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Pan Y, Frisson S, Federmeier KD, Jensen O. Early parafoveal semantic integration in natural reading. eLife 2024; 12:RP91327. [PMID: 38968325 PMCID: PMC11226228 DOI: 10.7554/elife.91327] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/07/2024] Open
Abstract
Humans can read and comprehend text rapidly, implying that readers might process multiple words per fixation. However, the extent to which parafoveal words are previewed and integrated into the evolving sentence context remains disputed. We investigated parafoveal processing during natural reading by recording brain activity and eye movements using MEG and an eye tracker while participants silently read one-line sentences. The sentences contained an unpredictable target word that was either congruent or incongruent with the sentence context. To measure parafoveal processing, we flickered the target words at 60 Hz and measured the resulting brain responses (i.e. Rapid Invisible Frequency Tagging, RIFT) during fixations on the pre-target words. Our results revealed a significantly weaker tagging response for target words that were incongruent with the previous context compared to congruent ones, even within 100ms of fixating the word immediately preceding the target. This reduction in the RIFT response was also found to be predictive of individual reading speed. We conclude that semantic information is not only extracted from the parafovea but can also be integrated with the previous context before the word is fixated. This early and extensive parafoveal processing supports the rapid word processing required for natural reading. Our study suggests that theoretical frameworks of natural reading should incorporate the concept of deep parafoveal processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yali Pan
- Centre for Human Brain Health, School of Psychology, University of BirminghamBirminghamUnited Kingdom
| | - Steven Frisson
- Centre for Human Brain Health, School of Psychology, University of BirminghamBirminghamUnited Kingdom
| | - Kara D Federmeier
- Department of Psychology, Program in Neuroscience, and the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of IllinoisChampaignUnited States
| | - Ole Jensen
- Centre for Human Brain Health, School of Psychology, University of BirminghamBirminghamUnited Kingdom
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Melcher D, Alaberkyan A, Anastasaki C, Liu X, Deodato M, Marsicano G, Almeida D. An early effect of the parafoveal preview on post-saccadic processing of English words. Atten Percept Psychophys 2024:10.3758/s13414-024-02916-4. [PMID: 38956003 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-024-02916-4] [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] [Accepted: 06/05/2024] [Indexed: 07/04/2024]
Abstract
A key aspect of efficient visual processing is to use current and previous information to make predictions about what we will see next. In natural viewing, and when looking at words, there is typically an indication of forthcoming visual information from extrafoveal areas of the visual field before we make an eye movement to an object or word of interest. This "preview effect" has been studied for many years in the word reading literature and, more recently, in object perception. Here, we integrated methods from word recognition and object perception to investigate the timing of the preview on neural measures of word recognition. Through a combined use of EEG and eye-tracking, a group of multilingual participants took part in a gaze-contingent, single-shot saccade experiment in which words appeared in their parafoveal visual field. In valid preview trials, the same word was presented during the preview and after the saccade, while in the invalid condition, the saccade target was a number string that turned into a word during the saccade. As hypothesized, the valid preview greatly reduced the fixation-related evoked response. Interestingly, multivariate decoding analyses revealed much earlier preview effects than previously reported for words, and individual decoding performance correlated with participant reading scores. These results demonstrate that a parafoveal preview can influence relatively early aspects of post-saccadic word processing and help to resolve some discrepancies between the word and object literatures.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Melcher
- Psychology Program, Division of Science, New York University Abu Dhabi, PO Box 129188, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
- Center for Brain and Health, NYUAD Research Institute, New York University Abu Dhabi, PO Box 129188, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
| | - Ani Alaberkyan
- Psychology Program, Division of Science, New York University Abu Dhabi, PO Box 129188, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
| | - Chrysi Anastasaki
- Psychology Program, Division of Science, New York University Abu Dhabi, PO Box 129188, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
| | - Xiaoyi Liu
- Psychology Program, Division of Science, New York University Abu Dhabi, PO Box 129188, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
- Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Washington Rd, Princeton, NJ, 08540, USA
| | - Michele Deodato
- Psychology Program, Division of Science, New York University Abu Dhabi, PO Box 129188, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
- Center for Brain and Health, NYUAD Research Institute, New York University Abu Dhabi, PO Box 129188, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
| | - Gianluca Marsicano
- Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Viale Berti Pichat 5, 40121, Bologna, Italy
- Centre for Studies and Research in Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Bologna, Via Rasi e Spinelli 176, 47023, Cesena, Italy
| | - Diogo Almeida
- Psychology Program, Division of Science, New York University Abu Dhabi, PO Box 129188, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
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Bonte M, Brem S. Unraveling individual differences in learning potential: A dynamic framework for the case of reading development. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2024; 66:101362. [PMID: 38447471 PMCID: PMC10925938 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2024.101362] [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: 07/06/2023] [Revised: 02/02/2024] [Accepted: 03/01/2024] [Indexed: 03/08/2024] Open
Abstract
Children show an enormous capacity to learn during development, but with large individual differences in the time course and trajectory of learning and the achieved skill level. Recent progress in developmental sciences has shown the contribution of a multitude of factors including genetic variation, brain plasticity, socio-cultural context and learning experiences to individual development. These factors interact in a complex manner, producing children's idiosyncratic and heterogeneous learning paths. Despite an increasing recognition of these intricate dynamics, current research on the development of culturally acquired skills such as reading still has a typical focus on snapshots of children's performance at discrete points in time. Here we argue that this 'static' approach is often insufficient and limits advancements in the prediction and mechanistic understanding of individual differences in learning capacity. We present a dynamic framework which highlights the importance of capturing short-term trajectories during learning across multiple stages and processes as a proxy for long-term development on the example of reading. This framework will help explain relevant variability in children's learning paths and outcomes and fosters new perspectives and approaches to study how children develop and learn.
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Affiliation(s)
- Milene Bonte
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience and Maastricht Brain Imaging Center, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands.
| | - Silvia Brem
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Psychiatry Zurich, University of Zurich, Switzerland; Neuroscience Center Zurich, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, Switzerland; URPP Adaptive Brain Circuits in Development and Learning (AdaBD), University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
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Shaverdi Y, Setarehdan SK, Treue S, Esghaei M. Orchestration of saccadic eye-movements by brain rhythms in macaque Frontal Eye Field. Sci Rep 2023; 13:22725. [PMID: 38123575 PMCID: PMC10733338 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-49346-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2023] [Accepted: 12/07/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Visual perception has been suggested to operate on temporal 'chunks' of sensory input, rather than on a continuous stream of visual information. Saccadic eye movements impose a natural rhythm on the sensory input, as periods of steady fixation between these rapid eye movements provide distinct temporal segments of information. Ideally, the timing of saccades should be precisely locked to the brain's rhythms of information processing. Here, we investigated such locking of saccades to rhythmic neural activity in rhesus monkeys performing a visual foraging task. We found that saccades are phase-locked to local field potential oscillations (especially, 9-22 Hz) in the Frontal Eye Field, with the phase of oscillations predictive of the saccade onset as early as 100 ms prior to these movements. Our data also indicate a functional role of this phase-locking in determining the direction of saccades. These findings show a tight-and likely important-link between oscillatory brain activity and rhythmic behavior that imposes a rhythmic temporal structure on sensory input, such as saccadic eye movements.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yeganeh Shaverdi
- Control and Intelligent Processing Center of Excellence, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
| | - Seyed Kamaledin Setarehdan
- Control and Intelligent Processing Center of Excellence, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
| | - Stefan Treue
- Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, German Primate Center - Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Kellnerweg 4, 37077, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Moein Esghaei
- Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, German Primate Center - Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Kellnerweg 4, 37077, Göttingen, Germany.
- Westa Higher Education Center, Karaj, Iran.
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Centanni TM. Neural Specialization for English and Arabic Print in Early Readers. NEUROBIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE (CAMBRIDGE, MASS.) 2023; 4:639-655. [PMID: 38213783 PMCID: PMC10783792 DOI: 10.1162/nol_a_00119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2023] [Accepted: 08/15/2023] [Indexed: 01/13/2024]
Abstract
Learning to read requires the specialization of a region in the left fusiform gyrus known as the visual word form area (VWFA). This region, which initially responds to faces and objects, develops specificity for print over a long trajectory of instruction and practice. VWFA neurons may be primed for print because of their pre-literate tuning properties, becoming specialized through top-down feedback mechanisms during learning. However, much of what is known about the VWFA comes from studies of Western orthographies, whose alphabets share common visual characteristics. Far less is known about the development of the VWFA for Arabic, which is a complex orthography and is significantly more difficult to achieve fluency in in reading. In the current study, electroencephalography responses were collected from first grade children in the United Arab Emirates learning to read in both English and Arabic. Children viewed words and false font strings in English and Arabic while performing a vigilance task. The P1 and N1 responses to all stimulus categories were quantified in two occipital and two parietal electrodes as well as the alpha band signal across all four electrodes of interest. Analysis revealed a significantly stronger N1 response to English compared to Arabic and decreased alpha power to Arabic compared to English. These findings suggest a fundamental difference in neural plasticity for these two distinct orthographies, even when instruction is concurrent. Future work is needed to determine whether VWFA specialization for Arabic takes longer than more well-studied orthographies and if differences in reading instruction approaches help accelerate this process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tracy M. Centanni
- Department of Psychology, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX, USA
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
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