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Roark CL, Thakkar V, Chandrasekaran B, Centanni TM. Auditory Category Learning in Children With Dyslexia. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2024; 67:974-988. [PMID: 38354099 PMCID: PMC11001431 DOI: 10.1044/2023_jslhr-23-00361] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2023] [Revised: 09/15/2023] [Accepted: 11/14/2023] [Indexed: 02/16/2024]
Abstract
PURPOSE Developmental dyslexia is proposed to involve selective procedural memory deficits with intact declarative memory. Recent research in the domain of category learning has demonstrated that adults with dyslexia have selective deficits in Information-Integration (II) category learning that is proposed to rely on procedural learning mechanisms and unaffected Rule-Based (RB) category learning that is proposed to rely on declarative, hypothesis testing mechanisms. Importantly, learning mechanisms also change across development, with distinct developmental trajectories in both procedural and declarative learning mechanisms. It is unclear how dyslexia in childhood should influence auditory category learning, a critical skill for speech perception and reading development. METHOD We examined auditory category learning performance and strategies in 7- to 12-year-old children with dyslexia (n = 25; nine females, 16 males) and typically developing controls (n = 25; 13 females, 12 males). Participants learned nonspeech auditory categories of spectrotemporal ripples that could be optimally learned with either RB selective attention to the temporal modulation dimension or procedural integration of information across spectral and temporal dimensions. We statistically compared performance using mixed-model analyses of variance and identified strategies using decision-bound computational models. RESULTS We found that children with dyslexia have an apparent selective RB category learning deficit, rather than a selective II learning deficit observed in prior work in adults with dyslexia. CONCLUSION These results suggest that the important skill of auditory category learning is impacted in children with dyslexia and throughout development, individuals with dyslexia may develop compensatory strategies that preserve declarative learning while developing difficulties in procedural learning. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.25148519.
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Affiliation(s)
- Casey L. Roark
- Department of Communication Science and Disorders, University of Pittsburgh, PA
- Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, PA
| | - Vishal Thakkar
- Department of Psychology, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth
| | - Bharath Chandrasekaran
- Department of Communication Science and Disorders, University of Pittsburgh, PA
- Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, PA
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Breadmore HL, Halliday LF, Carroll JM. Variability in auditory processing performance is associated with reading difficulties rather than with history of otitis media. DYSLEXIA (CHICHESTER, ENGLAND) 2024; 30:e1760. [PMID: 38262626 DOI: 10.1002/dys.1760] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2023] [Revised: 10/05/2023] [Accepted: 12/13/2023] [Indexed: 01/25/2024]
Abstract
The nature and cause of auditory processing deficits in dyslexic individuals have been debated for decades. Auditory processing deficits were argued to be the first step in a causal chain of difficulties, leading to difficulties in speech perception and thereby phonological processing and literacy difficulties. More recently, it has been argued that auditory processing difficulties may not be causally related to language and literacy difficulties. This study compares two groups who have phonological processing impairments for different reasons: dyslexia and a history of otitis media (OM). We compared their discrimination thresholds and response variability to chronological age- and reading age-matched controls, across three auditory processing tasks: frequency discrimination, rise-time discrimination and speech perception. Dyslexic children showed raised frequency discrimination thresholds in comparison with age-matched controls but did not differ from reading age-matched controls or individuals with a history of OM. There were no group differences on speech perception or rise-time tasks. For the dyslexic children, there was an association between phonological awareness and frequency discrimination response variability, but no association with thresholds. These findings are not consistent with a 'causal chain' explanation but could be accounted for within a multiple deficits view of literacy difficulties.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Lorna F Halliday
- Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London, UK
| | - Julia M Carroll
- Centre for Global Learning, Coventry University, Coventry, UK
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Qi T, Mandelli ML, Pereira CLW, Wellman E, Bogley R, Licata AE, Chang EF, Oganian Y, Gorno-Tempini ML. Anatomical and behavioral correlates of auditory perception in developmental dyslexia. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.05.09.539936. [PMID: 37214875 PMCID: PMC10197694 DOI: 10.1101/2023.05.09.539936] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
Developmental dyslexia (DD) is typically associated with difficulties in manipulating speech sounds and, sometimes, in basic auditory processing. However, the neuroanatomical correlates of auditory difficulties in DD and their contribution to individual clinical phenotypes are still unknown. Recent intracranial electrocorticography (ECoG) findings associated processing of sound amplitude rises and speech sounds with posterior and middle superior temporal gyrus (STG), respectively. We hypothesize that regional STG anatomy will relate to specific auditory abilities in DD and that auditory processing abilities will relate to behavioral difficulties. One hundred and ten children (78 DD, 32 typically developing, age 7-15 years) completed amplitude rise time (ART) and speech in noise discrimination (SiN) tasks. They also underwent a battery of cognitive tests. Anatomical MRI scans were used to identify regions in which local cortical gyrification complexity correlated with auditory tasks in DD. Behaviorally, ART but not SiN performance was impaired in DD. Neurally, ART and SiN performance correlated with gyrification in posterior STG and middle STG, respectively. Furthermore, ART significantly contributed to reading impairments in DD, while SiN explained variance in phonological awareness only. Finally, ART and SiN performance was not correlated, and each task was correlated with distinct neuropsychological measures, such that distinct DD subgroups could be identified. Overall, we provide a direct link between the neurodevelopment of the left STG and individual variability in auditory processing abilities in DD. The dissociation between speech and non-speech deficits supports distinct DD phenotypes and implicates different approaches to interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ting Qi
- Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, United States
- UCSF Dyslexia Center, University of California San Francisco, United States
| | - Maria Luisa Mandelli
- Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, United States
- UCSF Dyslexia Center, University of California San Francisco, United States
| | - Christa L. Watson Pereira
- Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, United States
- UCSF Dyslexia Center, University of California San Francisco, United States
| | - Emma Wellman
- Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, United States
- UCSF Dyslexia Center, University of California San Francisco, United States
| | - Rian Bogley
- Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, United States
- UCSF Dyslexia Center, University of California San Francisco, United States
| | - Abigail E. Licata
- Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, United States
- UCSF Dyslexia Center, University of California San Francisco, United States
| | - Edward F. Chang
- Department of Neurological Surgery, University of California San Francisco, United States
| | - Yulia Oganian
- Department of Neurological Surgery, University of California San Francisco, United States
- Center for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Maria Luisa Gorno-Tempini
- Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, United States
- UCSF Dyslexia Center, University of California San Francisco, United States
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Repeated series learning revisited with a novel prediction on the reduced effect of item frequency in dyslexia. Sci Rep 2022; 12:13521. [PMID: 35941176 PMCID: PMC9359986 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-16805-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2021] [Accepted: 07/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Developmental dyslexia, a difficulty with acquiring fluent reading, has also been characterized by reduced short-term memory (STM) capacity, which is often operationalized with span tasks. The low performance of individuals with dyslexia (IDDs) in such tasks is commonly attributed to poor phonological memory. However, we suggest an alternative explanation based on the observation that many times the items that are used in spans tasks are high-frequency items (e.g., digit words). We suggest that IDDs do not enjoy the benefit of item frequency to the same extent as controls, and thus their performance in span tasks is especially hampered. On the contrary, learning of repeated sequences was shown to be largely independent of item frequency, and therefore this type of learning may be unimpaired in dyslexia. To test both predictions, we used the Hebb-learning paradigm. We found that IDDs’ performance is especially poor compared to controls’ when high-frequency items are used, and that their repeated series learning does not differ from that of controls. Taken together with existing literature, our findings suggest that impaired learning of repeated series is not a core characteristic of dyslexia, and that the reports on reduced STM in dyslexia may to a large extent be explained by reduced benefit of item frequency.
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Ozernov-Palchik O, Beach SD, Brown M, Centanni TM, Gaab N, Kuperberg G, Perrachione TK, Gabrieli JDE. Speech-specific perceptual adaptation deficits in children and adults with dyslexia. J Exp Psychol Gen 2022; 151:1556-1572. [PMID: 34843363 PMCID: PMC9148384 DOI: 10.1037/xge0001145] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
According to several influential theoretical frameworks, phonological deficits in dyslexia result from reduced sensitivity to acoustic cues that are essential for the development of robust phonemic representations. Some accounts suggest that these deficits arise from impairments in rapid auditory adaptation processes that are either speech-specific or domain-general. Here, we examined the specificity of auditory adaptation deficits in dyslexia using a nonlinguistic tone anchoring (adaptation) task and a linguistic selective adaptation task in children and adults with and without dyslexia. Children and adults with dyslexia had elevated tone-frequency discrimination thresholds, but both groups benefited from anchoring to repeated stimuli to the same extent as typical readers. Additionally, although both dyslexia groups had overall reduced accuracy for speech sound identification, only the child group had reduced categorical perception for speech. Across both age groups, individuals with dyslexia had reduced perceptual adaptation to speech. These results highlight broad auditory perceptual deficits across development in individuals with dyslexia for both linguistic and nonlinguistic domains, but speech-specific adaptation deficits. Finally, mediation models in children and adults revealed that the causal pathways from basic perception and adaptation to phonological awareness through speech categorization were not significant. Thus, rather than having causal effects, perceptual deficits may co-occur with the phonological deficits in dyslexia across development. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
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Affiliation(s)
- Ola Ozernov-Palchik
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
- Harvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Sara D. Beach
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
- Program in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Meredith Brown
- Department of Psychology, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Tracy M. Centanni
- Department of Psychology, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas, USA
| | - Nadine Gaab
- Harvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Gina Kuperberg
- Department of Psychology, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Tyler K. Perrachione
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - John D. E. Gabrieli
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
- Program in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
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