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Navarrete-Arroyo S, Virtala P, Laasonen M, Kujala T. Infant neural speech encoding is associated with pre-reading skill development. Clin Neurophysiol 2024; 164:100-110. [PMID: 38852433 DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2024.05.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2024] [Revised: 05/13/2024] [Accepted: 05/28/2024] [Indexed: 06/11/2024]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE We longitudinally investigated whether infant P1 and N2 ERPs recorded in newborns and at 28 months could predict pre-reading skills at 28 months and 4-5 years. METHODS We recorded ERPs to a pseudoword in newborns and at 28 months in a sample over-represented by infants with familial dyslexia risk. Using multiple linear regression models, we examined P1 and N2 associations with pre-reading skills at 28 months and 4-5 years. RESULTS Shorter latencies of the newborn P1 predicted faster serial naming at 28 months. Larger amplitudes and shorter latencies of P1 at 28 months predicted better serial naming abilities and auditory working memory across the pre-reading stage. Right-lateralized P1 and N2 were related to poorer pre-reading skills. CONCLUSIONS Infant ERPs, particularly P1, providing information about neural speech encoding abilities, are associated with pre-reading skill development. SIGNIFICANCE Infant and early childhood neural speech encoding abilities may work as early predictive markers of reading development and impairment. This study may help to plan early interventions targeting phonological processing to prevent or ameliorate learning deficits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sergio Navarrete-Arroyo
- Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland; Finnish Centre of Excellence in Music, Mind, Body and Brain, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland.
| | - Paula Virtala
- Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland; Finnish Centre of Excellence in Music, Mind, Body and Brain, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Marja Laasonen
- Department of Logopedics, School of Humanities, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland
| | - Teija Kujala
- Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland; Finnish Centre of Excellence in Music, Mind, Body and Brain, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland
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Tang X, Turesky TK, Escalante ES, Loh MY, Xia M, Yu X, Gaab N. Longitudinal associations between language network characteristics in the infant brain and school-age reading abilities are mediated by early-developing phonological skills. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2024; 68:101405. [PMID: 38875769 PMCID: PMC11225703 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2024.101405] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2023] [Revised: 04/30/2024] [Accepted: 06/06/2024] [Indexed: 06/16/2024] Open
Abstract
Reading acquisition is a prolonged learning process relying on language development starting in utero. Behavioral longitudinal studies reveal prospective associations between infant language abilities and preschool/kindergarten phonological development that relates to subsequent reading performance. While recent pediatric neuroimaging work has begun to characterize the neural network underlying language development in infants, how this neural network scaffolds long-term language and reading acquisition remains unknown. We addressed this question in a 7-year longitudinal study from infancy to school-age. Seventy-six infants completed resting-state fMRI scanning, and underwent standardized language assessments in kindergarten. Of this larger cohort, forty-one were further assessed on their emergent word reading abilities after receiving formal reading instructions. Hierarchical clustering analyses identified a modular infant language network in which functional connectivity (FC) of the inferior frontal module prospectively correlated with kindergarten-age phonological skills and emergent word reading abilities. These correlations were obtained when controlling for infant age at scan, nonverbal IQ and parental education. Furthermore, kindergarten-age phonological skills mediated the relationship between infant FC and school-age reading abilities, implying a critical mid-way milestone for long-term reading development from infancy. Overall, our findings illuminate the neurobiological mechanisms by which infant language capacities could scaffold long-term reading acquisition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xinyi Tang
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Ted K Turesky
- Harvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | - Elizabeth S Escalante
- Harvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA
| | - Megan Yf Loh
- Harvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | - Mingrui Xia
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Xi Yu
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
| | - Nadine Gaab
- Harvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
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3
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Ortiz-Barajas MC. Predicting language outcome at birth. Front Hum Neurosci 2024; 18:1370572. [PMID: 39036813 PMCID: PMC11258996 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2024.1370572] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2024] [Accepted: 06/11/2024] [Indexed: 07/23/2024] Open
Abstract
Even though most children acquire language effortlessly, not all do. Nowadays, language disorders are difficult to diagnose before 3-4 years of age, because diagnosis relies on behavioral criteria difficult to obtain early in life. Using electroencephalography, I investigated whether differences in newborns' neural activity when listening to sentences in their native language (French) and a rhythmically different unfamiliar language (English) relate to measures of later language development at 12 and 18 months. Here I show that activation differences in the theta band at birth predict language comprehension abilities at 12 and 18 months. These findings suggest that a neural measure of language discrimination at birth could be used in the early identification of infants at risk of developmental language disorders.
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Sun Y, Luo X. A mapping-knowledge-domain analysis of ERP research on language processing. Front Hum Neurosci 2024; 18:1352753. [PMID: 38933147 PMCID: PMC11199875 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2024.1352753] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2023] [Accepted: 05/30/2024] [Indexed: 06/28/2024] Open
Abstract
The event-related potentials (ERPs) technique represents a newly developed methodology in cognitive neuroscience and has significantly extended the scope of linguistic studies, offering valuable insights into cognitive processes related to language. While extant literature reviews have addressed specific facets of ERP research on language processing, a comprehensive overview of this domain remains notably absent. This study aims to fill this gap by pioneering a mapping-knowledge-domain analysis of ERP research on language processing using Citespace, a visualized bibliometric software. The current study conducted a meticulous survey and evaluation of relevant literature extracted from the Web of Science core collection. Initially, this study outlines the spatial-temporal distribution within this domain. Subsequently, employing document co-citation analysis, keyword co-occurrence analysis, cluster analysis, and burst detection analysis, this study delved deeper into the research landscape. Findings reveal that key areas in ERP research on language processing predominantly focus on sentence comprehension, reading comprehension, and mismatch negativity, with notable emphasis on topics such as speech perception, temporal dynamics, and working memory. The current study advocates for future investigations to concentrate on larger linguistic units, explore the integration of ERP components and their functional significance, and scrutinize individual differences among participants. These directions are imperative for advancing the understanding of language processing mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Xiaoyang Luo
- Center for Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
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5
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Tang X, Turesky TK, Escalante ES, Loh MY, Xia M, Yu X, Gaab N. Longitudinal associations between language network characteristics in the infant brain and school-age reading abilities are mediated by early-developing phonological skills. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2023.06.22.546194. [PMID: 38895379 PMCID: PMC11185523 DOI: 10.1101/2023.06.22.546194] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/21/2024]
Abstract
Reading acquisition is a prolonged learning process relying on language development starting in utero. Behavioral longitudinal studies reveal prospective associations between infant language abilities and preschool/kindergarten phonological development that relates to subsequent reading performance. While recent pediatric neuroimaging work has begun to characterize the neural network underlying language development in infants, how this neural network scaffolds long-term language and reading acquisition remains unknown. We addressed this question in a 7-year longitudinal study from infancy to school-age. Seventy-six infants completed resting-state fMRI scanning, and underwent standardized language assessments in kindergarten. Of this larger cohort, forty-one were further assessed on their emergent word reading abilities after receiving formal reading instructions. Hierarchical clustering analyses identified a modular infant language network in which functional connectivity (FC) of the inferior frontal module prospectively correlated with kindergarten-age phonological skills and emergent word reading abilities. These correlations were obtained when controlling for infant age at scan, nonverbal IQ and parental education. Furthermore, kindergarten-age phonological skills mediated the relationship between infant FC and school-age reading abilities, implying a critical mid-way milestone for long-term reading development from infancy. Overall, our findings illuminate the neurobiological mechanisms by which infant language capacities could scaffold long-term reading acquisition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xinyi Tang
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China, 100875
| | - Ted K. Turesky
- Harvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, 02138
| | - Elizabeth S. Escalante
- Harvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, 02138
| | - Megan Yf Loh
- Harvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, 02138
| | - Mingrui Xia
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China, 100875
| | - Xi Yu
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China, 100875
| | - Nadine Gaab
- Harvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, 02138
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Navarrete-Arroyo S, Virtala P, Nie P, Kailaheimo-Lönnqvist L, Salonen S, Kujala T. Infant mismatch responses to speech-sound changes predict language development in preschoolers at risk for dyslexia. Clin Neurophysiol 2024; 162:248-261. [PMID: 38492973 DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2024.02.032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2023] [Revised: 02/07/2024] [Accepted: 02/23/2024] [Indexed: 03/18/2024]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE We investigated how infant mismatch responses (MMRs), which have the potential for providing information on auditory discrimination abilities, could predict subsequent development of pre-reading skills and the risk for familial dyslexia. METHODS We recorded MMRs to vowel, duration, and frequency deviants in pseudo-words at birth and 28 months in a sample over-represented by infants with dyslexia risk. We examined MMRs' associations with pre-reading skills at 28 months and 4-5 years and compared the results in subgroups with vs. without dyslexia risk. RESULTS Larger positive MMR (P-MMR) at birth was found to be associated with better serial naming. In addition, increased mismatch negativity (MMN) and late discriminative negativity (LDN), and decreased P-MMR at 28 months overall, were shown to be related to better pre-reading skills. The associations were influenced by dyslexia risk, which was also linked to poor pre-reading skills. CONCLUSIONS Infant MMRs, providing information about the maturity of the auditory system, are associated with the development of pre-reading skills. Speech-processing deficits may contribute to deficits in language acquisition observed in dyslexia. SIGNIFICANCE Infant MMRs could work as predictive markers of atypical linguistic development during early childhood. Results may help in planning preventive and rehabilitation interventions in children at risk of learning impairments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sergio Navarrete-Arroyo
- Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland; Finnish Centre of Excellence in Music, Mind, Body and Brain, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland.
| | - Paula Virtala
- Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland; Finnish Centre of Excellence in Music, Mind, Body and Brain, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Peixin Nie
- Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland; Finnish Centre of Excellence in Music, Mind, Body and Brain, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Linda Kailaheimo-Lönnqvist
- Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Satu Salonen
- Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Teija Kujala
- Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland; Finnish Centre of Excellence in Music, Mind, Body and Brain, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland
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Couvignou M, Peyre H, Ramus F, Kolinsky R. Do early musical impairments predict later reading difficulties? A longitudinal study of pre-readers with and without familial risk for dyslexia. Dev Sci 2024:e13519. [PMID: 38679927 DOI: 10.1111/desc.13519] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2023] [Revised: 03/14/2024] [Accepted: 04/05/2024] [Indexed: 05/01/2024]
Abstract
The present longitudinal study investigated the hypothesis that early musical skills (as measured by melodic and rhythmic perception and memory) predict later literacy development via a mediating effect of phonology. We examined 130 French-speaking children, 31 of whom with a familial risk for developmental dyslexia (DD). Their abilities in the three domains were assessed longitudinally with a comprehensive battery of behavioral tests in kindergarten, first grade, and second grade. Using a structural equation modeling approach, we examined potential longitudinal effects from music to literacy via phonology. We then investigated how familial risk for DD may influence these relationships by testing whether atypical music processing is a risk factor for DD. Results showed that children with a familial risk for DD consistently underperformed children without familial risk in music, phonology, and literacy. A small effect of musical ability on literacy via phonology was observed, but may have been induced by differences in stability across domains over time. Furthermore, early musical skills did not add significant predictive power to later literacy difficulties beyond phonological skills and family risk status. These findings are consistent with the idea that certain key auditory skills are shared between music and speech processing, and between DD and congenital amusia. However, they do not support the notion that music perception and memory skills can serve as a reliable early marker of DD, nor as a valuable target for reading remediation. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Music, phonology, and literacy skills of 130 children, 31 of whom with a familial risk for dyslexia, were examined longitudinally. Children with a familial risk for dyslexia consistently underperformed children without familial risk in musical, phonological, and literacy skills. Structural equation models showed a small effect of musical ability in kindergarten on literacy in second grade, via phonology in first grade. However, early musical skills did not add significant predictive power to later literacy difficulties beyond phonological skills and family risk status.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manon Couvignou
- Unité de Recherche en Neurosciences Cognitives (Unescog), Center for Research in Cognition & Neurosciences (CRCN), Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium
- Department of Psychology, Centre for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Hugo Peyre
- Département d'Études Cognitives, Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Psycholinguistique, École Normale Supérieure, PSL University, EHESS, CNRS, Paris, France
- Autism Reference Centre of Languedoc-Roussillon CRA-LR, Excellence Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopmental disorders CeAND, Montpellier University Hospital, MUSE University, Montpellier, France
- CESP, INSERM U1178, Centre de recherche en Épidémiologie et Santé des Populations, Villejuif, France
| | - Franck Ramus
- Département d'Études Cognitives, Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Psycholinguistique, École Normale Supérieure, PSL University, EHESS, CNRS, Paris, France
| | - Régine Kolinsky
- Unité de Recherche en Neurosciences Cognitives (Unescog), Center for Research in Cognition & Neurosciences (CRCN), Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium
- Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique-FNRS (FRS-FNRS), Brussels, Belgium
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8
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Blockmans L, Kievit R, Wouters J, Ghesquière P, Vandermosten M. Dynamics of cognitive predictors during reading acquisition in a sample of children overrepresented for dyslexia risk. Dev Sci 2024; 27:e13412. [PMID: 37219071 DOI: 10.1111/desc.13412] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2022] [Revised: 04/07/2023] [Accepted: 05/09/2023] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
Literacy acquisition is a complex process with genetic and environmental factors influencing cognitive and neural processes associated with reading. Previous research identified factors that predict word reading fluency (WRF), including phonological awareness (PA), rapid automatized naming (RAN), and speech-in-noise perception (SPIN). Recent theoretical accounts suggest dynamic interactions between these factors and reading, but direct investigations of such dynamics are lacking. Here, we investigated the dynamic effect of phonological processing and speech perception on WRF. More specifically, we evaluated the dynamic influence of PA, RAN, and SPIN measured in kindergarten (the year prior to formal reading instruction), first grade (the first year of formal reading instruction) and second grade on WRF in second and third grade. We also assessed the effect of an indirect proxy of family risk for reading difficulties using a parental questionnaire (Adult Reading History Questionnaire, ARHQ). We applied path modeling in a longitudinal sample of 162 Dutch-speaking children of whom the majority was selected to have an increased family and/or cognitive risk for dyslexia. We showed that parental ARHQ had a significant effect on WRF, RAN and SPIN, but unexpectedly not on PA. We also found effects of RAN and PA directly on WRF that were limited to first and second grade respectively, in contrast to previous research reporting pre-reading PA effects and prolonged RAN effects throughout reading acquisition. Our study provides important new insights into early prediction of later word reading abilities and into the optimal time window to target a specific reading-related subskill during intervention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauren Blockmans
- Research Group ExpORL, Department of Neuroscience, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Rogier Kievit
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Jan Wouters
- Research Group ExpORL, Department of Neuroscience, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Pol Ghesquière
- Parenting and Special Education Research Unit, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Maaike Vandermosten
- Research Group ExpORL, Department of Neuroscience, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
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Paula V, Vesa P, Anastasia G, Anja T, Laurel J T, Teija K. Beneficial effects of a music listening intervention on neural speech processing in 0-28-month-old children at risk for dyslexia. Dev Sci 2023; 26:e13426. [PMID: 37350469 DOI: 10.1111/desc.13426] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2022] [Revised: 05/29/2023] [Accepted: 06/01/2023] [Indexed: 06/24/2023]
Abstract
Familial risk for developmental dyslexia can compromise auditory and speech processing and subsequent language and literacy development. According to the phonological deficit theory, supporting phonological development during the sensitive infancy period could prevent or ameliorate future dyslexic symptoms. Music is an established method for supporting auditory and speech processing and even language and literacy, but no previous studies have investigated its benefits for infants at risk for developmental language and reading disorders. We pseudo-randomized N∼150 infants at risk for dyslexia to vocal or instrumental music listening interventions at 0-6 months, or to a no-intervention control group. Music listening was used as an easy-to-administer, cost-effective intervention in early infancy. Mismatch responses (MMRs) elicited by speech-sound changes were recorded with electroencephalogram (EEG) before (at birth) and after (at 6 months) the intervention and at a 28 months follow-up. We expected particularly the vocal intervention to promote phonological development, evidenced by enhanced speech-sound MMRs and their fast maturation. We found enhanced positive MMR amplitudes in the vocal music listening intervention group after but not prior to the intervention. Other music activities reported by parents did not differ between the three groups, indicating that the group effects were attributable to the intervention. The results speak for the use of vocal music in early infancy to support speech processing and subsequent language development in infants at developmental risk. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Dyslexia-risk infants were pseudo-randomly assigned to a vocal or instrumental music listening intervention at home from birth to 6 months of age. Neural mismatch responses (MMRs) to speech-sound changes were enhanced in the vocal music intervention group after but not prior to the intervention. Even passive vocal music listening in early infancy can support phonological development known to be deficient in dyslexia-risk.
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Affiliation(s)
- Virtala Paula
- Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Centre of Excellence in Music, Mind, Body and Brain, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Putkinen Vesa
- Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Centre of Excellence in Music, Mind, Body and Brain, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Turku PET Centre, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
- Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland
| | - Gallen Anastasia
- Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Centre of Excellence in Music, Mind, Body and Brain, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Thiede Anja
- Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Centre of Excellence in Music, Mind, Body and Brain, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Trainor Laurel J
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
- McMaster Institute for Music and the Mind, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
- Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Kujala Teija
- Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Centre of Excellence in Music, Mind, Body and Brain, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
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Lyytinen H, Louleli N. In search of finalizing and validating digital learning tools supporting all in acquiring full literacy. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1142559. [PMID: 37599765 PMCID: PMC10436310 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1142559] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2023] [Accepted: 05/25/2023] [Indexed: 08/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Unlike many believe, accurate and fluent basic reading skill (ie. to decode text) is not enough for learning knowledge via reading. More than 10 years ago a digital learning game supporting the first step towards full literacy, i.e., GraphoGame (GG) was developed by the first author with his colleagues in the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. It trains the acquisition of basic reading skills, i.e., learning to sound out written language. Nowadays, when almost everyone in the world has an opportunity to use this GG, it is time to start supporting the acquisition of full literacy (FL). FL is necessary for efficient learning in school, where reading the schoolbooks successfully is essential. The present plan aims to help globally almost all who read whatever orthography to start from the earliest possible grade during which children have learned the mastery of the basic reading skill to immediately continue taking the next step to reach FL. Unlike common beliefs, support of FL is mostly needed among those who read transparent orthographies (reading by the majority of readers of alphabetic writings) which are easier to sound out due to consistency between spoken and written units at grapheme-phoneme level. This makes readers able to sound any written item which is pronounceable with only a little help of knowing what it means. Therefore, children tend to become inclined to not pay enough attention to the meaning but concentrate on decoding the text letter-by-letter. They had to learn from the beginning to approach the goal of reading, mediation of the meaning of the text. Readers of nontransparent English need to attend morphology for correct sounding. The continuing fall of OECD's Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) results, e.g., in Finland reveals that especially boys are not any more interested in reading outside school which would be natural way to reach the main goal of reading, FL. What could be a better way to help boys towards FL than motivating them to play computer games which requires reading comprehension. The new digital ComprehensionGame designed by the first author motivates pupils to read in effective way by concurrently elevating their school achievements by connecting the training to daily reading lessons. This article describes our efforts to elaborate and validate this new digital tool by starting from populations of learners who need it most in Africa and in Finland.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heikki Lyytinen
- Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
| | - Natalia Louleli
- Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
- Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language BCBL, San Sebastian, Spain
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11
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Ní Choisdealbha Á, Attaheri A, Rocha S, Mead N, Olawole-Scott H, Brusini P, Gibbon S, Boutris P, Grey C, Hines D, Williams I, Flanagan SA, Goswami U. Neural phase angle from two months when tracking speech and non-speech rhythm linked to language performance from 12 to 24 months. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2023; 243:105301. [PMID: 37399686 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2023.105301] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2022] [Revised: 06/05/2023] [Accepted: 06/28/2023] [Indexed: 07/05/2023]
Abstract
Atypical phase alignment of low-frequency neural oscillations to speech rhythm has been implicated in phonological deficits in developmental dyslexia. Atypical phase alignment to rhythm could thus also characterize infants at risk for later language difficulties. Here, we investigate phase-language mechanisms in a neurotypical infant sample. 122 two-, six- and nine-month-old infants were played speech and non-speech rhythms while EEG was recorded in a longitudinal design. The phase of infants' neural oscillations aligned consistently to the stimuli, with group-level convergence towards a common phase. Individual low-frequency phase alignment related to subsequent measures of language acquisition up to 24 months of age. Accordingly, individual differences in language acquisition are related to the phase alignment of cortical tracking of auditory and audiovisual rhythms in infancy, an automatic neural mechanism. Automatic rhythmic phase-language mechanisms could eventually serve as biomarkers, identifying at-risk infants and enabling intervention at the earliest stages of development.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Adam Attaheri
- Centre for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Sinead Rocha
- Centre for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Natasha Mead
- Centre for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Helen Olawole-Scott
- Centre for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Perrine Brusini
- Centre for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Samuel Gibbon
- Centre for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Panagiotis Boutris
- Centre for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Christina Grey
- Centre for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Declan Hines
- Centre for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Isabel Williams
- Centre for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Sheila A Flanagan
- Centre for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Usha Goswami
- Centre for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.
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12
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Cantiani C, Dondena C, Molteni M, Riva V, Lorusso ML. Intergenerational longitudinal associations between parental reading/musical traits, infants' auditory processing, and later phonological awareness skills. Front Neurosci 2023; 17:1201997. [PMID: 37539387 PMCID: PMC10394385 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1201997] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2023] [Accepted: 06/19/2023] [Indexed: 08/05/2023] Open
Abstract
The intergenerational transmission of language/reading skills has been demonstrated by evidence reporting that parental literacy abilities contribute to the prediction of their offspring's language and reading skills. According to the "Intergenerational Multiple Deficit Model," literacy abilities of both parents are viewed as indicators of offspring's liability for literacy difficulties, since parents provide offspring with genetic and environmental endowment. Recently, studies focusing on the heritability of musical traits reached similar conclusions. The "Musical Abilities, Pleiotropy, Language, and Environment (MAPLE)" framework proposed that language/reading and musical traits share a common genetic architecture, and such shared components have an influence on the heritable neural underpinnings of basic-level skills underlying musical and language traits. Here, we investigate the intergenerational transmission of parental musical and language-related (reading) abilities on their offspring's neural response to a basic auditory stimulation (neural intermediate phenotype) and later phonological awareness skills, including in this complex association pattern the mediating effect of home environment. One-hundred and seventy-six families were involved in this study. Through self-report questionnaires we assessed parental reading abilities and musicality, as well as home literacy and musical environment. Offspring were involved in a longitudinal study: auditory processing was measured at 6 months of age by means of a Rapid Auditory Processing electrophysiological paradigm, and phonological awareness was assessed behaviorally at 5 years of age. Results reveal significant correlations between parents' reading skills and musical traits. Intergenerational associations were investigated through mediation analyses using structural equation modeling. For reading traits, the results revealed that paternal reading was indirectly associated with children's phonological awareness skills via their electrophysiological MisMatch Response at 6 months, while maternal reading was directly associated with children's phonological awareness. For musical traits, we found again that paternal musicality, rather than maternal characteristics, was associated with children's phonological phenotypes: in this case, the association was mediated by musical environment. These results provide some insight about the intergenerational pathways linking parental reading and musical traits, neural underpinnings of infants' auditory processing and later phonological awareness skills. Besides shedding light on possible intergenerational transmission mechanisms, this study may open up new perspectives for early intervention based on environmental enrichment.
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Stein J. Theories about Developmental Dyslexia. Brain Sci 2023; 13:brainsci13020208. [PMID: 36831750 PMCID: PMC9954267 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci13020208] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2023] [Revised: 01/22/2023] [Accepted: 01/23/2023] [Indexed: 01/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Despite proving its usefulness for over a century, the concept of developmental dyslexia (DD) is currently in severe disarray because of the recent introduction of the phonological theory of its causation. Since mastering the phonological principle is essential for all reading, failure to do so cannot be used to distinguish DD from the many other causes of such failure. To overcome this problem, many new psychological, signal detection, and neurological theories have been introduced recently. All these new theories converge on the idea that DD is fundamentally caused by impaired signalling of the timing of the visual and auditory cues that are essential for reading. These are provided by large 'magnocellular' neurones which respond rapidly to sensory transients. The evidence for this conclusion is overwhelming. Especially convincing are intervention studies that have shown that improving magnocellular function improves dyslexic children's reading, together with cohort studies that have demonstrated that the magnocellular timing deficit is present in infants who later become dyslexic, long before they begin learning to read. The converse of the magnocellular deficit in dyslexics may be that they gain parvocellular abundance. This may often impart the exceptional 'holistic' talents that have been ascribed to them and that society needs to nurture.
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Affiliation(s)
- John Stein
- Department of Physiology, Anatomy & Genetics, Oxford University, Oxford OX1 3PT, UK
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Discriminatory Brain Processes of Native and Foreign Language in Children with and without Reading Difficulties. Brain Sci 2022; 13:brainsci13010076. [PMID: 36672057 PMCID: PMC9856413 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci13010076] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2022] [Revised: 12/21/2022] [Accepted: 12/28/2022] [Indexed: 01/03/2023] Open
Abstract
The association between impaired speech perception and reading difficulty has been well established in native language processing, as can be observed from brain activity. However, there has been scarce investigation of whether this association extends to brain activity during foreign language processing. The relationship between reading skills and neuronal speech representation of foreign language remains unclear. In the present study, we used event-related potentials (ERPs) with high-density EEG to investigate this question. Eleven- to 13-year-old children typically developed (CTR) or with reading difficulties (RD) were tested via a passive auditory oddball paradigm containing native (Finnish) and foreign (English) speech items. The change-detection-related ERP responses, the mismatch response (MMR), and the late discriminative negativity (LDN) were studied. The cluster-based permutation tests within and between groups were performed. The results showed an apparent language effect. In the CTR group, we found an atypical MMR in the foreign language processing and a larger LDN response for speech items containing a diphthong in both languages. In the RD group, we found unstable MMR with lower amplitude and a nonsignificant LDN response. A deficit in the LDN response in both languages was found within the RD group analysis. Moreover, we observed larger brain responses in the RD group and a hemispheric polarity reversal compared to the CTR group responses. Our results provide new evidence that language processing differed between the CTR and RD groups in early and late discriminatory responses and that language processing is linked to reading skills in both native and foreign language contexts.
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Nayak S, Coleman PL, Ladányi E, Nitin R, Gustavson DE, Fisher SE, Magne CL, Gordon RL. The Musical Abilities, Pleiotropy, Language, and Environment (MAPLE) Framework for Understanding Musicality-Language Links Across the Lifespan. NEUROBIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE (CAMBRIDGE, MASS.) 2022; 3:615-664. [PMID: 36742012 PMCID: PMC9893227 DOI: 10.1162/nol_a_00079] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2021] [Accepted: 08/08/2022] [Indexed: 04/18/2023]
Abstract
Using individual differences approaches, a growing body of literature finds positive associations between musicality and language-related abilities, complementing prior findings of links between musical training and language skills. Despite these associations, musicality has been often overlooked in mainstream models of individual differences in language acquisition and development. To better understand the biological basis of these individual differences, we propose the Musical Abilities, Pleiotropy, Language, and Environment (MAPLE) framework. This novel integrative framework posits that musical and language-related abilities likely share some common genetic architecture (i.e., genetic pleiotropy) in addition to some degree of overlapping neural endophenotypes, and genetic influences on musically and linguistically enriched environments. Drawing upon recent advances in genomic methodologies for unraveling pleiotropy, we outline testable predictions for future research on language development and how its underlying neurobiological substrates may be supported by genetic pleiotropy with musicality. In support of the MAPLE framework, we review and discuss findings from over seventy behavioral and neural studies, highlighting that musicality is robustly associated with individual differences in a range of speech-language skills required for communication and development. These include speech perception-in-noise, prosodic perception, morphosyntactic skills, phonological skills, reading skills, and aspects of second/foreign language learning. Overall, the current work provides a clear agenda and framework for studying musicality-language links using individual differences approaches, with an emphasis on leveraging advances in the genomics of complex musicality and language traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Srishti Nayak
- Department of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
- Department of Psychology, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN, USA
- Vanderbilt Genetics Institute, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
- Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Vanderbilt University, TN, USA
| | - Peyton L. Coleman
- Department of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Enikő Ladányi
- Department of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
- Department of Linguistics, Potsdam University, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Rachana Nitin
- Department of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
- Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Daniel E. Gustavson
- Vanderbilt Genetics Institute, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
- Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
- Institute for Behavioral Genetics, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA
| | - Simon E. Fisher
- Language and Genetics Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Cyrille L. Magne
- Department of Psychology, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN, USA
- PhD Program in Literacy Studies, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN, USA
| | - Reyna L. Gordon
- Department of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
- Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
- Vanderbilt Genetics Institute, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
- Curb Center for Art, Enterprise, and Public Policy, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
- Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, TN, USA
- Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Vanderbilt University, TN, USA
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Keshavarzi M, Mandke K, Macfarlane A, Parvez L, Gabrielczyk F, Wilson A, Flanagan S, Goswami U. Decoding of speech information using EEG in children with dyslexia: Less accurate low-frequency representations of speech, not "Noisy" representations. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2022; 235:105198. [PMID: 36343509 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2022.105198] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2022] [Revised: 10/03/2022] [Accepted: 10/24/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
The amplitude envelope of speech carries crucial low-frequency acoustic information that assists linguistic decoding. The sensory-neural Temporal Sampling (TS) theory of developmental dyslexia proposes atypical encoding of speech envelope information < 10 Hz, leading to atypical phonological representations. Here a backward linear TRF model and story listening were employed to estimate the speech information encoded in the electroencephalogram in the canonical delta, theta and alpha bands by 9-year-old children with and without dyslexia. TRF decoding accuracy provided an estimate of how faithfully the children's brains encoded low-frequency envelope information. Between-group analyses showed that the children with dyslexia exhibited impaired reconstruction of speech information in the delta band. However, when the quality of speech encoding for each child was estimated using child-by-child decoding models, then the dyslexic children did not differ from controls. This suggests that children with dyslexia encode neither "noisy" nor "normal" representations of the speech signal, but different representations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mahmoud Keshavarzi
- Centre for Neuroscience in Education, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, United Kingdom.
| | - Kanad Mandke
- Centre for Neuroscience in Education, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, United Kingdom
| | - Annabel Macfarlane
- Centre for Neuroscience in Education, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, United Kingdom
| | - Lyla Parvez
- Centre for Neuroscience in Education, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, United Kingdom
| | - Fiona Gabrielczyk
- Centre for Neuroscience in Education, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, United Kingdom
| | - Angela Wilson
- Centre for Neuroscience in Education, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, United Kingdom
| | - Sheila Flanagan
- Centre for Neuroscience in Education, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, United Kingdom
| | - Usha Goswami
- Centre for Neuroscience in Education, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, United Kingdom
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Stein J. The visual basis of reading and reading difficulties. Front Neurosci 2022; 16:1004027. [PMID: 36507333 PMCID: PMC9728103 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.1004027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2022] [Accepted: 09/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Most of our knowledge about the neural networks mediating reading has derived from studies of developmental dyslexia (DD). For much of the 20th C. this was diagnosed on the basis of finding a discrepancy between children's unexpectedly low reading and spelling scores compared with their normal or high oral and non-verbal reasoning ability. This discrepancy criterion has now been replaced by the claim that the main feature of dyslexia is a phonological deficit, and it is now argued that we should test for this to identify dyslexia. However, grasping the phonological principle is essential for all learning to read; so every poor reader will show a phonological deficit. The phonological theory does not explain why dyslexic people, in particular, fail; so this phonological criterion makes it impossible to distinguish DD from any of the many other causes of reading failure. Currently therefore, there is no agreement about precisely how we should identify it. Yet, if we understood the specific neural pathways that underlie failure to acquire phonological skills specifically in people with dyslexia, we should be able to develop reliable means of identifying it. An important, though not the only, cause in people with dyslexia is impaired development of the brain's rapid visual temporal processing systems; these are required for sequencing the order of the letters in a word accurately. Such temporal, "transient," processing is carried out primarily by a distinct set of "magnocellular" (M-) neurones in the visual system; and the development of these has been found to be impaired in many people with dyslexia. Likewise, auditory sequencing of the sounds in a word is mediated by the auditory temporal processing system whose development is impaired in many dyslexics. Together these two deficits can therefore explain their problems with acquiring the phonological principle. Assessing poor readers' visual and auditory temporal processing skills should enable dyslexia to be reliably distinguished from other causes of reading failure and this will suggest principled ways of helping these children to learn to read, such as sensory training, yellow or blue filters or omega 3 fatty acid supplements. This will enable us to diagnose DD with confidence, and thus to develop educational plans targeted to exploit each individual child's strengths and compensate for his weaknesses.
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Vanden Bempt F, Van Herck S, Economou M, Vanderauwera J, Vandermosten M, Wouters J, Ghesquière P. Speech perception deficits and the effect of envelope-enhanced story listening combined with phonics intervention in pre-readers at risk for dyslexia. Front Psychol 2022; 13:1021767. [PMID: 36389538 PMCID: PMC9650384 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1021767] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2022] [Accepted: 10/12/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Developmental dyslexia is considered to be most effectively addressed with preventive phonics-based interventions, including grapheme-phoneme coupling and blending exercises. These intervention types require intact speech perception abilities, given their large focus on exercises with auditorily presented phonemes. Yet some children with (a risk for) dyslexia experience problems in this domain due to a poorer sensitivity to rise times, i.e., rhythmic acoustic cues present in the speech envelope. As a result, the often subtle speech perception problems could potentially constrain an optimal response to phonics-based interventions in at-risk children. The current study therefore aimed (1) to extend existing research by examining the presence of potential speech perception deficits in pre-readers at cognitive risk for dyslexia when compared to typically developing peers and (2) to explore the added value of a preventive auditory intervention for at-risk pre-readers, targeting rise time sensitivity, on speech perception and other reading-related skills. To obtain the first research objective, we longitudinally compared speech-in-noise perception between 28 5-year-old pre-readers with and 30 peers without a cognitive risk for dyslexia during the second half of the third year of kindergarten. The second research objective was addressed by exploring growth in speech perception and other reading-related skills in an independent sample of 62 at-risk 5-year-old pre-readers who all combined a 12-week preventive phonics-based intervention (GraphoGame-Flemish) with an auditory story listening intervention. In half of the sample, story recordings contained artificially enhanced rise times (GG-FL_EE group, n = 31), while in the other half, stories remained unprocessed (GG-FL_NE group, n = 31; Clinical Trial Number S60962—https://www.uzleuven.be/nl/clinical-trial-center). Results revealed a slower speech-in-noise perception growth in the at-risk compared to the non-at-risk group, due to an emerged deficit at the end of kindergarten. Concerning the auditory intervention effects, both intervention groups showed equal growth in speech-in-noise perception and other reading-related skills, suggesting no boost of envelope-enhanced story listening on top of the effect of combining GraphoGame-Flemish with listening to unprocessed stories. These findings thus provide evidence for a link between speech perception problems and dyslexia, yet do not support the potential of the auditory intervention in its current form.
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Affiliation(s)
- Femke Vanden Bempt
- Parenting and Special Education Research Unit, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
- Research Group ExpORL, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
- *Correspondence: Femke Vanden Bempt,
| | - Shauni Van Herck
- Parenting and Special Education Research Unit, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
- Research Group ExpORL, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Maria Economou
- Parenting and Special Education Research Unit, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
- Research Group ExpORL, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Jolijn Vanderauwera
- Parenting and Special Education Research Unit, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
- Research Group ExpORL, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
- Psychological Sciences Research Institute, Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
- Institute of Neuroscience, Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
| | - Maaike Vandermosten
- Research Group ExpORL, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Jan Wouters
- Research Group ExpORL, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Pol Ghesquière
- Parenting and Special Education Research Unit, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
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Wu H, Zhang Y. Late mismatch negativity of lexical tone at age 8 predicts Chinese children’s reading ability at age 10. Front Psychol 2022; 13:989186. [PMID: 36337495 PMCID: PMC9633667 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.989186] [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: 07/08/2022] [Accepted: 10/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Deficits in phonological processing are commonly reported in dyslexia but longitudinal evidence that poor speech perception compromises reading is scant. This 2-year longitudinal ERP study investigates changes in pre-attentive auditory processing that underlies categorical perception of mandarin lexical tones during the years children learn to read fluently. The main purpose of the present study was to explore the development of lexical tone categorical perception to see if it can predict children’s reading ability. Methods Both behavioral and electrophysiological measures were taken in this study. Auditory event-related potentials were collected with a passive listening oddball paradigm. Using a stimulus continuum spanning from one lexical tone category exemplar to another, we identified a between-category and a within-category tone deviant that were acoustically equidistant from a standard stimulus. The standard stimulus occurred on 80% of trials, and one of two deviants (between-category or within-category) equiprobably on the remaining trials. 8-year-old Mandarin speakers participated in both an initial ERP oddball paradigm and returned for a 2-year follow-up. Results The between-category MMN and within-category MMN significantly correlate with each other at age 8 (p = 0.001) but not at age 10. The between-category MMN at age 8 can predict children’s ability at age 10 (p = 0.03) but the within-category cannot. Conclusion The categorical perception of lexical tone is still developing from age 8 to age 10. The behavioral and electrophysiological results demonstrate that categorical perception of lexical tone at age 8 predicts children’s reading ability at age 10.
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Affiliation(s)
- Han Wu
- Institute on Education Policy and Evaluation of International Students, Beijing Language and Culture University, Beijing, China
- *Correspondence: Han Wu,
| | - Yixiao Zhang
- Faculty of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, School of Biomedical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China
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Hervé E, Mento G, Desnous B, François C. Challenges and new perspectives of developmental cognitive EEG studies. Neuroimage 2022; 260:119508. [PMID: 35882267 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119508] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2022] [Revised: 07/07/2022] [Accepted: 07/22/2022] [Indexed: 10/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite shared procedures with adults, electroencephalography (EEG) in early development presents many specificities that need to be considered for good quality data collection. In this paper, we provide an overview of the most representative early cognitive developmental EEG studies focusing on the specificities of this neuroimaging technique in young participants, such as attrition and artifacts. We also summarize the most representative results in developmental EEG research obtained in the time and time-frequency domains and use more advanced signal processing methods. Finally, we briefly introduce three recent standardized pipelines that will help promote replicability and comparability across experiments and ages. While this paper does not claim to be exhaustive, it aims to give a sufficiently large overview of the challenges and solutions available to conduct robust cognitive developmental EEG studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Estelle Hervé
- CNRS, LPL, Aix-Marseille University, 5 Avenue Pasteur, Aix-en-Provence 13100, France
| | - Giovanni Mento
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova 35131, Italy; Padua Neuroscience Center (PNC), University of Padova, Padova 35131, Italy
| | - Béatrice Desnous
- APHM, Reference Center for Rare Epilepsies, Timone Children Hospital, Aix-Marseille University, Marseille 13005, France; Inserm, INS, Aix-Marseille University, Marseille 13005, France
| | - Clément François
- CNRS, LPL, Aix-Marseille University, 5 Avenue Pasteur, Aix-en-Provence 13100, France.
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Ní Choisdealbha Á, Attaheri A, Rocha S, Brusini P, Flanagan SA, Mead N, Gibbon S, Olawole-Scott H, Williams I, Grey C, Boutris P, Ahmed H, Goswami U. Neural detection of changes in amplitude rise time in infancy. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2022; 54:101075. [PMID: 35078120 PMCID: PMC8792064 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2022.101075] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2021] [Revised: 12/21/2021] [Accepted: 01/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Amplitude rise times play a crucial role in the perception of rhythm in speech, and reduced perceptual sensitivity to differences in rise time is related to developmental language difficulties. Amplitude rise times also play a mechanistic role in neural entrainment to the speech amplitude envelope. Using an ERP paradigm, here we examined for the first time whether infants at the ages of seven and eleven months exhibit an auditory mismatch response to changes in the rise times of simple repeating auditory stimuli. We found that infants exhibited a mismatch response (MMR) to all of the oddball rise times used for the study. The MMR was more positive at seven than eleven months of age. At eleven months, there was a shift to a mismatch negativity (MMN) that was more pronounced over left fronto-central electrodes. The MMR over right fronto-central electrodes was sensitive to the size of the difference in rise time. The results indicate that neural processing of changes in rise time is present at seven months, supporting the possibility that early speech processing is facilitated by neural sensitivity to these important acoustic cues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Áine Ní Choisdealbha
- Centre for Neuroscience in Education, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.
| | - Adam Attaheri
- Centre for Neuroscience in Education, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Sinead Rocha
- Centre for Neuroscience in Education, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Perrine Brusini
- Centre for Neuroscience in Education, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Sheila A Flanagan
- Centre for Neuroscience in Education, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Natasha Mead
- Centre for Neuroscience in Education, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Samuel Gibbon
- Centre for Neuroscience in Education, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Helen Olawole-Scott
- Centre for Neuroscience in Education, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Isabel Williams
- Centre for Neuroscience in Education, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Christina Grey
- Centre for Neuroscience in Education, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Panagiotis Boutris
- Centre for Neuroscience in Education, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Henna Ahmed
- Centre for Neuroscience in Education, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Usha Goswami
- Centre for Neuroscience in Education, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
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22
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Virtala P, Putkinen V, Kailaheimo-Lönnqvist L, Thiede A, Partanen E, Kujala T. Infancy and early childhood maturation of neural auditory change detection and its associations to familial dyslexia risk. Clin Neurophysiol 2022; 137:159-176. [DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2022.03.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2021] [Revised: 02/10/2022] [Accepted: 03/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Maassen BAM, Krikhaar E, van der Leij A, Fikkert P. Early Productive Vocabulary Composition as Precursor of Dyslexia. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2022; 65:760-774. [PMID: 35089813 DOI: 10.1044/2021_jslhr-20-00599] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE The aim of this study was to gain more insight into the linguistic characterization of dyslexia by investigating vocabulary acquisition. In a previous study, vocabulary at 17 months of age appeared to be related to familial risk (FR) of dyslexia. The aim of this study was to investigate how the differences in lexical composition further develop up to 3 years (35 months) of age and, more importantly, to what extent these differences can be considered specific precursors of dyslexia later on. METHOD In a total number of 262 children from the Dutch Dyslexia Program, 169 with and 93 without FR for dyslexia, productive vocabulary was assessed with the Dutch version of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories at ages 17, 23, 29, and 35 months. Reading tests were administered in Grades 2 and 3, resulting in dyslexia diagnosis in 60 FR children (FR-dys), leaving 109 FR children who developed normal reading skills (FR-nondys) and 93 control children. Children's expressive vocabulary was scored according to the total number of words produced and according to the different major linguistic word categories: nouns, predicates, and closed-class words. The analyses comprised a comparison of total productive vocabulary and the number of words per grammatical category at four different ages for the three groups (FR-dys, FR-nondys, and control). Also, correlations were calculated between vocabulary scores and reading scores. RESULTS Up to 29 months of age, the total numbers of nouns, predicates, and closed-class words are significantly lower for the FR-dys group as compared with the FR-nondys and control groups; for closed-class words at 23 and 35 months of age, the FR-nondys group's mean values are in between the mean of the FR-dys and control groups. Weak correlations were found between total vocabulary size, number of verbs, number and proportion of predicates at 23 months of age, and word and pseudoword reading fluency in Grades 2 and 3. CONCLUSIONS These results indicate that development of vocabulary is a significant though weak predictor of reading fluency and dyslexia; vocabulary size and proportion of verbs at 23 months of age, as well as proportion of closed-class words up to 35 months of age, seem to be the most sensitive indicators of delayed vocabulary development and later reading difficulties. There is no indication that FR for dyslexia by itself is related to vocabulary development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ben A M Maassen
- Center for Language and Cognition Groningen, University of Groningen, the Netherlands
- Research School of Behavioural and Cognitive Neurosciences, University Medical Center Groningen, the Netherlands
| | - Evelien Krikhaar
- Expertisecentrum Nederlands, Radboud University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Aryan van der Leij
- Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Paula Fikkert
- Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands
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24
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Animal models of developmental dyslexia: Where we are and what we are missing. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2021; 131:1180-1197. [PMID: 34699847 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.10.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2021] [Revised: 10/20/2021] [Accepted: 10/22/2021] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Developmental dyslexia (DD) is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder and the most common learning disability among both school-aged children and across languages. Recently, sensory and cognitive mechanisms have been reported to be potential endophenotypes (EPs) for DD, and nine DD-candidate genes have been identified. Animal models have been used to investigate the etiopathological pathways that underlie the development of complex traits, as they enable the effects of genetic and/or environmental manipulations to be evaluated. Animal research designs have also been linked to cutting-edge clinical research questions by capitalizing on the use of EPs. For the present scoping review, we reviewed previous studies of murine models investigating the effects of DD-candidate genes. Moreover, we highlighted the use of animal models as an innovative way to unravel new insights behind the pathophysiology of reading (dis)ability and to assess cutting-edge preclinical models.
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25
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Norton ES, MacNeill LA, Harriott EM, Allen N, Krogh-Jespersen S, Smyser CD, Rogers CE, Smyser TA, Luby J, Wakschlag L. EEG/ERP as a pragmatic method to expand the reach of infant-toddler neuroimaging in HBCD: Promises and challenges. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2021; 51:100988. [PMID: 34280739 PMCID: PMC8318873 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2021.100988] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2021] [Revised: 06/14/2021] [Accepted: 07/12/2021] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Though electrophysiological measures (EEG and ERP) offer complementary information to MRI and a variety of advantages for studying infants and young children, these measures have not yet been included in large cohort studies of neurodevelopment. This review summarizes the types of EEG and ERP measures that could be used in the HEALthy Brain and Cognitive Development (HBCD) study, and the promises and challenges in doing so. First, we provide brief overview of the use of EEG/ERP for studying the developing brain and discuss exemplar findings, using resting or baseline EEG measures as well as the ERP mismatch negativity (MMN) as exemplars. We then discuss the promises of EEG/ERP such as feasibility, while balancing challenges such as ensuring good signal quality in diverse children with different hair types. We then describe an ongoing multi-site EEG data harmonization from our groups. We discuss the process of alignment and provide preliminary usability data for both resting state EEG data and auditory ERP MMN in diverse samples including over 300 infants and toddlers. Finally, we provide recommendations and considerations for the HBCD study and other studies of neurodevelopment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth S Norton
- Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, United States; Department of Medical Social Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, United States; Institute for Innovations in Developmental Sciences, Northwestern University, United States.
| | - Leigha A MacNeill
- Department of Medical Social Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, United States; Institute for Innovations in Developmental Sciences, Northwestern University, United States
| | - Emily M Harriott
- Department of Medical Social Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, United States
| | - Norrina Allen
- Institute for Innovations in Developmental Sciences, Northwestern University, United States; Department of Preventive Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, United States
| | - Sheila Krogh-Jespersen
- Department of Medical Social Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, United States; Institute for Innovations in Developmental Sciences, Northwestern University, United States
| | - Christopher D Smyser
- Departments of Neurology, Pediatrics, and Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, United States; Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, United States
| | - Cynthia E Rogers
- Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, United States
| | - Tara A Smyser
- Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, United States
| | - Joan Luby
- Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, United States
| | - Lauren Wakschlag
- Department of Medical Social Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, United States; Institute for Innovations in Developmental Sciences, Northwestern University, United States
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26
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Ortiz-Mantilla S, Roesler CP, Realpe-Bonilla T, Benasich AA. Modulation of Theta Phase Synchrony during Syllable Processing as a Function of Interactive Acoustic Experience in Infancy. Cereb Cortex 2021; 32:919-932. [PMID: 34403462 PMCID: PMC8889996 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhab256] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2021] [Revised: 07/02/2021] [Accepted: 07/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Plasticity, a prominent characteristic of the infant brain, supports formation of cortical representations as infants begin to interact with and adapt to environmental sensory events. Enhanced acoustic processing efficiency along with improved allocation of attentional resources at 7 months and establishment of well-defined phonemic maps at 9 months have been shown to be facilitated by early interactive acoustic experience (IAE). In this study, using an oddball paradigm and measures of theta phase synchrony at source level, we examined short- and long-term effects of nonspeech IAE on syllable processing. Results demonstrated that beyond maturation alone, IAE increased the efficiency of syllabic representation and discrimination, an effect that endured well beyond the immediate training period. As compared with naive controls, the IAE-trained group at 7, 9, and 18 months showed less theta phase synchrony for the standard syllable and at 7 and 18 months for the deviant syllable. The decreased theta phase synchrony exhibited by the trained group suggests more mature, efficient, acoustic processing, and thus, better cortical representation and discrimination of syllabic content. Further, the IAE modulatory effect observed on theta phase synchrony in left auditory cortex at 7 and 9 months was differentially associated with receptive and expressive language scores at 12 and 18 months of age.
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Affiliation(s)
- Silvia Ortiz-Mantilla
- Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ 07102, USA
| | - Cynthia P Roesler
- Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ 07102, USA
| | - Teresa Realpe-Bonilla
- Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ 07102, USA
| | - April A Benasich
- Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ 07102, USA
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Zuk J, Yu X, Sanfilippo J, Figuccio MJ, Dunstan J, Carruthers C, Sideridis G, Turesky TK, Gagoski B, Grant PE, Gaab N. White matter in infancy is prospectively associated with language outcomes in kindergarten. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2021; 50:100973. [PMID: 34119849 PMCID: PMC8209179 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2021.100973] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2020] [Revised: 06/01/2021] [Accepted: 06/01/2021] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Language acquisition is of central importance to child development. Although this developmental trajectory is shaped by experience postnatally, the neural basis for language emerges prenatally. Thus, a fundamental question remains: do structural foundations for language in infancy predict long-term language abilities? Longitudinal investigation of 40 children from infancy to kindergarten reveals that white matter in infancy is prospectively associated with subsequent language abilities, specifically between: (i) left arcuate fasciculus and phonological awareness and vocabulary knowledge, (ii) left corticospinal tract and phonological awareness, and bilateral corticospinal tract with phonological memory; controlling for age, cognitive, and environmental factors. Findings link white matter in infancy with school-age language abilities, suggesting that white matter organization in infancy sets a foundation for long-term language development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer Zuk
- Department of Speech, Language & Hearing Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, 02215, USA; Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, Division of Developmental Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
| | - Xi Yu
- Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, Division of Developmental Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, 02115, USA; State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Joseph Sanfilippo
- Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, Division of Developmental Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | | | - Jade Dunstan
- Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, Division of Developmental Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Clarisa Carruthers
- Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, Division of Developmental Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Georgios Sideridis
- Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, Division of Developmental Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, 02115, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Ted K Turesky
- Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, Division of Developmental Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, 02115, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Borjan Gagoski
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA; Fetal-Neonatal Neuroimaging and Developmental Science Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Patricia Ellen Grant
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA; Fetal-Neonatal Neuroimaging and Developmental Science Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Nadine Gaab
- Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, Division of Developmental Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, 02115, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA; Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA
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28
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Norton ES, Beach SD, Eddy MD, McWeeny S, Ozernov-Palchik O, Gaab N, Gabrieli JDE. ERP Mismatch Negativity Amplitude and Asymmetry Reflect Phonological and Rapid Automatized Naming Skills in English-Speaking Kindergartners. Front Hum Neurosci 2021; 15:624617. [PMID: 34220468 PMCID: PMC8249724 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2021.624617] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2020] [Accepted: 04/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The mismatch negativity (MMN), an electrophysiological response to an oddball auditory stimulus, is related to reading ability in many studies. There are conflicting findings regarding exactly how the MMN relates to risk or actual diagnosis of dyslexia/reading impairment, perhaps due to the heterogeneity of abilities in children with reading impairment. In this study, 166 English-speaking kindergarten children oversampled for dyslexia risk completed behavioral assessments and a speech-syllable MMN paradigm. We examined how early and late MMN mean amplitude and laterality were related to two established predictors of reading ability: phonological awareness (PA) and rapid automatized naming (RAN). In bootstrapped group analyses, late MMN amplitude was significantly greater in children with typical PA ability than low PA ability. In contrast, laterality of the early and late MMN was significantly different in children with low versus typical RAN ability. Continuous analyses controlling for child age, non-verbal IQ, and letter and word identification abilities showed the same associations between late MMN amplitude with PA and late MMN laterality with RAN. These findings suggest that amplitude of the MMN may relate to phonological representations and ability to manipulate them, whereas MMN laterality may reflect differences in brain processes that support automaticity needed for reading.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth S. Norton
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research and Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, United States
- Department of Medical Social Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, and Institute for Innovations in Developmental Sciences, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Sara D. Beach
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research and Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, United States
| | - Marianna D. Eddy
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research and Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, United States
| | - Sean McWeeny
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States
| | - Ola Ozernov-Palchik
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research and Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, United States
- Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA, United States
| | - Nadine Gaab
- Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA, United States
- Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, Division of Developmental Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
| | - John D. E. Gabrieli
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research and Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, United States
- Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, United States
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29
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Mascheretti S, Peruzzo D, Andreola C, Villa M, Ciceri T, Trezzi V, Marino C, Arrigoni F. Selecting the Most Relevant Brain Regions to Classify Children with Developmental Dyslexia and Typical Readers by Using Complex Magnocellular Stimuli and Multiple Kernel Learning. Brain Sci 2021; 11:brainsci11060722. [PMID: 34071649 PMCID: PMC8228080 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci11060722] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2021] [Revised: 05/20/2021] [Accepted: 05/25/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Increasing evidence supports the presence of deficits in the visual magnocellular (M) system in developmental dyslexia (DD). The M system is related to the fronto-parietal attentional network. Previous neuroimaging studies have revealed reduced/absent activation within the visual M pathway in DD, but they have failed to characterize the extensive brain network activated by M stimuli. We performed a multivariate pattern analysis on a Region of Interest (ROI) level to differentiate between children with DD and age-matched typical readers (TRs) by combining full-field sinusoidal gratings, controlled for spatial and temporal frequencies and luminance contrast, and a coherent motion (CM) sensitivity task at 6%-CML6, 15%-CML15 and 40%-CML40. ROIs spanning the entire visual dorsal stream and ventral attention network (VAN) had higher discriminative weights and showed higher act1ivation in TRs than in children with DD. Of the two tasks, CM had the greatest weight when classifying TRs and children with DD in most of the ROIs spanning these streams. For the CML6, activation within the right superior parietal cortex positively correlated with reading skills. Our approach highlighted the dorsal stream and the VAN as highly discriminative areas between children with DD and TRs and allowed for a better characterization of the "dorsal stream vulnerability" underlying DD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara Mascheretti
- Child Psychopathology Unit, Scientific Institute, IRCCS Eugenio Medea, 23842 Bosisio Parini, Italy; (C.A.); (M.V.); (V.T.)
- Correspondence: (S.M.); (F.A.)
| | - Denis Peruzzo
- Neuroimaging Lab, Scientific Institute, IRCCS Eugenio Medea, 23842 Bosisio Parini, Italy; (D.P.); (T.C.)
| | - Chiara Andreola
- Child Psychopathology Unit, Scientific Institute, IRCCS Eugenio Medea, 23842 Bosisio Parini, Italy; (C.A.); (M.V.); (V.T.)
- Laboratoire de Psychologie de Développement et de l’Éducation de l’Enfant (LaPsyDÉ), Université de Paris, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Martina Villa
- Child Psychopathology Unit, Scientific Institute, IRCCS Eugenio Medea, 23842 Bosisio Parini, Italy; (C.A.); (M.V.); (V.T.)
| | - Tommaso Ciceri
- Neuroimaging Lab, Scientific Institute, IRCCS Eugenio Medea, 23842 Bosisio Parini, Italy; (D.P.); (T.C.)
| | - Vittoria Trezzi
- Child Psychopathology Unit, Scientific Institute, IRCCS Eugenio Medea, 23842 Bosisio Parini, Italy; (C.A.); (M.V.); (V.T.)
| | - Cecilia Marino
- The Division of Child and Youth Psychiatry at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Toronto, ON M6J 1H4, Canada;
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5T 1R8, Canada
| | - Filippo Arrigoni
- Neuroimaging Lab, Scientific Institute, IRCCS Eugenio Medea, 23842 Bosisio Parini, Italy; (D.P.); (T.C.)
- Correspondence: (S.M.); (F.A.)
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30
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Quantitative EEG measures in profoundly deaf and normal hearing individuals while performing a vibrotactile temporal discrimination task. Int J Psychophysiol 2021; 166:71-82. [PMID: 34023377 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2021.05.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2020] [Revised: 05/10/2021] [Accepted: 05/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Challenges in early oral language acquisition in profoundly deaf individuals have an impact on cognitive neurodevelopment. This has led to the exploration of alternative sound perception methods involving training of vibrotactile discrimination of sounds within the language spectrum. In particular, stimulus duration plays an important role in linguistic categorical perception. We comparatively evaluated vibrotactile temporal discrimination of sound and how specific training can modify the underlying electrical brain activity. Fifteen profoundly deaf (PD) and 15 normal-hearing (NH) subjects performed a vibrotactile oddball task with simultaneous EEG recording, before and after a short training period (5 one-hour sessions; in 2.5-3 weeks). The stimuli consisted of 700 Hz pure-tones with different duration (target: long 500 ms; non-target: short 250 ms). The sound-wave stimuli were delivered by a small device worn on the right index finger. A similar behavioral training effect was observed in both groups showing significant improvement in sound-duration discrimination. However, quantitative EEG measurements reveal distinct neurophysiological patterns characterized by higher and more diffuse delta band magnitudes in the PD group, together with a generalized decrement in absolute power in both groups that might reflect a facilitating process associated to learning. Furthermore, training-related changes were found in the beta-band in NH. Findings suggest PD have different cognitive adaptive mechanisms which are not a mere amplification effect due to greater cortical excitability.
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31
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Juhani Lyytinen H, Semrud-Clikeman M, Li H, Pugh K, Richardson U. Supporting Acquisition of Spelling Skills in Different Orthographies Using an Empirically Validated Digital Learning Environment. Front Psychol 2021; 12:566220. [PMID: 33889104 PMCID: PMC8056119 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.566220] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2020] [Accepted: 02/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
This paper discusses how the association learning principle works for supporting acquisition of basic spelling and reading skills using digital game-based learning environment with the Finland-based GraphoLearn (GL) technology. This program has been designed and validated to work with early readers of different alphabetic writing systems using repetition and reinforcing connections between spoken and written units. Initially GL was developed and found effective in training children at risk of reading disorders in Finland. Today GL training has been shown to support learning decoding skills among children independent of whether they face difficulties resulting from educational, social, or biological reasons.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Hong Li
- Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Kenneth Pugh
- Haskins Laboratories, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States
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32
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Lohvansuu K, Torppa M, Ahonen T, Eklund K, Hämäläinen JA, Leppänen PHT, Lyytinen H. Unveiling the Mysteries of Dyslexia-Lessons Learned from the Prospective Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Dyslexia. Brain Sci 2021; 11:427. [PMID: 33801593 PMCID: PMC8066413 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci11040427] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2021] [Revised: 03/23/2021] [Accepted: 03/24/2021] [Indexed: 01/21/2023] Open
Abstract
This paper reviews the observations of the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Dyslexia (JLD). The JLD is a prospective family risk study in which the development of children with familial risk for dyslexia (N = 108) due to parental dyslexia and controls without dyslexia risk (N = 92) were followed from birth to adulthood. The JLD revealed that the likelihood of at-risk children performing poorly in reading and spelling tasks was fourfold compared to the controls. Auditory insensitivity of newborns observed during the first week of life using brain event-related potentials (ERPs) was shown to be the first precursor of dyslexia. ERPs measured at six months of age related to phoneme length identification differentiated the family risk group from the control group and predicted reading speed until the age of 14 years. Early oral language skills, phonological processing skills, rapid automatized naming, and letter knowledge differentiated the groups from ages 2.5-3.5 years onwards and predicted dyslexia and reading development, including reading comprehension, until adolescence. The home environment, a child's interest in reading, and task avoidance were not different in the risk group but were found to be additional predictors of reading development. Based on the JLD findings, preventive and intervention methods utilizing the association learning approach have been developed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kaisa Lohvansuu
- Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35, FI-40014 Jyväskylä, Finland; (T.A.); (J.A.H.); (P.H.T.L.)
| | - Minna Torppa
- Department of Teacher Education, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35, FI-40014 Jyväskylä, Finland;
| | - Timo Ahonen
- Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35, FI-40014 Jyväskylä, Finland; (T.A.); (J.A.H.); (P.H.T.L.)
- Niilo Mäki Institute, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35, FI-40014 Jyväskylä, Finland;
| | - Kenneth Eklund
- Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35, FI-40014 Jyväskylä, Finland;
| | - Jarmo A. Hämäläinen
- Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35, FI-40014 Jyväskylä, Finland; (T.A.); (J.A.H.); (P.H.T.L.)
| | - Paavo H. T. Leppänen
- Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35, FI-40014 Jyväskylä, Finland; (T.A.); (J.A.H.); (P.H.T.L.)
| | - Heikki Lyytinen
- Niilo Mäki Institute, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35, FI-40014 Jyväskylä, Finland;
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Mittag M, Larson E, Clarke M, Taulu S, Kuhl PK. Auditory deficits in infants at risk for dyslexia during a linguistic sensitive period predict future language. NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL 2021; 30:102578. [PMID: 33581583 PMCID: PMC7892990 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2021.102578] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2020] [Revised: 01/05/2021] [Accepted: 01/18/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Developmental dyslexia, a specific difficulty in learning to read and spell, has a strong hereditary component, which makes it possible to examine infants for early predictors of the condition even prior to the emergence of detectable symptoms. Using magnetoencephalography (MEG), we found smaller and shorter neural responses to simple sounds in infants at risk for dyslexia at 6 as compared to 12 months of age, a pattern that was reversed in age-matched controls. The findings indicate atypical auditory processing in at-risk infants across the sensitive period for native-language phoneme learning. This pattern was robust and localized to the same cortical areas regardless of the modeling parameters/algorithms used to estimate the current distribution underlying the measured activity. Its localization to left temporal and left frontal brain regions indicates a potential impact of atypical auditory processing on early language learning and later language skills because language functions are typically lateralized to the left hemisphere. This interpretation is supported by our further finding that atypical auditory responses in at-risk infants consistently predicted syntactic processing between 18 and 30 months and word production at 18 and 21 months of age. These results suggest a possible early marker of risk for dyslexia in at-risk infants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Mittag
- Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, 1715 Columbia Road N, Portage Bay Building, Box 357988, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-7988, USA.
| | - Eric Larson
- Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, 1715 Columbia Road N, Portage Bay Building, Box 357988, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-7988, USA
| | - Maggie Clarke
- Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, 1715 Columbia Road N, Portage Bay Building, Box 357988, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-7988, USA
| | - Samu Taulu
- Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, 1715 Columbia Road N, Portage Bay Building, Box 357988, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-7988, USA; Department of Physics, 1715 Columbia Road N, Portage Bay Building, Box 357988, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-7988, USA
| | - Patricia K Kuhl
- Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, 1715 Columbia Road N, Portage Bay Building, Box 357988, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-7988, USA.
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34
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Nora A, Renvall H, Ronimus M, Kere J, Lyytinen H, Salmelin R. Children at risk for dyslexia show deficient left-hemispheric memory representations for new spoken word forms. Neuroimage 2021; 229:117739. [PMID: 33454404 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.117739] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2020] [Revised: 01/07/2021] [Accepted: 01/09/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Developmental dyslexia is a specific learning disorder with impairments in reading and spelling acquisition. Apart from literacy problems, dyslexics show inefficient speech encoding and deficient novel word learning, with underlying problems in phonological processing and learning. These problems have been suggested to be related to deficient specialization of the left hemisphere for language processing. To examine this possibility, we tracked with magnetoencephalography (MEG) the activation of the bilateral temporal cortices during formation of neural memory traces for new spoken word forms in 7-8-year-old children with high familial dyslexia risk and in controls. The at-risk children improved equally to their peers in overt repetition of recurring new word forms, but were poorer in explicit recognition of the recurring word forms. Both groups showed reduced activation for the recurring word forms 400-1200 ms after word onset in the right auditory cortex, replicating the results of our previous study on typically developing children (Nora et al., 2017, Children show right-lateralized effects of spoken word-form learning. PLoS ONE 12(2): e0171034). However, only the control group consistently showed a similar reduction of activation for recurring word forms in the left temporal areas. The results highlight the importance of left-hemispheric phonological processing for efficient phonological representations and its disruption in dyslexia.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Nora
- Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, and Aalto NeuroImaging, Aalto University, P.O. Box 12200, FI-00076 Aalto, Finland.
| | - H Renvall
- Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, and Aalto NeuroImaging, Aalto University, P.O. Box 12200, FI-00076 Aalto, Finland
| | - M Ronimus
- Niilo Mäki Instituutti, FI-40100 Jyväskylä, Finland
| | - J Kere
- Department of Biosciences, Karolinska Institutet, SE-171 77 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - H Lyytinen
- Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, FI-40014 Jyväskylä, Finland
| | - R Salmelin
- Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, and Aalto NeuroImaging, Aalto University, P.O. Box 12200, FI-00076 Aalto, Finland
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Mascheretti S, Riva V, Feng B, Trezzi V, Andreola C, Giorda R, Villa M, Dionne G, Gori S, Marino C, Facoetti A. The Mediation Role of Dynamic Multisensory Processing Using Molecular Genetic Data in Dyslexia. Brain Sci 2020; 10:brainsci10120993. [PMID: 33339203 PMCID: PMC7765588 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci10120993] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2020] [Revised: 12/04/2020] [Accepted: 12/11/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Although substantial heritability has been reported and candidate genes have been identified, we are far from understanding the etiopathogenetic pathways underlying developmental dyslexia (DD). Reading-related endophenotypes (EPs) have been established. Until now it was unknown whether they mediated the pathway from gene to reading (dis)ability. Thus, in a sample of 223 siblings from nuclear families with DD and 79 unrelated typical readers, we tested four EPs (i.e., rapid auditory processing, rapid automatized naming, multisensory nonspatial attention and visual motion processing) and 20 markers spanning five DD-candidate genes (i.e., DYX1C1, DCDC2, KIAA0319, ROBO1 and GRIN2B) using a multiple-predictor/multiple-mediator framework. Our results show that rapid auditory and visual motion processing are mediators in the pathway from ROBO1-rs9853895 to reading. Specifically, the T/T genotype group predicts impairments in rapid auditory and visual motion processing which, in turn, predict poorer reading skills. Our results suggest that ROBO1 is related to reading via multisensory temporal processing. These findings support the use of EPs as an effective approach to disentangling the complex pathways between candidate genes and behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara Mascheretti
- Child Psychopathology Unit, Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, 23842 Bosisio Parini, Italy; (S.M.); (V.R.); (V.T.); (C.A.)
| | - Valentina Riva
- Child Psychopathology Unit, Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, 23842 Bosisio Parini, Italy; (S.M.); (V.R.); (V.T.); (C.A.)
| | - Bei Feng
- École de Psychologie, Laval University, Québec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada; (B.F.); (G.D.)
| | - Vittoria Trezzi
- Child Psychopathology Unit, Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, 23842 Bosisio Parini, Italy; (S.M.); (V.R.); (V.T.); (C.A.)
| | - Chiara Andreola
- Child Psychopathology Unit, Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, 23842 Bosisio Parini, Italy; (S.M.); (V.R.); (V.T.); (C.A.)
- Laboratoire de Psychologie du Développement et de l’Éducation de l’Enfant (LaPsyDÉ), Universitè de Paris, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Roberto Giorda
- Molecular Biology Laboratory, Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, 23842 Bosisio Parini, Italy; (R.G.); (M.V.)
| | - Marco Villa
- Molecular Biology Laboratory, Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, 23842 Bosisio Parini, Italy; (R.G.); (M.V.)
| | - Ginette Dionne
- École de Psychologie, Laval University, Québec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada; (B.F.); (G.D.)
| | - Simone Gori
- Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Bergamo, 24100 Bergamo, Italy;
| | - Cecilia Marino
- Child Psychopathology Unit, Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, 23842 Bosisio Parini, Italy; (S.M.); (V.R.); (V.T.); (C.A.)
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5T 1R8, Canada
- The Division of Child and Youth Psychiatry, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Toronto, ON M6J 1H4, Canada
- Correspondence: (C.M.); (A.F.)
| | - Andrea Facoetti
- Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, 35131 Padua, Italy
- Correspondence: (C.M.); (A.F.)
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Lui KFH, Lo JCM, Maurer U, Ho CSH, McBride C. Electroencephalography decoding of Chinese characters in primary school children and its prediction for word reading performance and development. Dev Sci 2020; 24:e13060. [PMID: 33159696 DOI: 10.1111/desc.13060] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2019] [Revised: 10/12/2020] [Accepted: 10/30/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Research on what neural mechanisms facilitate word reading development in non-alphabetic scripts is relatively rare. The present study was among the first to adopt a multivariate pattern classification analysis to decode electroencephalographic signals recorded for primary school children (N = 236) while performing a Chinese character decision task. Chinese is an ideal script for studying the relationship between neural discriminability (i.e., decodability) of the orthography and behavioral word reading skills since the mapping from orthography to phonology is relatively arbitrary in Chinese. This was also among the first empirical attempts to examine the extent to which decoding performance can predict current and subsequent word reading skills using a longitudinal design. Results showed that neural activation patterns of real characters can be distinguished from activation patterns for pseudo-characters, non-characters, and random stroke combinations in both younger and older children. Topography of the transformed classifier weights revealed two distinct cognitive sub-processes underlying single character recognition, but temporal generalization analysis suggested common neural mechanisms between the distinct cognitive sub-processes. Suggestive evidence from correlational and hierarchical regression analyses showed that decoding performance, assessed on average 2 months before the year 2 behavioral testing, predicted both year 1 word reading performance and the development of word reading fluency over the year. Results demonstrate that decoding performance, one indicator of how the neural system is functionally organized in processing characters and character-like stimuli, can serve as a useful neural marker in predicting current word reading skills and the capacity to learn to read.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kelvin F H Lui
- Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
| | - Jason C M Lo
- Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
| | - Urs Maurer
- Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.,Brain and Mind Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
| | - Connie S-H Ho
- Department of Psychology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
| | - Catherine McBride
- Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.,Brain and Mind Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
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37
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Engström E, Kallioinen P, Lindgren M, Nakeva von Mentzer C, Sahlén B, Lyxell B, Uhlén I. Computer-assisted reading intervention for children with hearing impairment using cochlear implants: Effects on auditory event-related potentials and mismatch negativity. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol 2020; 137:110229. [PMID: 32896345 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijporl.2020.110229] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2020] [Revised: 06/22/2020] [Accepted: 06/23/2020] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES The primary aim was to find out whether a computer-assisted reading intervention program with a phonic approach can affect event-related (ERPs) and mismatch negativity (MMN) in hearing impaired (HI) children using cochlear implants (CIs). METHODS This study involved a test group of 15 HI children with CIs and a control group of 14 normal hearing (NH) children. The children were 4 years and 10 months to 8 years and 1 month old. ERPs were recorded immediately before and after 4 weeks of training with a computer-assisted reading intervention, GraphoGame. A multi-feature paradigm, Optimum-1, was used, i.e. a standard stimulus alternated with five different deviants: gap intensity, pitch, location and duration. MMN was calculated from the mean amplitude ERP of each deviant minus the standard stimulus response in a specific time interval, 80 - 224 ms. Repeated measures ANOVA was used for the statistical analysis. RESULTS The results did not show any significant changes with the computerassisted training in the ERPs and MMNs among the HI children with CIs. The presence of both MMN and a positive mismatch response (pMMR), which might reflect an immaturity, complicates interpreting the results in this age group. Individually, there was a mix of MMNs and pMMRs among all participants, pre and post training, and the change of each deviant after intervention was not predictable. CONCLUSIONS There are no significant changes in ERP or MMN after intervention, however lack of significances must be interpreted with caution. Besides the presence of both MMNs and pMMRs, only modest changes are to be expected on an individual basis and small samples hinder making statistical conclusions regarding the training's effects. The study contributes to some more descriptive pieces of ERPs and MMNs among the HI children with CIs. The issues of MMN and pMMR are highlighted.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elisabet Engström
- Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology (CLINTEC), Karolinska Institutet, 171 77, Stockholm, Sweden; Department of Otoneurology, Karolinska University Hospital, 141 86, Stockholm, Sweden.
| | - Petter Kallioinen
- Department of Linguistics, Stockholm University, 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden.
| | - Magnus Lindgren
- Department of Psychology, Lund University, 221 00, Lund, Sweden; Cognition, Communication & Learning, Lund University, 221 00, Lund, Sweden.
| | | | - Birgitta Sahlén
- Lund University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Clinical Sciences, Logopedics, Phoniatrics & Audiology, Lasarettsgatan 21, 22185, Lund, Sweden; Cognition, Communication & Learning, Lund University, 221 00, Lund, Sweden.
| | - Björn Lyxell
- Department of Behavorial Sciences and Learning, Swedish Institute for Disability Research, Linköping University, 581 83, Linköping, Sweden; Department of Special Needs Education, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
| | - Inger Uhlén
- Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology (CLINTEC), Karolinska Institutet, 171 77, Stockholm, Sweden; Department of Otoneurology, Karolinska University Hospital, 141 86, Stockholm, Sweden.
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Kailaheimo-Lönnqvist L, Virtala P, Fandakova Y, Partanen E, Leppänen PHT, Thiede A, Kujala T. Infant event-related potentials to speech are associated with prelinguistic development. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2020; 45:100831. [PMID: 32911229 PMCID: PMC7486617 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2020.100831] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2020] [Revised: 06/06/2020] [Accepted: 07/27/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Speech processing and prelinguistic skills studied in a large longitudinal sample. Auditory ERPs predicted prelinguistic development in infancy in LCS models. P1 amplitude at 6 months predicted prelinguistic development between 6 and 12 months. MMR to a frequency change was associated with prelinguistic skills at 6 months. Infants’ neural speech processing can help to predict early language development.
Neural auditory processing and prelinguistic communication build the foundation for later language development, but how these two are associated is not well known. The current study investigated how neural speech processing is associated with the level and development of prelinguistic skills in 102 infants. We recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) in 6-months-olds to assess the neural detection of a pseudoword (obligatory responses), as well as the neural discrimination of changes in the pseudoword (mismatch responses, MMRs). Prelinguistic skills were assessed at 6 and 12 months of age with a parental questionnaire (Infant-Toddler Checklist). The association between the ERPs and prelinguistic skills was examined using latent change score models, a method specifically constructed for longitudinal analyses and explicitly modeling intra-individual change. The results show that a large obligatory P1 at 6 months of age predicted strong improvement in prelinguistic skills between 6 and 12 months of age. The MMR to a frequency change was associated with the concurrent level of prelinguistic skills, but not with the improvement of the skills. Overall, our results highlight the strong association between ERPs and prelinguistic skills, possibly offering opportunities for early detection of atypical linguistic and communicative development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Linda Kailaheimo-Lönnqvist
- Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Haartmaninkatu 3, 00290, Helsinki, Finland.
| | - Paula Virtala
- Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Haartmaninkatu 3, 00290, Helsinki, Finland.
| | - Yana Fandakova
- Center for Lifespan Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Lentzeallee 94 14195, Berlin, Germany.
| | - Eino Partanen
- Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Haartmaninkatu 3, 00290, Helsinki, Finland.
| | - Paavo H T Leppänen
- Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Mattilanniemi 6, 40014, Jyväskylä, Finland.
| | - Anja Thiede
- Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Haartmaninkatu 3, 00290, Helsinki, Finland.
| | - Teija Kujala
- Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Haartmaninkatu 3, 00290, Helsinki, Finland.
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Ortiz-Mantilla S, Realpe-Bonilla T, Benasich AA. Early Interactive Acoustic Experience with Non-speech Generalizes to Speech and Confers a Syllabic Processing Advantage at 9 Months. Cereb Cortex 2020; 29:1789-1801. [PMID: 30722000 PMCID: PMC6418390 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhz001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2018] [Revised: 12/04/2018] [Accepted: 01/07/2019] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
During early development, the infant brain is highly plastic and sensory experiences modulate emerging cortical maps, enhancing processing efficiency as infants set up key linguistic precursors. Early interactive acoustic experience (IAE) with spectrotemporally-modulated non-speech has been shown to facilitate optimal acoustic processing and generalizes to novel non-speech sounds at 7-months-of-age. Here we demonstrate that effects of non-speech IAE endure well beyond the immediate training period and robustly generalize to speech processing. Infants who received non-speech IAE differed at 9-months-of-age from both naïve controls and those with only passive acoustic exposure, demonstrating broad modulation of oscillatory dynamics. For the standard syllable, increased high-gamma (>70 Hz) power within auditory cortices indicates that IAE fosters native speech processing, facilitating establishment of phonemic representations. The higher left beta power seen may reflect increased linking of sensory information and corresponding articulatory patterns, while bilateral decreases in theta power suggest more mature automatized speech processing, as less neuronal resources were allocated to process syllabic information. For the deviant syllable, left-lateralized gamma (<70 Hz) enhancement suggests IAE promotes phonemic-related discrimination abilities. Theta power increases in right auditory cortex, known for favoring slow-rate decoding, implies IAE facilitates the more demanding processing of the sporadic deviant syllable.
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Affiliation(s)
- Silvia Ortiz-Mantilla
- Center for Molecular & Behavioral Neuroscience, Rutgers University-Newark, 197 University Avenue, Newark, NJ, USA
| | - Teresa Realpe-Bonilla
- Center for Molecular & Behavioral Neuroscience, Rutgers University-Newark, 197 University Avenue, Newark, NJ, USA
| | - April A Benasich
- Center for Molecular & Behavioral Neuroscience, Rutgers University-Newark, 197 University Avenue, Newark, NJ, USA
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40
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Gabrick KS, Wu RT, Singh A, Persing JA, Alperovich M. Radiographic Severity of Metopic Craniosynostosis Correlates with Long-Term Neurocognitive Outcomes. Plast Reconstr Surg 2020; 145:1241-1248. [PMID: 32332546 DOI: 10.1097/prs.0000000000006746] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Reports of neurodevelopmental delays in adolescents with metopic craniosynostosis have ranged from 15 to 61 percent. Previously, event-related potentials have correlated preoperative radiographic severity with language deficiencies in infancy. This study sought to characterize neurocognitive testing at cranial maturity and correlate outcomes to preoperative radiographic severity. METHODS Patients diagnosed with metopic craniosynostosis who underwent surgical correction in infancy completed a neurodevelopmental battery evaluating age-normalized intelligence quotient, academic achievement, and visuomotor integration. Data were stratified by preoperative endocranial bifrontal angle (moderate, >124 degrees; severe, <124 degrees). Multiple variable regression was used to control measured intelligence and achievement for age at surgery, age at testing, parental education, and income. Significance was set at p < 0.05. RESULTS Twenty patients completed neurodevelopmental testing. Mean intelligence quotient was 111.7 ± 13 and academic achievement was similar to national averages (word reading, 53.4 percent; reading comprehension, 53.4 percent; reading composite, 53.5 percent; spelling, 44 percent; and math, 52.9 percent). Radiographic measurements revealed 36 percent of patients with moderate phenotype and 64 percent with severe. Patients with severe phenotypes had lower intelligence quotient measures and scored more poorly in every academic measure tested. Word reading (113 versus 95; p = 0.035) and reading composite (109 versus 98; p = 0.014) reached significance. CONCLUSIONS Overall, cranial mature patients with metopic craniosynostosis had above average intelligence quotient and academic achievement near the national mean. Long-term neurocognitive function was correlated to preoperative radiographic severity in metopic craniosynostosis, with more severe cases performing worse. CLINICAL QUESTION/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Risk, II.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kyle S Gabrick
- From the Department of Surgery, Section of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Yale School of Medicine
| | - Robin T Wu
- From the Department of Surgery, Section of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Yale School of Medicine
| | - Anusha Singh
- From the Department of Surgery, Section of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Yale School of Medicine
| | - John A Persing
- From the Department of Surgery, Section of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Yale School of Medicine
| | - Michael Alperovich
- From the Department of Surgery, Section of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Yale School of Medicine
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41
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Ladányi E, Persici V, Fiveash A, Tillmann B, Gordon RL. Is atypical rhythm a risk factor for developmental speech and language disorders? WILEY INTERDISCIPLINARY REVIEWS. COGNITIVE SCIENCE 2020; 11:e1528. [PMID: 32244259 PMCID: PMC7415602 DOI: 10.1002/wcs.1528] [Citation(s) in RCA: 59] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2019] [Revised: 03/07/2020] [Accepted: 03/09/2020] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
Although a growing literature points to substantial variation in speech/language abilities related to individual differences in musical abilities, mainstream models of communication sciences and disorders have not yet incorporated these individual differences into childhood speech/language development. This article reviews three sources of evidence in a comprehensive body of research aligning with three main themes: (a) associations between musical rhythm and speech/language processing, (b) musical rhythm in children with developmental speech/language disorders and common comorbid attentional and motor disorders, and (c) individual differences in mechanisms underlying rhythm processing in infants and their relationship with later speech/language development. In light of converging evidence on associations between musical rhythm and speech/language processing, we propose the Atypical Rhythm Risk Hypothesis, which posits that individuals with atypical rhythm are at higher risk for developmental speech/language disorders. The hypothesis is framed within the larger epidemiological literature in which recent methodological advances allow for large-scale testing of shared underlying biology across clinically distinct disorders. A series of predictions for future work testing the Atypical Rhythm Risk Hypothesis are outlined. We suggest that if a significant body of evidence is found to support this hypothesis, we can envision new risk factor models that incorporate atypical rhythm to predict the risk of developing speech/language disorders. Given the high prevalence of speech/language disorders in the population and the negative long-term social and economic consequences of gaps in identifying children at-risk, these new lines of research could potentially positively impact access to early identification and treatment. This article is categorized under: Linguistics > Language in Mind and Brain Neuroscience > Development Linguistics > Language Acquisition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Enikő Ladányi
- Department of Otolaryngology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
| | - Valentina Persici
- Department of Otolaryngology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.,Department of Psychology, Università degli Studi di Milano - Bicocca, Milan, Italy.,Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
| | - Anna Fiveash
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, Auditory Cognition and Psychoacoustics Team, CRNL, INSERM, University of Lyon 1, U1028, CNRS, UMR5292, Lyon, France
| | - Barbara Tillmann
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, Auditory Cognition and Psychoacoustics Team, CRNL, INSERM, University of Lyon 1, U1028, CNRS, UMR5292, Lyon, France
| | - Reyna L Gordon
- Department of Otolaryngology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.,Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.,Vanderbilt Genetics Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.,Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
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Kalashnikova M, Goswami U, Burnham D. Infant‐directed speech to infants at risk for dyslexia: A novel cross‐dyad design. INFANCY 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/infa.12329] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Marina Kalashnikova
- BCBL ‐ Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language San Sebastian Spain
- The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development Western Sydney University Penrith NSW Australia
| | - Usha Goswami
- Centre for Neuroscience in Education University of Cambridge Cambridge UK
| | - Denis Burnham
- The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development Western Sydney University Penrith NSW Australia
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Kalashnikova M, Goswami U, Burnham D. Novel word learning deficits in infants at family risk for dyslexia. DYSLEXIA (CHICHESTER, ENGLAND) 2020; 26:3-17. [PMID: 31994263 DOI: 10.1002/dys.1649] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2018] [Revised: 08/06/2019] [Accepted: 11/26/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Children of reading age diagnosed with dyslexia show deficits in reading and spelling skills, but early markers of later dyslexia are already present in infancy in auditory processing and phonological domains. Deficits in lexical development are not typically associated with dyslexia. Nevertheless, it is possible that early auditory/phonological deficits would have detrimental effects on the encoding and storage of novel lexical items. Word-learning difficulties have been demonstrated in school-aged dyslexic children using paired associate learning tasks, but earlier manifestations in infants who are at family risk for dyslexia have not been investigated. This study assessed novel word learning in 19-month-old infants at risk for dyslexia (by virtue of having one dyslexic parent) and infants not at risk for any developmental disorder. Infants completed a word-learning task that required them to map two novel words to their corresponding novel referents. Not at-risk infants showed increased looking time to the novel referents at test compared with at-risk infants. These findings demonstrate, for the first time, that at-risk infants show differences in novel word-learning (fast-mapping) tasks compared with not at-risk infants. Our findings have implications for the development and consolidation of early lexical and phonological skills in infants at family risk of later dyslexia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marina Kalashnikova
- BCBL Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language, San Sebastian, Spain
- The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Usha Goswami
- Centre for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Denis Burnham
- The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
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Cortesa CS, Hudac CM, Molfese DL. Dynamic effects of habituation and novelty detection on newborn event-related potentials. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2019; 199:104695. [PMID: 31610478 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2019.104695] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2018] [Revised: 08/28/2019] [Accepted: 09/05/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Newborns habituate to repeated auditory stimuli, and discriminate syllables, generating opportunities for early language learning. This study investigated trial-by-trial changes in newborn electrophysiological responses to auditory speech syllables as an index of habituation and novelty detection. Auditory event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from 16 term newborn infants, aged 1-3 days, in response to monosyllabic speech syllables presented during habituation and novelty detection tasks. Multilevel models demonstrated that newborns habituated to repeated auditory syllables, as ERP amplitude attenuated for a late-latency component over successive trials. Subsequently, during the novelty detection task, early- and late-latency component amplitudes decreased over successive trials for novel syllables only, indicating encoding of the novel speech syllable. We conclude that newborns dynamically encoded novel syllables over relatively short time periods, as indicated by a systematic change in response patterns with increased exposure. These results have important implications for understanding early precursors of learning and memory in newborns.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cathryn S Cortesa
- Department of Psychology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 238 Burnett Hall, Lincoln NE 68588, USA; University of Nebraska-Lincoln Center for Brain, Biology and Behavior, C89 East Stadium, Lincoln NE 68588, USA.
| | - Caitlin M Hudac
- Department of Psychology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 238 Burnett Hall, Lincoln NE 68588, USA; University of Nebraska-Lincoln Center for Brain, Biology and Behavior, C89 East Stadium, Lincoln NE 68588, USA
| | - Dennis L Molfese
- Department of Psychology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 238 Burnett Hall, Lincoln NE 68588, USA; University of Nebraska-Lincoln Center for Brain, Biology and Behavior, C89 East Stadium, Lincoln NE 68588, USA
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45
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Sharma M, Purdy SC, Humburg P. Cluster Analyses Reveals Subgroups of Children With Suspected Auditory Processing Disorders. Front Psychol 2019; 10:2481. [PMID: 31803088 PMCID: PMC6872645 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02481] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2019] [Accepted: 10/21/2019] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Some children appear to not hear well in class despite normal hearing sensitivity. These children may be referred for auditory processing disorder (APD) assessment but can also have attention, language, and/or reading disorders. Despite presenting with similar concerns regarding hearing difficulties in difficult listening conditions, the overall profile of deficits can vary in children with suspected or confirmed APD. The current study used cluster analysis to determine whether subprofiles of difficulties could be identified within a cohort of children presenting for auditory processing assessment. Methods Ninety school-aged children (7–13 years old) with suspected APDs were included in a cluster analysis. All children had their reading, language, cognition and auditory processing assessed. Parents also completed the Children’s Auditory Performance Scale (CHAPS). Cluster analysis was based on tasks where age-norms were available, including word reading (Castles and Coltheart irregular and non-words test), phonological awareness (Queensland University Inventory of Literacy), language [Comprehensive Language of Assessment-4, Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language (CASL)], sustained attention (Continuous Performance Test), working memory (digits forward and backward), and auditory processing [Frequency Pattern Test (FPT), Dichotic Digits Test (DDT)]. Hierarchical cluster analysis was undertaken to determine the optimal number of clusters for the data, followed by a k-means cluster analysis. Results Hierarchical cluster analysis suggested a four-group solution. The four subgroups can be summarized as follows: children with (1) global deficits, n = 35; (2) poor auditory processing with good word reading and phonological awareness skills, n = 22; (3) poor auditory processing with poor attention and memory but good language skills, n = 15; and (4) poor auditory processing and attention with good memory skills, n = 18. Conclusion The cluster analysis identified distinct subgroups of children. These subgroups display the variation in areas of difficulty observed across different studies in the literature (e.g., not every child with APD has an attention deficit), highlighting the heterogeneous nature of APD and the need to assess a range of skills in children with suspected APD. It would be valuable for future studies to independently verify these subgroups and to determine whether interventions can be optimized based on these subgroups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mridula Sharma
- Department of Linguistics, Australian Hearing Hub, Macquarie University, Macquarie Park, NSW, Australia.,The HEARing CRC, Audiology, Hearing and Speech Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia
| | - Suzanne C Purdy
- Speech Science, School of Psychology, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.,Eisdell Moore Centre for Hearing and Balance Research, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Peter Humburg
- Faculty of Human Sciences, Macquarie University, Macquarie Park, NSW, Australia
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46
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Gokula R, Sharma M, Cupples L, Valderrama JT. Comorbidity of Auditory Processing, Attention, and Memory in Children With Word Reading Difficulties. Front Psychol 2019; 10:2383. [PMID: 31695659 PMCID: PMC6817942 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02383] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2019] [Accepted: 10/07/2019] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVES To document the auditory processing, visual attention, digit memory, phonological processing, and receptive language abilities of individual children with identified word reading difficulties. DESIGN Twenty-five children with word reading difficulties and 28 control children with good word reading skills participated. All children were aged between 8 and 11 years, with normal hearing sensitivity and typical non-verbal intelligence. Both groups of children completed a test battery designed to assess their auditory processing, visual attention, digit memory, phonological processing, and receptive language. RESULTS When compared to children who were good readers, children with word reading difficulties obtained significantly lower average scores on tests of auditory processing, including the frequency pattern test, gaps in noise, frequency discrimination, Dichotic Digit difference Test, and Listening in Spatialized Noise. The two groups did not differ on the discrimination measures of sinusoidal amplitude modulation or iterated rippled noise. The results from children with word reading difficulties showed that 5 children (20%) had comorbid deficits in auditory processing, visual attention, and backward digit memory; whereas 12 children (48%) had comorbid auditory processing and visual attention deficits only, and 2 children (8%) had comorbid deficits in auditory processing and digit memory; the remaining children had only auditory processing, visual attention, or digit memory deficits. CONCLUSION The current study highlights the general co-existence of auditory processing, memory, and visual attention deficits in children with word reading difficulties. It is also noteworthy, however, that only one fifth of the current cohort had deficits across all measured tasks. Hence, our results also show the significant individual variability inherent in children with word reading difficulties.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rakshita Gokula
- Department of Linguistics, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- HEARing Cooperative Research Centre, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Mridula Sharma
- Department of Linguistics, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- HEARing Cooperative Research Centre, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
- Centre for Language Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Linda Cupples
- Department of Linguistics, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Centre for Language Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Joaquin T. Valderrama
- Department of Linguistics, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- HEARing Cooperative Research Centre, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
- National Acoustic Laboratories, Sydney, NSW, Australia
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47
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Kalashnikova M, Goswami U, Burnham D. Delayed development of phonological constancy in toddlers at family risk for dyslexia. Infant Behav Dev 2019; 57:101327. [PMID: 31207365 DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2019.101327] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2018] [Revised: 04/26/2019] [Accepted: 04/27/2019] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
Phonological constancy refers to infants' ability to disregard variations in the phonetic realisation of speech sounds that do not indicate lexical contrast, e.g., when listening to accented speech. In typically-developing infants, this ability develops between 15- and 19-months of age, coinciding with the consolidation of infants' native phonological competence and vocabulary growth. Here we investigated the developmental time course of phonological constancy in infants at family risk for developmental dyslexia, using a longitudinal design. Developmental dyslexia is a disorder affecting the acquisition of reading and spelling skills, and it also affects early auditory processing, speech perception, and lexical acquisition. Infants at-risk and not at-risk for dyslexia, based on a family history of dyslexia, participated when they were 15-, 19-, and 26-months of age. Phonological constancy was indexed by comparing at-risk and not at-risk infants' ability to recognise familiar words in two preferential looking tasks: (1) a task using words presented in their native accent, and (2) a task using words presented in a non-native accent. We expected a delay in phonological constancy for the at-risk infants. As predicted, in the non-native accent task, not at-risk infants recognised familiar words by 19 months, but at-risk infants did not. The control infants thus exhibited phonological constancy. By 26 months, at-risk toddlers did show successful word recognition in the native accent task. However, for the non-native accent task at 26 months, neither at-risk nor control infants showed familiar word recognition. These findings are discussed in terms of the impact of family risk for dyslexia on toddlers' consolidation of early phonological and lexical skills.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marina Kalashnikova
- BCBL. Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language, Donostia, Spain; The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University, Penrith, Australia.
| | - Usha Goswami
- Centre for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Denis Burnham
- The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University, Penrith, Australia
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48
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Leppänen PHT, Tóth D, Honbolygó F, Lohvansuu K, Hämäläinen JA, Demonet JF, Schulte-Körne G, Csépe V. Reproducibility of Brain Responses: High for Speech Perception, Low for Reading Difficulties. Sci Rep 2019; 9:8487. [PMID: 31186430 PMCID: PMC6560029 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-41992-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2017] [Accepted: 01/18/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Neuroscience findings have recently received critique on the lack of replications. To examine the reproducibility of brain indices of speech sound discrimination and their role in dyslexia, a specific reading difficulty, brain event-related potentials using EEG were measured using the same cross-linguistic passive oddball paradigm in about 200 dyslexics and 200 typically reading 8-12-year-old children from four countries with different native languages. Brain responses indexing speech and non-speech sound discrimination were extremely reproducible, supporting the validity and reliability of cognitive neuroscience methods. Significant differences between typical and dyslexic readers were found when examined separately in different country and language samples. However, reading group differences occurred at different time windows and for different stimulus types between the four countries. This finding draws attention to the limited generalizability of atypical brain response findings in children with dyslexia across language environments and raises questions about a common neurobiological factor for dyslexia. Our results thus show the robustness of neuroscience methods in general while highlighting the need for multi-sample studies in the brain research of language disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paavo H T Leppänen
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Brain Research, Department of Psychology, P.O. Box 35, 40014 University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland.
| | - Dénes Tóth
- Brain Imaging Centre, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 1519, Budapest, P.O. Box 286, Hungary
| | - Ferenc Honbolygó
- Brain Imaging Centre, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 1519, Budapest, P.O. Box 286, Hungary
| | - Kaisa Lohvansuu
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Brain Research, Department of Psychology, P.O. Box 35, 40014 University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
| | - Jarmo A Hämäläinen
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Brain Research, Department of Psychology, P.O. Box 35, 40014 University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
| | | | - Jean-Francois Demonet
- Université de Toulouse, UPS, Imagerie cérébrale et handicaps neurologiques UMR 825; CHU Purpan, Place du Dr Baylac, F-31059, Toulouse Cedex 9, France.,Leenaards Memory Center, Département Neurosciences Cliniques, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV) & University of Lausanne, Rue du Bugnon 46, CH-1011, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Gerd Schulte-Körne
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Nußbaumstr 5a, 80336, Munich, Germany
| | - Valéria Csépe
- Brain Imaging Centre, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 1519, Budapest, P.O. Box 286, Hungary
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49
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An extensive pattern of atypical neural speech-sound discrimination in newborns at risk of dyslexia. Clin Neurophysiol 2019; 130:634-646. [DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2019.01.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2018] [Revised: 01/11/2019] [Accepted: 01/14/2019] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
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50
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Adlof SM, Hogan TP. Understanding Dyslexia in the Context of Developmental Language Disorders. Lang Speech Hear Serv Sch 2019; 49:762-773. [PMID: 30458538 PMCID: PMC6430503 DOI: 10.1044/2018_lshss-dyslc-18-0049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2018] [Accepted: 07/15/2018] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this tutorial is to discuss the language basis of dyslexia in the context of developmental language disorders (DLDs). Whereas most studies have focused on the phonological skills of children with dyslexia, we bring attention to broader language skills. Method We conducted a focused literature review on the language basis of dyslexia from historical and theoretical perspectives with a special emphasis on the relation between dyslexia and DLD and on the development of broader language skills (e.g., vocabulary, syntax, and discourse) before and after the identification of dyslexia. Results We present clinically relevant information on the history of dyslexia as a language-based disorder, the operational definitions used to diagnose dyslexia in research and practice, the relation between dyslexia and DLD, and the language abilities of children with dyslexia. Conclusions We discuss 3 clinical implications for working with children with dyslexia in school settings: (a) Children with dyslexia—with and without comorbid DLDs—often have language deficits outside the phonological domain; (b) intervention should target a child's strengths and weaknesses relative to reading outcomes, regardless of diagnostic labels; and (c) those who have dyslexia, regardless of language abilities at the time of diagnosis, may be at risk for slower language acquisition across their lifetime. Longitudinal studies are needed to assess multiple language skills early, at the time of the diagnosis of dyslexia, and years later to better understand the complex development of language and reading in children with dyslexia.
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