with a new computerized phonics training program (GraphoGame) might be able to surpass the limits of classical phonics training programs, particularly with regard to reading fluency. Remediation of visuo-graphemic deficiencies through exposure to enhanced letter spacing is also promising, although children with dyslexia continued to read more slowly than typical readers after this type of training. Remediation of phonemic deficiencies in dyslexia with programs based solely on phonemic awareness has a limited impact on reading. This might be due to the persistence of a covert deficit in phonemic perception. Methods based on slowed speech enhance the perception not only of phonemic features but also of allophonic features, and this is probably why they have not been found to be effective in meta-analyses. Training of phonemic perception with a perceptual fading paradigm, a method that improves precision in identification and discrimination around phonemic boundaries, has yielded promising results. However, studies with children at risk for dyslexia and dyslexic adults have found that even when behavioral data do not reflect allophonic perception, it can nevertheless be present in neural recordings. Further investigations should seek to confirm that the perceptual fading paradigm is beneficial for reading, and that it renders perception truly phonemic.

Neurobiology of dyslexia

Dyslexia is one of the most common learning disabilities, yet its brain basis and core causes are not yet fully understood. Neuroimaging methods, including structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging, diffusion tensor imaging, and electrophysiology, have significantly contributed to knowledge about the neurobiology of dyslexia. Recent studies have discovered brain differences before formal instruction that likely encourage or discourage learning to read effectively, distinguished between brain differences that likely reflect the etiology of dyslexia versus brain differences that are the consequences of variation in reading experience, and identified distinct neural networks associated with specific psychological factors that are associated with dyslexia.

Greater Utilization of Neural-Circuits Related to Executive Functions is Associated with Better Reading: A Longitudinal fMRI Study Using the Verb Generation Task

INTRODUCTION

Reading is an acquired-developmental ability that relies on intact language and executive function skills. Verbal fluency tasks (such as verb generation) also engage language and executive function skills. Performance of such tasks matures with normal language development, and is independent of reading proficiency. In this longitudinal fMRI study, we aim to examine the association between maturation of neural-circuits supporting both executive functions and language (assessed using verb generation) with reading proficiency achieved in adolescence with a focus on left-lateralization typical for language proficiency.

METHODS

Normalized fMRI data from the verb generation task was collected from 16 healthy children at ages 7, 11, and 17 years and was correlated with reading scores at 17 years of age. Lateralization indices were calculated in key language, reading, and executive function-related regions in all age groups.

RESULTS

Typical development was associated with (i) increasingly left-lateralized patterns in language regions (ii) more profound left-lateralized activation for reading and executive function-related regions when correlating with reading scores, (iii) greater involvement of frontal and parietal regions (in older children), and of the anterior frontal cortex (in younger children).

CONCLUSION

We suggest that reading and verb generation share mutual neural-circuits during development with major reliance on regions related to executive functions and reading. The results are discussed in the context of the dual-networks architecture model.

Functional neuroanatomy of developmental dyslexia: the role of orthographic depth

Orthographic depth (OD) (i.e., the complexity, consistency, or transparency of grapheme-phoneme correspondences in written alphabetic language) plays an important role in the acquisition of reading skills. Correspondingly, developmental dyslexia is characterized by different behavioral manifestations across languages varying in OD. This review focuses on the question of whether these different behavioral manifestations are associated with different functional neuroanatomical manifestations. It provides a review and critique of cross-linguistic brain imaging studies of developmental dyslexia. In addition, it includes an analysis of state-of-the-art functional neuroanatomical models of developmental dyslexia together with orthography-specific predictions derived from these models. These predictions should be tested in future brain imaging studies of typical and atypical reading in order to refine the current neurobiological understanding of developmental dyslexia, especially with respect to orthography-specific and universal aspects.