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Lee MM, Stoodley CJ. Neural bases of reading fluency: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Neuropsychologia 2024; 202:108947. [PMID: 38964441 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2024.108947] [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: 06/29/2023] [Revised: 06/26/2024] [Accepted: 06/29/2024] [Indexed: 07/06/2024]
Abstract
Reading fluency, the ability to read quickly and accurately, is a critical marker of successful reading and is notoriously difficult to improve in reading disabled populations. Despite its importance to functional literacy, fluency is a relatively under-studied aspect of reading, and the neural correlates of reading fluency are not well understood. Here, we review the literature of the neural correlates of reading fluency as well as rapid automatized naming (RAN), a task that is robustly related to reading fluency. In a qualitative review of the neuroimaging literature, we evaluated structural and functional MRI studies of reading fluency in readers from a range of skill levels. This was followed by a quantitative activation likelihood estimate (ALE) meta-analysis of fMRI studies of reading speed and RAN measures. We anticipated that reading speed, relative to untimed reading and reading-related tasks, would harness ventral reading pathways that are thought to enable the fast, visual recognition of words. The qualitative review showed that speeded reading taps the entire canonical reading network. The meta-analysis indicated a stronger role of the ventral reading pathway in rapid reading and rapid naming. Both reviews identified regions outside the canonical reading network that contribute to reading fluency, such as the bilateral insula and superior parietal lobule. We suggest that fluent reading engages both domain-specific reading pathways as well as domain-general regions that support overall task performance and discuss future avenues of research to expand our understanding of the neural bases of fluent reading.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marissa M Lee
- Department of Neuroscience, American University, USA; Center for Applied Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Tufts University, USA
| | - Catherine J Stoodley
- Department of Neuroscience, American University, USA; Developing Brain Institute, Children's National Hospital, USA; Departments of Neurology and Pediatrics, The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, USA.
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2
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Li A, Yang R, Qu J, Dong J, Gu L, Mei L. Neural representation of phonological information during Chinese character reading. Hum Brain Mapp 2022; 43:4013-4029. [PMID: 35545935 PMCID: PMC9374885 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.25900] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2022] [Revised: 04/04/2022] [Accepted: 04/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous studies have revealed that phonological processing of Chinese characters elicited activation in the left prefrontal cortex, bilateral parietal cortex, and occipitotemporal regions. However, it is controversial what role the left middle frontal gyrus plays in Chinese character reading, and whether the core regions (e.g., the left superior temporal gyrus and supramarginal gyrus) for phonological processing of alphabetic languages are also involved in Chinese character reading. To address these questions, the present study used both univariate and multivariate analysis (i.e., representational similarity analysis, RSA) to explore neural representations of phonological information during Chinese character reading. Participants were scanned while performing a reading aloud task. Univariate activation analysis revealed a widely distributed network for word reading, including the bilateral inferior frontal gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, lateral temporal cortex, and occipitotemporal cortex. More importantly, RSA showed that the left prefrontal (i.e., the left middle frontal gyrus and left inferior frontal gyrus) and bilateral occipitotemporal areas (i.e., the left inferior and middle temporal gyrus and bilateral fusiform gyrus) represented phonological information of Chinese characters. These results confirmed the importance of the left middle frontal gyrus and regions in ventral pathway in representing phonological information of Chinese characters.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aqian Li
- Philosophy and Social Science Laboratory of Reading and Development in Children and Adolescents, South China Normal University, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, China.,School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China.,Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Rui Yang
- Philosophy and Social Science Laboratory of Reading and Development in Children and Adolescents, South China Normal University, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, China.,School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China.,Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Jing Qu
- Philosophy and Social Science Laboratory of Reading and Development in Children and Adolescents, South China Normal University, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, China.,School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China.,Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Jie Dong
- Philosophy and Social Science Laboratory of Reading and Development in Children and Adolescents, South China Normal University, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, China.,School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China.,Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Lala Gu
- Philosophy and Social Science Laboratory of Reading and Development in Children and Adolescents, South China Normal University, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, China.,School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China.,Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Leilei Mei
- Philosophy and Social Science Laboratory of Reading and Development in Children and Adolescents, South China Normal University, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, China
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Easson K, Al Dahhan NZ, Brien DC, Kirby JR, Munoz DP. Developmental Trends of Visual Processing of Letters and Objects Using Naming Speed Tasks. Front Hum Neurosci 2020; 14:562712. [PMID: 33362487 PMCID: PMC7758467 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2020.562712] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2020] [Accepted: 11/19/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Studying the typical development of reading is key to understanding the precise deficits that underlie reading disabilities. An important correlate of efficient reading is the speed of naming arrays of simple stimuli such as letters and pictures. In this cross-sectional study, we examined developmental changes in visual processing that occurs during letter and object naming from childhood to early adulthood in terms of behavioral task efficiency, associated articulation and eye movement parameters, and the coordination between them, as measured by eye-voice span in both the spatial and temporal domains. We used naming speed (NS) tasks, in which participants were required to name sets of letters or simple objects as quickly and as accurately as possible. Single stimulus manipulations were made to these tasks to make the stimuli either more visually and/or phonologically similar to one another in order to examine how these manipulations affected task performance and the coordination between speech and eye movements. Across development there was an increased efficiency in speech and eye movement performance and their coordination in both the spatial and temporal domains. Furthermore, manipulations to the phonological and visual similarity of specific letter and object stimuli revealed that orthographic processing played a greater role than phonological processing in performance, with the contribution of phonological processing diminishing across development. This comprehensive typical developmental trajectory provides a benchmark for clinical populations to elucidate the nature of the cognitive dysfunction underlying reading difficulties.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kaitlyn Easson
- Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada
| | - Noor Z Al Dahhan
- Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada
| | - Donald C Brien
- Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada
| | - John R Kirby
- Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada.,Faculty of Education, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada
| | - Douglas P Munoz
- Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada.,Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada
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Al Dahhan NZ, Kirby JR, Brien DC, Gupta R, Harrison A, Munoz DP. Understanding the biological basis of dyslexia at a neural systems level. Brain Commun 2020; 2:fcaa173. [PMID: 33305260 PMCID: PMC7713994 DOI: 10.1093/braincomms/fcaa173] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [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: 05/15/2020] [Revised: 07/17/2020] [Accepted: 08/03/2020] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
We examined the naming speed performance of 18 typically achieving and 16 dyslexic adults while simultaneously recording eye movements, articulations and fMRI data. Naming speed tasks, which require participants to name a list of letters or objects, have been proposed as a proxy for reading and are thought to recruit similar reading networks in the left hemisphere of the brain as more complex reading tasks. We employed letter and object naming speed tasks, with task manipulations to make the stimuli more or less phonologically and/or visually similar. Compared to typically achieving readers, readers with dyslexia had a poorer behavioural naming speed task performance, longer fixation durations, more regressions and increased activation in areas of the reading network in the left-hemisphere. Whereas increased network activation was positively associated with performance in dyslexics, it was negatively related to performance in typically achieving readers. Readers with dyslexia had greater bilateral activation and recruited additional regions involved with memory, namely the amygdala and hippocampus; in contrast, the typically achieving readers additionally activated the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Areas within the reading network were differentially activated by stimulus manipulations to the naming speed tasks. There was less efficient naming speed behavioural performance, longer fixation durations, more regressions and increased neural activity when letter stimuli were both phonologically and visually similar. Discussion focuses on the differences in activation within the reading network, how they are related to behavioural task differences, and how progress in furthering the understanding of the relationship between behavioural performance and brain activity can change the overall trajectories of children with reading difficulties by contributing to both early identification and remediation processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Noor Z Al Dahhan
- Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada
- Correspondence to: Noor Z. Al Dahhan, Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen’s University, Botterell Hall, 18 Stuart Street, Kingston, ON, K7L 3N6, Canada. E-mail:
| | - John R Kirby
- Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada
- Faculty of Education, Queen's University, Kingston, ON K7M 5R7, Canada
| | - Donald C Brien
- Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada
| | - Rina Gupta
- Regional Assessment and Resource Centre, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada
| | - Allyson Harrison
- Regional Assessment and Resource Centre, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada
| | - Douglas P Munoz
- Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada
- Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, K7L 3N6, Canada
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