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Zhang Y, Huang J, Huang L, Peng L, Wang X, Zhang Q, Zeng Y, Yang J, Li Z, Sun X, Liang S. Atypical characteristic changes of surface morphology and structural covariance network in developmental dyslexia. Neurol Sci 2024; 45:2261-2270. [PMID: 37996775 DOI: 10.1007/s10072-023-07193-x] [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: 08/24/2023] [Accepted: 11/03/2023] [Indexed: 11/25/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Developmental dyslexia (DD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is characterized by difficulties with all aspects of information acquisition in the written word, including slow and inaccurate word recognition. The neural basis behind DD has not been fully elucidated. METHOD The study included 22 typically developing (TD) children, 16 children with isolated spelling disorder (SpD), and 20 children with DD. The cortical thickness, folding index, and mean curvature of Broca's area, including the triangular part of the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFGtriang) and the opercular part of the left inferior frontal gyrus, were assessed to explore the differences of surface morphology among the TD, SpD, and DD groups. Furthermore, the structural covariance network (SCN) of the triangular part of the left inferior frontal gyrus was analyzed to explore the changes of structural connectivity in the SpD and DD groups. RESULTS The DD group showed higher curvature and cortical folding of the left IFGtriang than the TD group and SpD group. In addition, compared with the TD group and the SpD group, the structural connectivity between the left IFGtriang and the left middle-frontal gyrus and the right mid-orbital frontal gyrus was increased in the DD group, and the structural connectivity between the left IFGtriang and the right precuneus and anterior cingulate was decreased in the DD group. CONCLUSION DD had atypical structural connectivity in brain regions related to visual attention, memory and which might impact the information input and integration needed for reading and spelling.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yusi Zhang
- National-Local Joint Engineering Research Center of Rehabilitation Medicine Technology, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fuzhou, 350122, China
- College of Rehabilitation Medicine, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fuzhou, 350122, China
- Rehabilitation Industry Institute, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fuzhou, 350122, China
- Fujian Key Laboratory of Cognitive Rehabilitation, Affiliated Rehabilitation Hospital of Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fuzhou, 350001, Fujian, China
| | - Jiayang Huang
- National-Local Joint Engineering Research Center of Rehabilitation Medicine Technology, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fuzhou, 350122, China
- College of Rehabilitation Medicine, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fuzhou, 350122, China
| | - Li Huang
- National-Local Joint Engineering Research Center of Rehabilitation Medicine Technology, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fuzhou, 350122, China
- College of Rehabilitation Medicine, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fuzhou, 350122, China
| | - Lixin Peng
- National-Local Joint Engineering Research Center of Rehabilitation Medicine Technology, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fuzhou, 350122, China
- College of Rehabilitation Medicine, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fuzhou, 350122, China
| | - Xiuxiu Wang
- National-Local Joint Engineering Research Center of Rehabilitation Medicine Technology, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fuzhou, 350122, China
- College of Rehabilitation Medicine, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fuzhou, 350122, China
| | - Qingqing Zhang
- College of Rehabilitation Medicine, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fuzhou, 350122, China
| | - Yi Zeng
- College of Rehabilitation Medicine, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fuzhou, 350122, China
| | - Junchao Yang
- National-Local Joint Engineering Research Center of Rehabilitation Medicine Technology, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fuzhou, 350122, China
- College of Rehabilitation Medicine, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fuzhou, 350122, China
| | - Zuanfang Li
- National-Local Joint Engineering Research Center of Rehabilitation Medicine Technology, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fuzhou, 350122, China
| | - Xi Sun
- College of Information Engineering, Nanyang Institute of Technology, Nanyang, 473004, China
| | - Shengxiang Liang
- National-Local Joint Engineering Research Center of Rehabilitation Medicine Technology, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fuzhou, 350122, China.
- Rehabilitation Industry Institute, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fuzhou, 350122, China.
- Fujian Key Laboratory of Cognitive Rehabilitation, Affiliated Rehabilitation Hospital of Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fuzhou, 350001, Fujian, China.
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Saini SS, Kumar K, Anand A. Unveiling the Neurobiology of Specific Learning Disorders: Insights from Cognitive Neuroscience. Ann Neurosci 2023; 30:217-218. [PMID: 38020402 PMCID: PMC10662270 DOI: 10.1177/09727531231211052] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Satvinder Singh Saini
- Department of Psychiatry, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India
| | - Krishan Kumar
- Department of Psychiatry, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India
| | - Akshay Anand
- Neuroscience Research Lab, Department of Neurology, PGIMER, Chandigarh, India
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Chyl K, Gentile F, Dębska A, Dynak A, Łuniewska M, Wójcik M, Bonte M, Jednoróg K. Early reading skills and the ventral occipito-temporal cortex organization. Cortex 2023; 160:134-151. [PMID: 36841094 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2023.01.004] [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: 05/18/2022] [Revised: 10/31/2022] [Accepted: 01/03/2023] [Indexed: 02/09/2023]
Abstract
Learning to read impacts the way the ventral occipitotemporal cortex (VOT) reorganizes. The postulated underlying mechanism of neuronal recycling was recently revisited. Neuroimaging data showed that voxels weakly specialized for visual processing keep their initial category selectivity (i.e., object or face processing) while acquiring an additional and stronger responsivity to written words. Here, we examined a large and diverse group of six-year-olds prior to formal literacy training (N = 72) using various data analysis techniques (univariate, multivariate, rapid adaptation) and types of stimuli (print, false fonts, houses, faces) to further explore how VOT changes and adapts to the novel skill of reading. We found that among several visual stimuli categories only print activated a wide network of language related areas outside of the bilateral visual cortex, and the level of reading skill was related to the strength of this activation, showing the development of the reading circuit. Rapid adaptation was not directly related to the level of reading skill in the young children studied here, but it clearly revealed the emergence of the reading network in readers. Most importantly, we found that the reorganization of the VOT is not in fact an "invasion" by reading acquisition-voxels previously activated for faces started to respond more for print, while at the same time keeping their previous function. We can thus conclude that the revised hypothesis of neuronal recycling is supported by our data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katarzyna Chyl
- Laboratory of Language Neurobiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland; The International Studies Unit, The Educational Research Institute, Warsaw, Poland; Maastricht Brain Imaging Center and Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands.
| | - Francesco Gentile
- Maastricht Brain Imaging Center and Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands
| | - Agnieszka Dębska
- Laboratory of Language Neurobiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Agnieszka Dynak
- Laboratory of Language Neurobiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland; Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Magdalena Łuniewska
- Laboratory of Language Neurobiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland; Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Marta Wójcik
- Laboratory of Language Neurobiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Milene Bonte
- Maastricht Brain Imaging Center and Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands
| | - Katarzyna Jednoróg
- Laboratory of Language Neurobiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
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Marks RA, Eggleston RL, Sun X, Yu CL, Zhang K, Nickerson N, Hu XS, Kovelman I. The neurocognitive basis of morphological processing in typical and impaired readers. ANNALS OF DYSLEXIA 2022; 72:361-383. [PMID: 34255265 PMCID: PMC9663212 DOI: 10.1007/s11881-021-00239-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2021] [Accepted: 06/21/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Morphological awareness, or sensitivity to units of meaning, is an essential component of reading comprehension development. Current neurobiological models of reading and dyslexia have largely been built upon phonological processing models, yet reading for meaning is as essential as reading for sound. To fill this gap, the present study explores the relation between children's neural organization for morphological awareness and successful reading comprehension in typically developing and impaired readers. English-speaking children ages 6-11 (N = 97; mean age = 8.6 years, 25% reading impaired) completed standard literacy assessments as well as an auditory morphological awareness task during functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) neuroimaging, which included root (e.g., PERSON + al) and derivational (e.g., quick + LY) morphology. Regression analyses revealed that children's morphological awareness predicted unique variance in reading comprehension above and beyond demographic factors, vocabulary knowledge, and decoding ability. Neuroimaging analyses further revealed that children with stronger reading comprehension showed greater engagement of brain regions associated with integrating sound and meaning, including left inferior frontal, middle temporal, and inferior parietal regions. This effect was especially notable for the derivational morphology condition that involved manipulating more analytically demanding and semantically abstract units (e.g., un-, -ly, -ion). Together, these findings suggest that successful reading comprehension, and its deficit in dyslexia, may be related to the ability to manipulate morpho-phonological units of word meaning and structure. These results inform theoretical perspectives on literacy and children's neural architecture for learning to read.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca A Marks
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.
| | - Rachel L Eggleston
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA
| | - Xin Sun
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA
| | - Chi-Lin Yu
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA
| | - Kehui Zhang
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA
| | - Nia Nickerson
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA
| | - Xiao-Su Hu
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA
- Department of Biologic and Materials Sciences & Prosthodontics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA
| | - Ioulia Kovelman
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA
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Braid J, Richlan F. The Functional Neuroanatomy of Reading Intervention. Front Neurosci 2022; 16:921931. [PMID: 35784836 PMCID: PMC9243375 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.921931] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2022] [Accepted: 05/31/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
The present article reviews the literature on the brain mechanisms underlying reading improvements following behavioral intervention for reading disability. This includes evidence of neuroplasticity concerning functional brain activation, brain structure, and brain connectivity related to reading intervention. Consequently, the functional neuroanatomy of reading intervention is compared to the existing literature on neurocognitive models and brain abnormalities associated with reading disability. A particular focus is on the left hemisphere reading network including left occipito-temporal, temporo-parietal, and inferior frontal language regions. In addition, potential normalization/compensation mechanisms involving right hemisphere cortical regions, as well as bilateral sub-cortical and cerebellar regions are taken into account. The comparison of the brain systems associated with reading intervention and the brain systems associated with reading disability enhances our understanding of the neurobiological basis of typical and atypical reading development. All in all, however, there is a lack of sufficient evidence regarding rehabilitative brain mechanisms in reading disability, which we discuss in this review.
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Provazza S, Carretti B, Giofrè D, Adams AM, Montesano L, Roberts D. Shallow or deep? The impact of orthographic depth on visual processing impairments in developmental dyslexia. ANNALS OF DYSLEXIA 2022; 72:171-196. [PMID: 35286579 PMCID: PMC8942915 DOI: 10.1007/s11881-021-00249-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/28/2021] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
The extent to which impaired visual and phonological mechanisms may contribute to the manifestation of developmental dyslexia across orthographies of varying depth has yet to be fully established. By adopting a cross-linguistic approach, the current study aimed to explore the nature of visual and phonological processing in developmental dyslexic readers of shallow (Italian) and deep (English) orthographies, and specifically the characterisation of visual processing deficits in relation to orthographic depth. To achieve this aim, we administered a battery of non-reading visual and phonological tasks. Developmental dyslexics performed worse than typically developing readers on all visual and phonological tasks. Critically, readers of the shallow orthography were disproportionately impaired on visual processing tasks. Our results suggest that the impaired reading and associated deficits observed in developmental dyslexia are anchored by dual impairments to visual and phonological mechanisms that underpin reading, with the magnitude of the visual deficit varying according to orthographic depth.
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Affiliation(s)
- Serena Provazza
- School of Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK
| | - Barbara Carretti
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padua, Italy
| | - David Giofrè
- School of Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK
- Department of Educational Sciences, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy
| | - Anne-Marie Adams
- School of Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK
| | | | - Daniel Roberts
- Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, Division of Psychology, College of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Brunel University London, Uxbridge, UK.
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7
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Cancer A, Antonietti A. Music-Based and Auditory-Based Interventions for Reading Difficulties: A Literature Review. Heliyon 2022; 8:e09293. [PMID: 35497042 PMCID: PMC9048091 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e09293] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2021] [Revised: 11/26/2021] [Accepted: 04/13/2022] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Remediation of reading difficulties through music and auditory-based interventions in children with impairments in reading (such as developmental dyslexia) has been suggested in light of the putative neural and cognitive overlaps between the music and language domains. Several studies had explored the effect of music training on reading development, showing mixed results. However, to date, the meta-analyses on this topic did not differentiate the studies on typical children from those on children with reading difficulties. To draw a clear picture of the remedial effects of music-based and auditory-based interventions, the present review of the literature included studies on struggling readers only. Eighteen studies have been categorized according to the type of the main training activity – either specific auditory training or more broad music training – and the combination with reading exercises. The reviewed studies showed that musical and auditory interventions yielded a positive, but not consistent, effect on reading. Nevertheless, significantly larger improvements of phonological abilities, relative to the control conditions, were overall reported. These findings support the hypothesis of a transfer effect of musical and auditory training on phonological and literacy skills in children with reading difficulties.
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8
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Qu J, Pang Y, Liu X, Cao Y, Huang C, Mei L. Task modulates the orthographic and phonological representations in the bilateral ventral Occipitotemporal cortex. Brain Imaging Behav 2022; 16:1695-1707. [PMID: 35247162 DOI: 10.1007/s11682-022-00641-w] [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] [Accepted: 01/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
As a key area in word reading, the left ventral occipitotemporal cortex is proposed for abstract orthographic processing, and its middle part has even been labeled as the visual word form area. Because the definition of the VWFA largely varies and the reading task differs across studies, the function of the left ventral occipitotemporal cortex in word reading is continuingly debated on whether this region is specific for orthographic processing or be involved in an interactive framework. By using representational similarity analysis (RSA), this study examined information representation in the VWFA at the individual level and the modulatory effect of reading task. Twenty-four subjects were scanned while performing the explicit (i.e., the naming task) and implicit (i.e., the perceptual task) reading tasks. Activation analysis showed that the naming task elicited greater activation in regions related to phonological processing (e.g., the bilateral prefrontal cortex and temporoparietal cortex), while the perceptual task recruited greater activation in visual cortex and default mode network (e.g., the bilateral middle frontal gyrus, angular gyrus, and the right middle temporal gyrus). More importantly, RSA also showed that task modulated information representation in the bilateral anterior occipitotemporal cortex and VWFA. Specifically, ROI-based RSA revealed enhanced orthographic and phonological representations in the bilateral anterior fusiform cortex and VWFA in the naming task relative to the perceptual task. These results suggest that lexical representation in the VWFA is influenced by the demand of phonological processing, which supports the interactive account of the VWFA.
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Affiliation(s)
- 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, 510631, China
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China
| | - Yingdan Pang
- 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, 510631, China
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China
| | - Xiaoyu Liu
- 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, 510631, China
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China
| | - Ying Cao
- 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, 510631, China
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China
| | - Chengmei Huang
- 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, 510631, China
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, 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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Gao Y, Meng X, Bai Z, Liu X, Zhang M, Li H, Ding G, Liu L, Booth JR. Left and Right Arcuate Fasciculi Are Uniquely Related to Word Reading Skills in Chinese-English Bilingual Children. NEUROBIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE (CAMBRIDGE, MASS.) 2022; 3:109-131. [PMID: 37215330 PMCID: PMC10158580 DOI: 10.1162/nol_a_00051] [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: 10/25/2020] [Accepted: 07/10/2021] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
Whether reading in different writing systems recruits language-unique or language-universal neural processes is a long-standing debate. Many studies have shown the left arcuate fasciculus (AF) to be involved in phonological and reading processes. In contrast, little is known about the role of the right AF in reading, but some have suggested that it may play a role in visual spatial aspects of reading or the prosodic components of language. The right AF may be more important for reading in Chinese due to its logographic and tonal properties, but this hypothesis has yet to be tested. We recruited a group of Chinese-English bilingual children (8.2 to 12.0 years old) to explore the common and unique relation of reading skill in English and Chinese to fractional anisotropy (FA) in the bilateral AF. We found that both English and Chinese reading skills were positively correlated with FA in the rostral part of the left AF-direct segment. Additionally, English reading skill was positively correlated with FA in the caudal part of the left AF-direct segment, which was also positively correlated with phonological awareness. In contrast, Chinese reading skill was positively correlated with FA in certain segments of the right AF, which was positively correlated with visual spatial ability, but not tone discrimination ability. Our results suggest that there are language universal substrates of reading across languages, but that certain left AF nodes support phonological mechanisms important for reading in English, whereas certain right AF nodes support visual spatial mechanisms important for reading in Chinese.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yue Gao
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Xiangzhi Meng
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavioral and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China
- PekingU-PolyU Center for Child Development and Learning, Beijing, China
| | - Zilin Bai
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Xin Liu
- Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Manli Zhang
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience and Maastricht Brain Imaging Center, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Hehui Li
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Guosheng Ding
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Li Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - James R. Booth
- Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
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Xia Z, Yang T, Cui X, Hoeft F, Liu H, Zhang X, Shu H, Liu X. Neurofunctional basis underlying audiovisual integration of print and speech sound in Chinese children. Eur J Neurosci 2022; 55:806-826. [PMID: 35032071 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.15597] [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: 05/15/2021] [Revised: 11/10/2021] [Accepted: 01/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Effortless print-sound integration is essential to reading development, and the superior temporal cortex (STC) is the most critical brain region. However, to date, the conclusion is almost restricted to alphabetic orthographies. To examine the neural basis in non-alphabetic languages and its relationship with reading abilities, we conducted a functional magnetic resonance imaging study in typically developing Chinese children. Two neuroimaging-based indicators of audiovisual processing-additive enhancement (higher activation in the congruent than the average activation of unimodal conditions) and neural integration (different activations between the congruent versus incongruent conditions)-were used to investigate character-sounds (opaque) and pinyin-sounds (transparent) processing. We found additive enhancement in bilateral STCs processing both character and pinyin stimulations. Moreover, the neural integrations in the left STC for the two scripts were strongly correlated. In terms of differentiation, first, areas beyond the STCs showed additive enhancement in processing pinyin-sounds. Second, while the bilateral STCs, left inferior/middle frontal and parietal regions manifested a striking neural integration (incongruent > congruent) for character-sounds, no significant clusters were revealed for pinyin-sounds. Finally, the neural integration in the left middle frontal gyrus for characters was specifically associated with silent reading comprehension proficiency, indicating automatic semantic processing during implicit character-sound integration. In contrast, the neural integration in the left STC for pinyin was specifically associated with oral reading fluency that relies on grapho-phonological mapping. To summarize, this study revealed both script-universal and script-specific neurofunctional substrates of print-sound integration as well as their processing- and region-dependent associations with reading abilities in typical Chinese children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhichao Xia
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, China.,School of Systems Science, Beijing Normal University, China
| | - Ting Yang
- Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, China.,Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, China
| | - Xin Cui
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, China.,Haskins Laboratories, USA
| | - Fumiko Hoeft
- Haskins Laboratories, USA.,Department of Psychological Sciences and Brain Imaging Research Center, University of Connecticut, USA.,Department of Psychiatry and Weill Institute for Neurosciences and Dyslexia Center, University of California, San Francisco, USA.,Department of Neuropsychiatry, Keio University School of Medicine, Japan
| | - Hong Liu
- Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, China.,Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, China.,Department of Psychological Sciences and Brain Imaging Research Center, University of Connecticut, USA
| | - Xianglin Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, China
| | - Hua Shu
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, China
| | - Xiangping Liu
- Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, China.,Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, China
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Zou L, Xia Z, Zhang W, Zhang X, Shu H. Brain responses during auditory word recognition vary with reading ability in Chinese school-age children. Dev Sci 2021; 25:e13216. [PMID: 34910843 DOI: 10.1111/desc.13216] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2021] [Revised: 10/07/2021] [Accepted: 12/06/2021] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
While the close relationship between the brain system for speech processing and reading development is well-documented in alphabetic languages, whether and how such a link exists in children in a language without systematic grapheme-phoneme correspondence has not been directly investigated. In the present study, we measured Chinese children's brain activation during an auditory lexical decision task with functional magnetic resonance imaging. The results showed that brain areas distributed across the temporal and frontal lobes activated during spoken word recognition. In addition, the left occipitotemporal cortex (OTC) was recruited, especially under the real word condition, thus confirming the involvement of this orthographic-related area in spoken language processing in Chinese children. Importantly, activation of the left temporoparietal cortex (TPC) in response to words and pseudowords was positively correlated with children's reading ability, thus supporting the salient role phonological processing plays in Chinese reading in the developing brain. Furthermore, children with higher reading scores also increasingly recruited the left anterior OTC to make decisions on the lexical status of pseudowords, indicating that higher-skill children tend to search abstract lexical representations more deeply than lower-skill children in deciding whether spoken syllables are real. In contrast, the precuneus was more related to trial-by-trial reaction time in lower-skill children, suggesting that effort-related neural systems differ among pupils with varying reading abilities. Taken together, these findings suggest a strong link between the neural correlates of speech processing and reading ability in Chinese children, thus supporting a universal basis underlying reading development across languages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lijuan Zou
- School of Psychology, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, China.,School of Psychology and Education, Zaozhuang University, Zaozhuang, China
| | - Zhichao Xia
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.,School of Systems Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Wei Zhang
- College of Chemical Engineering and Material Science, Zaozhuang University, Zaozhuang, China
| | - Xianglin Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Hua Shu
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
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12
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Cancer A, Vanutelli ME, Lucchiari C, Antonietti A. Using Neurofeedback to Restore Inter-Hemispheric Imbalance: A Study Protocol for Adults With Dyslexia. Front Psychol 2021; 12:768061. [PMID: 34803851 PMCID: PMC8602052 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.768061] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2021] [Accepted: 10/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Neurofunctional models of developmental dyslexia (DD) point out disruption of the left-lateralized reading network. In individuals with DD, the left temporo-parietal (TP) regions are underactivated during reading tasks and a dysfunctional activation of the contralateral regions is reported. After a successful reading intervention, left TP lateralization was found to be increased in children with DD. Previous studies measured the effect of modulating the excitability of the left TP cortex using non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) in individuals with reading difficulties, showing significant reading improvements. NIBS exclusion criteria and safety guidelines may limit its application in settings without medical supervision and in younger populations. Neurofeedback (NF) training could be an alternative intervention method for modulating the inter-hemispheric balance of the temporal–parietal regions in DD. To date, the effect of NF on reading has been scarcely investigated. Few protocols increasing beta activity in underactivated areas showed improved reading outcomes. However, none of the previous studies designed the NF intervention based on a neurofunctional model of DD. We aim to propose a study protocol for testing the efficacy of a NF training specifically designed for inducing a functional hemispheric imbalance of the tempo-parietal regions in adults with DD. A randomized clinical trial aimed at comparing two experimental conditions is described: (a) Enhancing left beta/theta power ratio NF training in combination with reducing right beta/theta power ratio NF training and (b) sham NF training. Clinical Trial Registration:www.ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier [NCT04989088].
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Affiliation(s)
- Alice Cancer
- Department of Psychology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy
| | | | - Claudio Lucchiari
- Department of Philosophy, Università degli Studi di Milano Statale, Milan, Italy
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13
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Carioti D, Masia MF, Travellini S, Berlingeri M. Orthographic depth and developmental dyslexia: a meta-analytic study. ANNALS OF DYSLEXIA 2021; 71:399-438. [PMID: 33982221 PMCID: PMC8458191 DOI: 10.1007/s11881-021-00226-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2020] [Accepted: 04/04/2021] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
Cross-cultural studies have suggested that reading deficits in developmental dyslexia (DD) can be moderated by orthographic depth. To further explore this issue and assess the moderating role of orthographic depth in the developmental cognitive trajectories of dyslexic and typical readers, we systematically reviewed 113 studies on DD that were published from 2013 to 2018 and selected 79 in which participants received an official DD diagnosis. Each study was classified according to orthographic depth (deep vs. shallow) and participant age (children vs. adults). We assessed the difference between DD and control groups' performance in reading tasks and in a wide range of cognitive domains associated with reading (phonological awareness (PA), rapid automatized naming (RAN), short-term working memory (WM), and nonverbal reasoning), including age and orthographies as moderators. We found an age-by-orthography interaction effect in word reading accuracy and a significant effect of age in pseudoword reading accuracy, but we found no effect of age and orthographic depth on the fluency parameters. These results suggest that reading speed is a reliable index for discriminating between DD and control groups across European orthographies from childhood to adulthood. A similar pattern of results emerged for PA, RAN, and short-term/WM. Our findings are discussed in relation to their impact on clinical practice while considering the orthographic depth and developmental level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Desiré Carioti
- DISTUM, Department of Humanities, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Urbino, Italy
| | - Marta Franca Masia
- DISTUM, Department of Humanities, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Urbino, Italy
| | - Simona Travellini
- DISTUM, Department of Humanities, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Urbino, Italy
- Center of Clinical Developmental Neuropsychology, ASUR Marche, Area Vasta 1, Pesaro, Italy
| | - Manuela Berlingeri
- DISTUM, Department of Humanities, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Urbino, Italy.
- Center of Clinical Developmental Neuropsychology, ASUR Marche, Area Vasta 1, Pesaro, Italy.
- NeuroMi, Milan Center for Neuroscience, Milan, Italy.
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14
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Rathcke T, Lin CY. Towards a Comprehensive Account of Rhythm Processing Issues in Developmental Dyslexia. Brain Sci 2021; 11:brainsci11101303. [PMID: 34679368 PMCID: PMC8533826 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci11101303] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2021] [Revised: 09/17/2021] [Accepted: 09/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Developmental dyslexia is typically defined as a difficulty with an individual's command of written language, arising from deficits in phonological awareness. However, motor entrainment difficulties in non-linguistic synchronization and time-keeping tasks have also been reported. Such findings gave rise to proposals of an underlying rhythm processing deficit in dyslexia, even though to date, evidence for impaired motor entrainment with the rhythm of natural speech is rather scarce, and the role of speech rhythm in phonological awareness is unclear. The present study aimed to fill these gaps. Dyslexic adults and age-matched control participants with variable levels of previous music training completed a series of experimental tasks assessing phoneme processing, rhythm perception, and motor entrainment abilities. In a rhythm entrainment task, participants tapped along to the perceived beat of natural spoken sentences. In a phoneme processing task, participants monitored for sonorant and obstruent phonemes embedded in nonsense strings. Individual sensorimotor skills were assessed using a number of screening tests. The results lacked evidence for a motor impairment or a general motor entrainment difficulty in dyslexia, at least among adult participants of the study. Instead, the results showed that the participants' performance in the phonemic task was predictive of their performance in the rhythmic task, but not vice versa, suggesting that atypical rhythm processing in dyslexia may be the consequence, but not the cause, of dyslexic difficulties with phoneme-level encoding. No evidence for a deficit in the entrainment to the syllable rate in dyslexic adults was found. Rather, metrically weak syllables were significantly less often at the center of rhythmic attention in dyslexic adults as compared to neurotypical controls, with an increased tendency in musically trained participants. This finding could not be explained by an auditory deficit in the processing of acoustic-prosodic cues to the rhythm structure, but it is likely to be related to the well-documented auditory short-term memory issue in dyslexia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tamara Rathcke
- Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Humanities, University of Konstanz, 78464 Konstanz, Germany
- Modern Languages and Linguistics, School of Cultures and Languages, University of Kent, Canterbury CT2 7NR, UK;
- Correspondence:
| | - Chia-Yuan Lin
- Modern Languages and Linguistics, School of Cultures and Languages, University of Kent, Canterbury CT2 7NR, UK;
- Department of Psychology, School of Humanities and Health Sciences, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield HD1 3DH, UK
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15
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Yan X, Jiang K, Li H, Wang Z, Perkins K, Cao F. Convergent and divergent brain structural and functional abnormalities associated with developmental dyslexia. eLife 2021; 10:e69523. [PMID: 34569931 PMCID: PMC8497057 DOI: 10.7554/elife.69523] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2021] [Accepted: 09/24/2021] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Brain abnormalities in the reading network have been repeatedly reported in individuals with developmental dyslexia (DD); however, it is still not totally understood where the structural and functional abnormalities are consistent/inconsistent across languages. In the current multimodal meta-analysis, we found convergent structural and functional alterations in the left superior temporal gyrus across languages, suggesting a neural signature of DD. We found greater reduction in grey matter volume and brain activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus in morpho-syllabic languages (e.g. Chinese) than in alphabetic languages, and greater reduction in brain activation in the left middle temporal gyrus and fusiform gyrus in alphabetic languages than in morpho-syllabic languages. These language differences are explained as consequences of being DD while learning a specific language. In addition, we also found brain regions that showed increased grey matter volume and brain activation, presumably suggesting compensations and brain regions that showed inconsistent alterations in brain structure and function. Our study provides important insights about the etiology of DD from a cross-linguistic perspective with considerations of consistency/inconsistency between structural and functional alterations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaohui Yan
- Department of Psychology, Sun Yat-Sen UniversityGuangzhouChina
| | - Ke Jiang
- Department of Psychology, Sun Yat-Sen UniversityGuangzhouChina
| | - Hui Li
- Department of Preschool Education, Anyang Preschool Education CollegeAnyangChina
| | - Ziyi Wang
- School of Foreign Language, Jining UniversityJiningChina
| | - Kyle Perkins
- Florida International University (Retired Professor)MiamiUnited States
| | - Fan Cao
- Department of Psychology, Sun Yat-Sen UniversityGuangzhouChina
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16
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The impairment of the visual-spatial attention in Chinese children with dyslexia: A cognitive deficit or a developmental delay? CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/s12144-021-01753-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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17
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Wang J, Joanisse MF, Booth JR. Letter fluency in 7-8-year-old children is related to the anterior, but not posterior, ventral occipito-temporal cortex during an auditory phonological task. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2021; 47:100898. [PMID: 33341533 PMCID: PMC7750687 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2020.100898] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2020] [Revised: 11/25/2020] [Accepted: 11/30/2020] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous studies have shown that reading skill in 3- to 6-year-old children is related to the automatic activation of the posterior left ventral occipitotemporal cortex (vOT) during spoken language processing, whereas 8- to 15-year-old children and adult readers activate the anterior vOT. However, it is unknown how children who are between these two age groups automatically activate orthographic representations in vOT for spoken language. In the current study, we recruited 153 7- to 8-year-old children to fill the age gap from previous studies. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we measured children's reading-related skills and brain activity during an auditory phonological task with both a small (i.e. onset) and a large (i.e. rhyme) grain size condition. We found that letter fluency, but not reading accuracy, was correlated with activation in the anterior vOT for the rhyme condition. There were no reading-related skill correlations for the posterior vOT or for activation during the onset condition in this age group. Our findings reveal that automatic activation in the anterior vOT during spoken language processing already occurs in higher skilled 7- to 8-year-old children. In addition, increases in naming automaticity is the primary determinant of the engagement of vOT during phonological awareness tasks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jin Wang
- Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
| | - Marc F Joanisse
- Department of Psychology & Brain and Mind Institute, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
| | - James R Booth
- Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
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18
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Brem S, Maurer U, Kronbichler M, Schurz M, Richlan F, Blau V, Reithler J, van der Mark S, Schulz E, Bucher K, Moll K, Landerl K, Martin E, Goebel R, Schulte-Körne G, Blomert L, Wimmer H, Brandeis D. Visual word form processing deficits driven by severity of reading impairments in children with developmental dyslexia. Sci Rep 2020; 10:18728. [PMID: 33127943 PMCID: PMC7603304 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-75111-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2020] [Accepted: 09/23/2020] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
The visual word form area (VWFA) in the left ventral occipito-temporal (vOT) cortex is key to fluent reading in children and adults. Diminished VWFA activation during print processing tasks is a common finding in subjects with severe reading problems. Here, we report fMRI data from a multicentre study with 140 children in primary school (7.9-12.2 years; 55 children with dyslexia, 73 typical readers, 12 intermediate readers). All performed a semantic task on visually presented words and a matched control task on symbol strings. With this large group of children, including the entire spectrum from severely impaired to highly fluent readers, we aimed to clarify the association of reading fluency and left vOT activation during visual word processing. The results of this study confirm reduced word-sensitive activation within the left vOT in children with dyslexia. Interestingly, the association of reading skills and left vOT activation was especially strong and spatially extended in children with dyslexia. Thus, deficits in basic visual word form processing increase with the severity of reading disability but seem only weakly associated with fluency within the typical reading range suggesting a linear dependence of reading scores with VFWA activation only in the poorest readers.
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Affiliation(s)
- S Brem
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zurich, Neumuensterallee 9, 8032, Zurich, Switzerland.
- Neuroscience Center Zurich, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
| | - U Maurer
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zurich, Neumuensterallee 9, 8032, Zurich, Switzerland
- Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
- Brain and Mind Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - M Kronbichler
- Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience and Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
- Neuroscience Institute, Christian Doppler Clinic, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria
| | - M Schurz
- Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience and Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
| | - F Richlan
- Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience and Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
| | - V Blau
- Cognitive Neuroscience Department, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
- Maastricht Brain Imaging Center (M-BIC), Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - J Reithler
- Cognitive Neuroscience Department, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
- Maastricht Brain Imaging Center (M-BIC), Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - S van der Mark
- MR-Center, University Children's Hospital, University of Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - E Schulz
- Department of Neurology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, University Hospital, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - K Bucher
- MR-Center, University Children's Hospital, University of Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - K Moll
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, University Hospital, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - K Landerl
- Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
- Institute of Psychology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria
| | - E Martin
- MR-Center, University Children's Hospital, University of Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - R Goebel
- Cognitive Neuroscience Department, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
- Maastricht Brain Imaging Center (M-BIC), Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - G Schulte-Körne
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, University Hospital, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - L Blomert
- Cognitive Neuroscience Department, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
- Maastricht Brain Imaging Center (M-BIC), Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - H Wimmer
- Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience and Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
| | - D Brandeis
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zurich, Neumuensterallee 9, 8032, Zurich, Switzerland
- Neuroscience Center Zurich, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany
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19
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Wang F, Karipidis II, Pleisch G, Fraga-González G, Brem S. Development of Print-Speech Integration in the Brain of Beginning Readers With Varying Reading Skills. Front Hum Neurosci 2020; 14:289. [PMID: 32922271 PMCID: PMC7457077 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2020.00289] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2020] [Accepted: 06/26/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Learning print-speech sound correspondences is a crucial step at the beginning of reading acquisition and often impaired in children with developmental dyslexia. Despite increasing insight into audiovisual language processing, it remains largely unclear how integration of print and speech develops at the neural level during initial learning in the first years of schooling. To investigate this development, 32 healthy, German-speaking children at varying risk for developmental dyslexia (17 typical readers and 15 poor readers) participated in a longitudinal study including behavioral and fMRI measurements in first (T1) and second (T2) grade. We used an implicit audiovisual (AV) non-word target detection task aimed at characterizing differential activation to congruent (AVc) and incongruent (AVi) audiovisual non-word pairs. While children’s brain activation did not differ between AVc and AVi pairs in first grade, an incongruency effect (AVi > AVc) emerged in bilateral inferior temporal and superior frontal gyri in second grade. Of note, pseudoword reading performance improvements with time were associated with the development of the congruency effect (AVc > AVi) in the left posterior superior temporal gyrus (STG) from first to second grade. Finally, functional connectivity analyses indicated divergent development and reading expertise dependent coupling from the left occipito-temporal and superior temporal cortex to regions of the default mode (precuneus) and fronto-temporal language networks. Our results suggest that audiovisual integration areas as well as their functional coupling to other language areas and areas of the default mode network show a different development in poor vs. typical readers at varying familial risk for dyslexia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fang Wang
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Psychiatry, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.,Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong
| | - Iliana I Karipidis
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Psychiatry, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.,Center for Interdisciplinary Brain Sciences Research, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States
| | - Georgette Pleisch
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Psychiatry, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Gorka Fraga-González
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Psychiatry, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Silvia Brem
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Psychiatry, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.,Neuroscience Center Zurich, University of Zurich and ETH Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
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20
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Tijms J, Fraga-González G, Karipidis II, Brem S. Editorial: The Role of Letter-Speech Sound Integration in Normal and Abnormal Reading Development. Front Psychol 2020; 11:1441. [PMID: 32733324 PMCID: PMC7358608 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01441] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2020] [Accepted: 05/28/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Jurgen Tijms
- Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Gorka Fraga-González
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Psychiatry, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Iliana I Karipidis
- Center for Interdisciplinary Brain Sciences Research, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States
| | - Silvia Brem
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Psychiatry, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
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21
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Brignoni-Perez E, Jamal NI, Eden GF. An fMRI study of English and Spanish word reading in bilingual adults. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2020; 202:104725. [PMID: 31978619 PMCID: PMC7461633 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2019.104725] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2019] [Revised: 12/05/2019] [Accepted: 12/06/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Reading relies on a left-lateralized brain system, including occipito-temporal (OTC), temporo-parietal, and inferior frontal (IFC) cortices. Neuroimaging studies have investigated whether activation in these cortices is modulated by a language's orthographic depth (consistency of grapheme-to-phoneme conversion). In Spanish-English bilinguals, some but not all studies have reported activation differences between the two languages during reading. Here, we studied Spanish-English early bilingual adults living in the United States (N = 25; 17 females, 8 males). We examined local activity, functional connectivity, and spatially distributed activity patterns during English and Spanish word reading. We found overlap in local activity for the two languages in the left IFC, but no differences in activation between them and few differences in functional connectivity (none of which were in pairs of regions known to be involved in reading); yet, there were spatially distributed patterns of brain activity that differentiate English and Spanish in regions of bilateral cerebellum/left OTC, the left superior occipital gyrus, the left IFC, and the left medial frontal gyrus. Overall, we found no evidence for differences in local activation or functional connectivity during English versus Spanish word processing in regions known to be involved in reading, yet we found brain-based evidence that Spanish-English bilinguals distinguish between the two languages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edith Brignoni-Perez
- Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, Georgetown University Medical Center, 4000 Reservoir Road NW, Washington, DC 20057, United States; Center for the Study of Learning, Georgetown University Medical Center, 4000 Reservoir Road NW, Washington, DC 20057, United States
| | - Nasheed I Jamal
- Center for the Study of Learning, Georgetown University Medical Center, 4000 Reservoir Road NW, Washington, DC 20057, United States
| | - Guinevere F Eden
- Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, Georgetown University Medical Center, 4000 Reservoir Road NW, Washington, DC 20057, United States; Center for the Study of Learning, Georgetown University Medical Center, 4000 Reservoir Road NW, Washington, DC 20057, United States.
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22
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Richlan F. The Functional Neuroanatomy of Developmental Dyslexia Across Languages and Writing Systems. Front Psychol 2020; 11:155. [PMID: 32116951 PMCID: PMC7012805 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00155] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2019] [Accepted: 01/21/2020] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
The present article reviews the literature on the functional neuroanatomy of developmental dyslexia across languages and writing systems. This includes comparisons of alphabetic languages differing in orthographic depth as well as comparisons across alphabetic, syllabic, and logographic writing systems. It provides a synthesis of the evidence for both universal and language-specific effects on dyslexic functional brain activation abnormalities during reading and reading-related tasks. Specifically, universal reading-related underactivation of dyslexic readers relative to typical readers is identified in core regions of the left hemisphere reading network including the occipito-temporal, temporo-parietal, and inferior frontal cortex. Orthography-specific dyslexic brain abnormalities are mainly related to the degree and spatial extent of under- and overactivation clusters. In addition, dyslexic structural gray matter abnormalities across languages and writing systems are analyzed. The neuroimaging findings are linked to the universal and orthography-dependent behavioral manifestations of developmental dyslexia. Finally, the present article provides insights into potential compensatory mechanisms that may support remediation across languages and writing systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabio Richlan
- Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Paris Lodron University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
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23
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Zhou A, Duan B, Wen M, Wu W, Li M, Ma X, Tan Y. Self-Referential Processing Can Modulate Visual Spatial Attention Deficits in Children With Dyslexia. Front Psychol 2019; 10:2270. [PMID: 31636595 PMCID: PMC6788299 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02270] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2019] [Accepted: 09/23/2019] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Considerable research has shown that children with dyslexia have deficits in visual spatial attention orientation. Additionally, self-referential processing makes self-related information play a unique role in the individual visual spatial attention orientation. However, it is unclear whether such self-referential processing impacts the visual spatial attention orientation of children with dyslexia. Therefore, we manipulated the reference task systematically in the cue-target paradigm and investigated the modulation effect of self-referential processing on visual spatial attention of children with dyslexia. In the self-referential processing condition, we observed that children with dyslexia demonstrated stable cue effects in the visual spatial attention orientation tasks when the Stimulus Onset Asynchronies (SOAs) were set to 100 ms, while other-referential processing weakened the cue effects of the visual spatial attention orientation of children with dyslexia. With cue effect as the index, we also observed that the self-referential processing had a significant larger regulatory effect at the early stage of visual spatial attention orientation, as compared with other-referential processing. These differences have a high-ranked consistency between children with dyslexia and typically developing reader. The results suggested that self-referential processing can regulate the visual spatial attention deficits of children with dyslexia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aibao Zhou
- School of Psychology, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou, China.,Key Laboratory of Behavioral and Mental Health, Lanzhou, China
| | - Baojun Duan
- School of Psychology, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou, China.,School of Teacher Education, Hexi University, Zhangye, China
| | - Menglin Wen
- School of Psychology, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou, China
| | - Wenyi Wu
- School of Psychology, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou, China
| | - Mei Li
- School of Psychology, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou, China.,School of Education, Lanzhou City University, Lanzhou, China
| | - Xiaofeng Ma
- School of Psychology, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou, China
| | - Yanggang Tan
- School of Psychology, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou, China
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24
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Chyl K, Dębska A, Łuniewska M, Marchewka A, Kossowski B, Pugh KR, Jednoróg K. Reading Acquisition in Children: Developmental Processes and Dyslexia-Specific Effects. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2019; 58:948-960. [PMID: 30768401 PMCID: PMC6606402 DOI: 10.1016/j.jaac.2018.11.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2018] [Revised: 11/09/2018] [Accepted: 11/30/2018] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Decreased activation to print in the left ventral, dorsal, and anterior pathways has been implicated in readers with dyslexia (DRs) but also is characteristic for typical beginning readers. Because most studies have compared DRs with their age-matched peers, the observed results could represent a dyslexia phenotype or a developmental delay. This study aimed to disentangle reading and dyslexia effects using 2 control groups matched for age and skill and a longitudinal design. METHOD Brain response for print was compared in DRs and typical readers (TRs) who, at the beginning of schooling (time point 1 [TP]; 6-7 years old), read on average 3 words per minute, as did DRs at TP1, but improved their reading to an average level, and advanced readers (ARs) who at TP1 read as well as DRs 2 years later (TP3; 8-9 years old). The TR and DR groups were tracked longitudinally to observe neurodevelopmental changes. RESULTS At TP1, DRs did not differ from TRs. Over time, only TRs developed a neural circuit for reading in the left inferior frontal and fusiform gyri. At TP3, DRs exhibited hypo-activation in these areas compared with age-matched (TRs at TP3) and reading-matched (ARs at TP1) controls. At TP3, TRs showed hypo-activation in the left frontal and bilateral ventral occipital regions compared with ARs, but these effects were nonoverlapping with DR hypo-activations and are partly explained by IQ. CONCLUSION Decreased activation of the left fusiform and inferior frontal gyri to print in DRs results from an atypical developmental trajectory of reading and cannot be explained solely by lower reading skills.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katarzyna Chyl
- Polish Academy of Sciences, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Agnieszka Dębska
- Polish Academy of Sciences, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Magdalena Łuniewska
- Polish Academy of Sciences, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Warsaw, Poland., Warsaw University, Poland
| | - Artur Marchewka
- Polish Academy of Sciences, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Bartosz Kossowski
- Polish Academy of Sciences, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Kenneth R. Pugh
- Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, CT; Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT; and the University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT
| | - Katarzyna Jednoróg
- Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.
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Lipowska M, Łada AB, Pawlicka P, Jurek P. The use of the Warnke Method in dyslexia therapy for children. JOURNAL OF APPLIED DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.appdev.2019.101060] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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26
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Costanzo F, Rossi S, Varuzza C, Varvara P, Vicari S, Menghini D. Long-lasting improvement following tDCS treatment combined with a training for reading in children and adolescents with dyslexia. Neuropsychologia 2019; 130:38-43. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2018.03.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2017] [Revised: 01/16/2018] [Accepted: 03/10/2018] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
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Moreau D, Stonyer JE, McKay NS, Waldie KE. No evidence for systematic white matter correlates of dyslexia: An Activation Likelihood Estimation meta-analysis. Brain Res 2019; 1683:36-47. [PMID: 29456133 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2018.01.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2017] [Revised: 01/11/2018] [Accepted: 01/12/2018] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Abstract
Dyslexia is a prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder, characterized by reading and spelling difficulties. Beyond the behavioral and functional correlates of this condition, a growing number of studies have explored structural differences between individuals with dyslexia and typically developing individuals. To date, findings remain disparate - some studies suggest differences in fractional anisotropy (FA), an indirect measure of white matter integrity, whereas others do not identify significant disparities. Here, we synthesized the existing literature on this topic by conducting a meta-analysis of Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) studies investigating white matter correlates of dyslexia via voxel-based analyses (VBA) of FA. Our results showed no reliable clusters underlying differences between dyslexics and typical individuals, after correcting for multiple comparisons (false discovery rate correction). Because group comparisons might be too coarse to yield subtle differences, we further explored differences in FA as a function of reading ability, measured on a continuous scale. Consistent with our initial findings, reading ability was not associated with reliable differences in white matter integrity. These findings nuance the current view of profound, structural differences underlying reading ability and its associated disorders, and suggest that their neural correlates might be more subtle than previously thought.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Moreau
- Centre for Brain Research, School of Psychology, University of Auckland, New Zealand.
| | - Josephine E Stonyer
- Centre for Brain Research, School of Psychology, University of Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Nicole S McKay
- Centre for Brain Research, School of Psychology, University of Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Karen E Waldie
- Centre for Brain Research, School of Psychology, University of Auckland, New Zealand
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28
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Richlan F. The Functional Neuroanatomy of Letter-Speech Sound Integration and Its Relation to Brain Abnormalities in Developmental Dyslexia. Front Hum Neurosci 2019; 13:21. [PMID: 30774591 PMCID: PMC6367238 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2019.00021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2018] [Accepted: 01/18/2019] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
Abstract
This mini-review provides a comparison of the brain systems associated with developmental dyslexia and the brain systems associated with letter-speech sound (LSS) integration. First, the findings on the functional neuroanatomy of LSS integration are summarized in order to obtain a comprehensive overview of the brain regions involved in this process. To this end, neurocognitive studies investigating LSS integration in both normal and abnormal reading development are taken into account. The neurobiological basis underlying LSS integration is consequently compared with existing neurocognitive models of functional and structural brain abnormalities in developmental dyslexia-focusing on superior temporal and occipito-temporal (OT) key regions. Ultimately, the commonalities and differences between the brain systems engaged by LSS integration and the brain systems identified with abnormalities in developmental dyslexia are investigated. This comparison will add to our understanding of the relation between LSS integration and normal and abnormal reading development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabio Richlan
- Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience and Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
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29
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30
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Cross-linguistic transfer in bilinguals reading in two alphabetic orthographies: The grain size accommodation hypothesis. Psychon Bull Rev 2018; 25:386-401. [PMID: 28405906 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-017-1273-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Abstract
Reading acquisition is one of the most complex and demanding learning processes faced by children in their first years of schooling. If reading acquisition is challenging in one language, how is it when reading is acquired simultaneously in two languages? What is the impact of bilingualism on the development of literacy? We review behavioral and neuroimaging evidence from alphabetic writing systems suggesting that early bilingualism modulates reading development. Particularly, we show that cross-linguistic variations and cross-linguistic transfer affect bilingual reading strategies as well as their cognitive underpinnings. We stress the fact that the impact of bilingualism on literacy acquisition depends on the specific combination of languages learned and does not manifest itself similarly across bilingual populations. We argue that these differences can be explained by variations due to orthographic depth in the grain sizes used to perform reading and reading-related tasks. Overall, we propose novel hypotheses to shed light on the behavioral and neural variability observed in reading skills among bilinguals.
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31
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FragaGonzález G, Karipidis II, Tijms J. Dyslexia as a Neurodevelopmental Disorder and What Makes It Different from a Chess Disorder. Brain Sci 2018; 8:E189. [PMID: 30347764 PMCID: PMC6209961 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci8100189] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2018] [Revised: 10/10/2018] [Accepted: 10/18/2018] [Indexed: 01/15/2023] Open
Abstract
The convenience of referring to dyslexia as a neurodevelopmental disorder has been repeatedly brought into question. In this opinion article, we argue in favor of the current diagnosis of dyslexia based on the criteria of harm and dysfunction. We discuss the favorable clinical and educational outcomes of a neuroscience-informed approach of dyslexia as a disorder. Furthermore, we discuss insights derived from neuroimaging studies and their importance to address problems related to developmental dyslexia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gorka FragaGonzález
- Department of Developmental Psychology, University of Amsterdam, 1018 WS Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
- Rudolf Berlin Center, 44401 Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zurich, CH-8006 Zurich, Switzerland.
| | - Iliana I Karipidis
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zurich, CH-8006 Zurich, Switzerland.
- Neuroscience Center Zurich, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland.
| | - Jurgen Tijms
- Department of Developmental Psychology, University of Amsterdam, 1018 WS Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
- Rudolf Berlin Center, 44401 Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
- IWAL Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
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32
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Paz-Alonso PM, Oliver M, Lerma-Usabiaga G, Caballero-Gaudes C, Quiñones I, Suárez-Coalla P, Duñabeitia JA, Cuetos F, Carreiras M. Neural correlates of phonological, orthographic and semantic reading processing in dyslexia. Neuroimage Clin 2018; 20:433-447. [PMID: 30128282 PMCID: PMC6096051 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2018.08.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2017] [Revised: 06/24/2018] [Accepted: 08/09/2018] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Developmental dyslexia is one of the most prevalent learning disabilities, thought to be associated with dysfunction in the neural systems underlying typical reading acquisition. Neuroimaging research has shown that readers with dyslexia exhibit regional hypoactivation in left hemisphere reading nodes, relative to control counterparts. This evidence, however, comes from studies that have focused only on isolated aspects of reading. The present study aims to characterize left hemisphere regional hypoactivation in readers with dyslexia for the main processes involved in successful reading: phonological, orthographic and semantic. Forty-one participants performed a demanding reading task during MRI scanning. Results showed that readers with dyslexia exhibited hypoactivation associated with phonological processing in parietal regions; with orthographic processing in parietal regions, Broca's area, ventral occipitotemporal cortex and thalamus; and with semantic processing in angular gyrus and hippocampus. Stronger functional connectivity was observed for readers with dyslexia than for control readers 1) between the thalamus and the inferior parietal cortex/ventral occipitotemporal cortex during pseudoword reading; and, 2) between the hippocampus and the pars opercularis during word reading. These findings constitute the strongest evidence to date for the interplay between regional hypoactivation and functional connectivity in the main processes supporting reading in dyslexia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pedro M Paz-Alonso
- BCBL, Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language, Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain.
| | - Myriam Oliver
- BCBL, Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language, Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain
| | | | | | - Ileana Quiñones
- BCBL, Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language, Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain
| | | | | | | | - Manuel Carreiras
- BCBL, Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language, Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain; IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain; Departamento de Lengua Vasca y Comunicación, EHU/UPV, Spain
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33
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Cancer A, Antonietti A. tDCS Modulatory Effect on Reading Processes: A Review of Studies on Typical Readers and Individuals With Dyslexia. Front Behav Neurosci 2018; 12:162. [PMID: 30108491 PMCID: PMC6079298 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2018.00162] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2018] [Accepted: 07/11/2018] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The possibility to use non-invasive brain stimulation to modulate reading performance in individuals with developmental dyslexia (DD) has been recently explored by few empirical investigations. The present systematic review includes nine studies which have employed transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) aiming at improving reading abilities in both typical readers and individuals with DD. Anodal tDCS over the left temporo-parietal cortex—a region which is typically involved in phonological and orthographic processing during reading tasks and underactive in individuals with DD—was the most frequently used montage. The majority of studies employing such stimulation protocol showed significant improvement in differential reading subprocesses. More precisely, word decoding was improved in adult readers, whereas non-word and low-frequency word reading in younger individuals. Furthermore, tDCS was found to be specifically effective in poor readers and individuals with DD rather than typical readers, in spite of the specific brain region targeted by the stimulation; Left frontal, left temporo-parietal, and right cerebellar tDCS failed to modulate reading in already proficient readers. Overall, tDCS appears to be a promising remedial tool for reading difficulties, even when applied to younger populations with reading problems. Further empirical evidence is needed to confirm the potential of neuromodulation as a successful intervention method for DD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alice Cancer
- Department of Psychology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy
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34
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Younger JW, Booth JR. Parietotemporal Stimulation Affects Acquisition of Novel Grapheme-Phoneme Mappings in Adult Readers. Front Hum Neurosci 2018; 12:109. [PMID: 29628882 PMCID: PMC5876236 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2018.00109] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2018] [Accepted: 03/06/2018] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Neuroimaging work from developmental and reading intervention research has suggested a cause of reading failure may be lack of engagement of parietotemporal cortex during initial acquisition of grapheme-phoneme (letter-sound) mappings. Parietotemporal activation increases following grapheme-phoneme learning and successful reading intervention. Further, stimulation of parietotemporal cortex improves reading skill in lower ability adults. However, it is unclear whether these improvements following stimulation are due to enhanced grapheme-phoneme mapping abilities. To test this hypothesis, we used transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to manipulate parietotemporal function in adult readers as they learned a novel artificial orthography with new grapheme-phoneme mappings. Participants received real or sham stimulation to the left inferior parietal lobe (L IPL) for 20 min before training. They received explicit training over the course of 3 days on 10 novel words each day. Learning of the artificial orthography was assessed at a pre-training baseline session, the end of each of the three training sessions, an immediate post-training session and a delayed post-training session about 4 weeks after training. Stimulation interacted with baseline reading skill to affect learning of trained words and transfer to untrained words. Lower skill readers showed better acquisition, whereas higher skill readers showed worse acquisition, when training was paired with real stimulation, as compared to readers who received sham stimulation. However, readers of all skill levels showed better maintenance of trained material following parietotemporal stimulation, indicating a differential effect of stimulation on initial learning and consolidation. Overall, these results indicate that parietotemporal stimulation can enhance learning of new grapheme-phoneme relationships in readers with lower reading skill. Yet, while parietotemporal function is critical to new learning, its role in continued reading improvement likely changes as readers progress in skill.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica W Younger
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States
| | - James R Booth
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States.,Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States
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35
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Black JM, Xia Z, Hoeft F. Neurobiological Bases of Reading Disorder Part II: The Importance of Developmental Considerations in Typical and Atypical Reading. LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS COMPASS 2017; 11:e12252. [PMID: 29276529 PMCID: PMC5736136 DOI: 10.1111/lnc3.12252] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/29/2023]
Abstract
Decoding-based reading disorder (RD; aka developmental dyslexia) is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders, affecting approximately 5-10% of school-aged children across languages. Even though neuroimaging studies suggest an impairment of the left reading network in RD, the onset of this deficit and its developmental course, which may include constancy and change, is largely unknown. There is now growing evidence that the recruitment of brain networks underlying perceptual, cognitive and linguistic processes relevant to reading acquisition varies with age. These age-dependent changes may in turn impact the neurocognitive characteristics of RD observed at specific developmental stages. Here we synthesize findings from functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies to increase our understanding of the developmental time course of the neural bases underlying (a)typical reading. We first provide an overview of the brain bases of typical and atypical (impaired) reading. Next we describe how the understanding of RD can be deepened through scientific attention to age effects, for example, by integrating findings from cross-sectional studies of RD at various ages. Finally, we accent findings from extant longitudinal studies that directly examine developmental reading trajectories beginning in the preliterate stage at both group and individual levels. Although science is at the very early stage of understanding developmental aspects of neural deficits in RD, evidence to date characterizes RD by atypical brain maturation. We know that reading impairment may adversely impact multiple life domains such as academic achievement and social relationships, and unfortunately, that these negative outcomes can persist and compound into adulthood. We contend that exploring the developmental trajectories of RD will contribute to a greater understanding of how neural systems support reading acquisition. Further, we propose and cite evidence that the etiology of RD can be better investigated by distinguishing primary deficits from secondary impairments unfolding along development. These exciting and modern investigatory efforts can also indirectly contribute to a centered practice of early and accurate identification and optimal intervention to support the development of foundational pre-literacy skills and fluent reading. In sum, integrating a developmental understanding into the science and practice of reading acquisition and intervention is both possible and necessary.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Zhichao Xia
- Department of Psychiatry and Weill Institute for Neurosciences,
University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), USA
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning
& IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University,
China
- Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning
Sciences, Beijing Normal University, China
| | - Fumiko Hoeft
- Department of Psychiatry and Weill Institute for Neurosciences,
University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), USA
- Precision Learning Center (PrecL), UC, USA
- Dyslexia Center, UCSF, USA
- Haskins Laboratories, USA
- Department of Neuropsychiatry, Keio University School of Medicine,
Japan
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36
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Vandermosten M, Cuynen L, Vanderauwera J, Wouters J, Ghesquière P. White matter pathways mediate parental effects on children's reading precursors. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2017; 173:10-19. [PMID: 28558269 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2017.05.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2015] [Revised: 04/28/2017] [Accepted: 05/06/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Previous studies have shown that the link between parental and offspring's reading is mediated by the cognitive system of the offspring, yet information about the mediating role of the neurobiological system is missing. This family study includes cognitive and diffusion MRI (dMRI) data collected in 71 pre-readers as well as parental reading and environmental data. Using sequential path analyses, which take into account the interrelationships between the different components, we observed mediating effects of the neurobiological system. More specifically, fathers' reading skills predicted reading of the child by operating through a child's left ventral white matter pathway. For mothers no clear mediating role of the neural system was observed. Given that our study involves children who have not yet learned to read and that environmental measures were taken into account, the paternal effect on a child's white matter pathway is unlikely to be only driven by environmental factors. Future intergenerational studies focusing on the genetic, neurobiological and cognitive level of parents and offspring will provide more insight in the relative contribution of parental environment and genes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maaike Vandermosten
- Parenting and Special Education Research Unit, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven, Belgium; Research Group ExpORL, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Belgium.
| | - Lieselore Cuynen
- Parenting and Special Education Research Unit, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven, Belgium
| | - Jolijn Vanderauwera
- Parenting and Special Education Research Unit, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven, Belgium; Research Group ExpORL, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Belgium
| | - Jan Wouters
- Research Group ExpORL, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Belgium
| | - Pol Ghesquière
- Parenting and Special Education Research Unit, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven, Belgium
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37
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Wise Younger J, Tucker-Drob E, Booth JR. Longitudinal changes in reading network connectivity related to skill improvement. Neuroimage 2017. [PMID: 28645843 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.06.044] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Attempts to characterize the neural differences between individuals with and without dyslexia generally point to reduced activation in and connectivity between brain areas in a reading network composed of the inferior frontal gyrus, the ventral occipito-temporal cortex, and the dorsal temporo-parietal circuit. However, developmental work on brain activity during reading has indicated that some brain areas show developmental decreases in activation with age. Thus, reading network connectivity may also show decreases that are positively associated with increases in reading ability. However, the developmental trajectory of reading network connectivity in typically developing readers is not yet well established. In the current study, we use a longitudinal design to determine how connectivity changes over time, and how these changes relate to changes in reading skill. We find that longitudinal increases in reading ability are associated with higher initial connectivity in the dorsal stream between fusiform and inferior parietal cortex, implicated in phonological decoding, followed by decreases in connectivity in this stream over time. We further find that increases in reading ability are supported by maintenance of connectivity in the ventral stream between inferior occipital and fusiform cortex, suggesting a more mature automatic orthographic recognition strategy. Readers who show little reading improvement over time do not attain high levels of connectivity in the dorsal stream at any time point, and their ventral stream connectivity decreases over time. These results together suggest that superior reading ability is initially supported by phonological decoding, with a decreased reliance on this strategy as reading becomes more automated. Our results indicate that development of the dorsal and ventral streams are closely linked, and support the hypothesis that a decrease in the dorsal stream is important for ventral stream development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica Wise Younger
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
| | - Elliot Tucker-Drob
- Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
| | - James R Booth
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA; Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
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38
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Xia Z, Hancock R, Hoeft F. Neurobiological bases of reading disorder Part I: Etiological investigations. LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS COMPASS 2017; 11:e12239. [PMID: 28785303 PMCID: PMC5543813 DOI: 10.1111/lnc3.12239] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2016] [Accepted: 03/22/2017] [Indexed: 05/29/2023]
Abstract
While many studies have focused on identifying the neural and behavioral characteristics of decoding-based reading disorder (RD, aka developmental dyslexia), the etiology of RD remains largely unknown and understudied. Because the brain plays an intermediate role between genetic factors and behavioral outcomes, it is promising to address causality from a neural perspective. In the current, Part I of the two-part review, we discuss neuroimaging approaches to addressing the causality issue and review the results of studies that have employed these approaches. We assume that if a neural signature were associated with RD etiology, it would (a) manifest across comparisons in different languages, (b) be experience independent and appear in comparisons between RD and reading-matched controls, (c) be present both pre- and post-intervention, (d) be found in at-risk, pre-reading children and (e) be associated with genetic risk. We discuss each of these five characteristics in turn and summarize the studies that have examined each of them. The available literature provides evidence that anomalies in left temporo-parietal cortex, and possibly occipito-temporal cortex, may be closely related to the etiology of RD. Improved understanding of the etiology of RD can help improve the accuracy of early detection and enable targeted intervention of cognitive processes that are amenable to change, leading to improved outcomes in at-risk or affected populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhichao Xia
- Department of Psychiatry and Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California San Francisco, USA
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, China
- Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal University, China
| | - Roeland Hancock
- Department of Psychiatry and Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California San Francisco, USA
| | - Fumiko Hoeft
- Department of Psychiatry and Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California San Francisco, USA
- Haskins Laboratories, USA
- Department of Neuropsychiatry, Keio University School of Medicine, Japan
- Dyslexia Center, University of California San Francisco, USA
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39
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Costanzo F, Varuzza C, Rossi S, Sdoia S, Varvara P, Oliveri M, Giacomo K, Vicari S, Menghini D. Evidence for reading improvement following tDCS treatment in children and adolescents with Dyslexia. Restor Neurol Neurosci 2016; 34:215-26. [PMID: 26890096 DOI: 10.3233/rnn-150561] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE There is evidence that non-invasive brain stimulation transitorily modulates reading by facilitating the neural pathways underactive in individuals with dyslexia. The study aimed at investigating whether multiple sessions of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) would enhance reading abilities of children and adolescents with dyslexia and whether the effect is long-lasting. METHODS Eighteen children and adolescents with dyslexia received three 20-minute sessions a week for 6 weeks (18 sessions) of left anodal/right cathodal tDCS set at 1 mA over parieto-temporal regions combined with a cognitive training. The participants were randomly assigned to the active or the sham treatment; reading tasks (text, high and low frequency words, non-words) were used as outcome measures and collected before treatment, after treatment and one month after the end of treatment. The tolerability of tDCS was evaluated. RESULTS The active group showed reduced low frequency word reading errors and non-word reading times. These positive effects were stable even one month after the end of treatment. None reported adverse effects. CONCLUSIONS The study shows preliminary evidence of tDCS feasibility and efficacy in improving non-words and low frequency words reading of children and adolescents with dyslexia and it opens new rehabilitative perspectives for the remediation of dyslexia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Floriana Costanzo
- Child Neuropsychiatric Unit, Bambino Gesù Children Hospital, Department of Neuroscience, Piazza Sant'Onofrio 4, Rome, Italy
| | - Cristiana Varuzza
- Child Neuropsychiatric Unit, Bambino Gesù Children Hospital, Department of Neuroscience, Piazza Sant'Onofrio 4, Rome, Italy
| | - Serena Rossi
- Child Neuropsychiatric Unit, Bambino Gesù Children Hospital, Department of Neuroscience, Piazza Sant'Onofrio 4, Rome, Italy
| | - Stefano Sdoia
- Child Neuropsychiatric Unit, Bambino Gesù Children Hospital, Department of Neuroscience, Piazza Sant'Onofrio 4, Rome, Italy
| | - Pamela Varvara
- Child Neuropsychiatric Unit, Bambino Gesù Children Hospital, Department of Neuroscience, Piazza Sant'Onofrio 4, Rome, Italy
| | | | - Koch Giacomo
- Clinical and Behavioral Neurology, Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy
| | - Stefano Vicari
- Child Neuropsychiatric Unit, Bambino Gesù Children Hospital, Department of Neuroscience, Piazza Sant'Onofrio 4, Rome, Italy
| | - Deny Menghini
- Child Neuropsychiatric Unit, Bambino Gesù Children Hospital, Department of Neuroscience, Piazza Sant'Onofrio 4, Rome, Italy
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Ding Y, Zhao J, He T, Tan Y, Zheng L, Wang Z. Selective Impairments in Covert Shifts of Attention in Chinese Dyslexic Children. DYSLEXIA (CHICHESTER, ENGLAND) 2016; 22:362-378. [PMID: 27805322 DOI: 10.1002/dys.1541] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2016] [Revised: 09/02/2016] [Accepted: 09/07/2016] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
Reading depends heavily on the efficient shift of attention. Mounting evidence has suggested that dyslexics have deficits in covert attentional shift. However, it remains unclear whether dyslexics also have deficits in overt attentional shift. With the majority of relevant studies carried out in alphabetic writing systems, it is also unknown whether the attentional deficits observed in dyslexics are restricted to a particular writing system. The present study examined inhibition of return (IOR)-a major driving force of attentional shifts-in dyslexic children learning to read a logographic script (i.e., Chinese). Robust IOR effects were observed in both covert and overt attentional tasks in two groups of typically developing children, who were age- or reading ability-matched to the dyslexic children. In contrast, the dyslexic children showed IOR in the overt but not in the covert attentional task. We conclude that covert attentional shift is selectively impaired in dyslexic children. This impairment is not restricted to alphabetic writing systems, and it could be a significant contributor to the difficulties encountered by children learning to read. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yun Ding
- Institute of Psychological Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
- Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou, China
| | - Jing Zhao
- Institute of Psychological Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.
- Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou, China.
| | - Tao He
- Institute of Psychological Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
- Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou, China
| | - Yufei Tan
- Institute of Psychological Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
- Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou, China
| | - Lingshuang Zheng
- Institute of Psychological Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
- Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou, China
| | - Zhiguo Wang
- Institute of Psychological Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
- Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou, China
- Department of Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
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41
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Nash HM, Gooch D, Hulme C, Mahajan Y, McArthur G, Steinmetzger K, Snowling MJ. Are the literacy difficulties that characterize developmental dyslexia associated with a failure to integrate letters and speech sounds? Dev Sci 2016; 20. [PMID: 27496263 PMCID: PMC5484094 DOI: 10.1111/desc.12423] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2014] [Accepted: 02/04/2016] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
The ‘automatic letter‐sound integration hypothesis’ (Blomert, 2011) proposes that dyslexia results from a failure to fully integrate letters and speech sounds into automated audio‐visual objects. We tested this hypothesis in a sample of English‐speaking children with dyslexic difficulties (N = 13) and samples of chronological‐age‐matched (CA; N = 17) and reading‐age‐matched controls (RA; N = 17) aged 7–13 years. Each child took part in two priming experiments in which speech sounds were preceded by congruent visual letters (congruent condition) or Greek letters (baseline). In a behavioural experiment, responses to speech sounds in the two conditions were compared using reaction times. These data revealed faster reaction times in the congruent condition in all three groups. In a second electrophysiological experiment, responses to speech sounds in the two conditions were compared using event‐related potentials (ERPs). These data revealed a significant effect of congruency on (1) the P1 ERP over left frontal electrodes in the CA group and over fronto‐central electrodes in the dyslexic group and (2) the P2 ERP in the dyslexic and RA control groups. These findings suggest that our sample of English‐speaking children with dyslexic difficulties demonstrate a degree of letter‐sound integration that is appropriate for their reading level, which challenges the letter‐sound integration hypothesis.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Debbie Gooch
- Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College, London, UK
| | - Charles Hulme
- Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College, London, UK
| | - Yatin Mahajan
- The MARCS Institute, University of Western Sydney, Australia
| | - Genevieve McArthur
- ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Macquarie University, Australia
| | - Kurt Steinmetzger
- Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College, London, UK
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Abstract
Orthographic depth has been studied intensively as one of the sources of cross-linguistic differences in reading, and yet there has been little detailed analysis of what is meant by orthographic depth. Here we propose that orthographic depth is a conglomerate of two separate constructs: the complexity of print-to-speech correspondences and the unpredictability of the derivation of the pronunciations of words on the basis of their orthography. We show that on a linguistic level, these two concepts can be dissociated. Furthermore, we make different predictions about how the two concepts would affect skilled reading and reading acquisition. We argue that refining the definition of orthographic depth opens up new research questions. Addressing these can provide insights into the specific mechanisms by which language-level orthographic properties affect cognitive processes underlying reading.
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43
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Dębska A, Łuniewska M, Chyl K, Banaszkiewicz A, Żelechowska A, Wypych M, Marchewka A, Pugh KR, Jednoróg K. Neural basis of phonological awareness in beginning readers with familial risk of dyslexia—Results from shallow orthography. Neuroimage 2016; 132:406-416. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.02.063] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2015] [Revised: 02/16/2016] [Accepted: 02/21/2016] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
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Martin A, Kronbichler M, Richlan F. Dyslexic brain activation abnormalities in deep and shallow orthographies: A meta-analysis of 28 functional neuroimaging studies. Hum Brain Mapp 2016; 37:2676-99. [PMID: 27061464 PMCID: PMC5103175 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.23202] [Citation(s) in RCA: 73] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2015] [Revised: 02/19/2016] [Accepted: 03/21/2016] [Indexed: 01/14/2023] Open
Abstract
We used coordinate‐based meta‐analysis to objectively quantify commonalities and differences of dyslexic functional brain abnormalities between alphabetic languages differing in orthographic depth. Specifically, we compared foci of under‐ and overactivation in dyslexic readers relative to nonimpaired readers reported in 14 studies in deep orthographies (DO: English) and in 14 studies in shallow orthographies (SO: Dutch, German, Italian, Swedish). The separate meta‐analyses of the two sets of studies showed universal reading‐related dyslexic underactivation in the left occipitotemporal cortex (including the visual word form area (VWFA)). The direct statistical comparison revealed higher convergence of underactivation for DO compared with SO in bilateral inferior parietal regions, but this abnormality disappeared when foci resulting from stronger dyslexic task‐negative activation (i.e., deactivation relative to baseline) were excluded. Higher convergence of underactivation for DO compared with SO was further identified in the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) pars triangularis, left precuneus, and right superior temporal gyrus, together with higher convergence of overactivation in the left anterior insula. Higher convergence of underactivation for SO compared with DO was found in the left fusiform gyrus, left temporoparietal cortex, left IFG pars orbitalis, and left frontal operculum, together with higher convergence of overactivation in the left precentral gyrus. Taken together, the findings support the notion of a biological unity of dyslexia, with additional orthography‐specific abnormalities and presumably different compensatory mechanisms. The results are discussed in relation to current functional neuroanatomical models of developmental dyslexia. Hum Brain Mapp 37:2676–2699, 2016. © 2016 The Authors Human Brain Mapping Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Martin
- Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Salzburg, Hellbrunnerstr. 34, Salzburg, 5020, Austria.,Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, Hellbrunnerstr. 34, Salzburg, 5020, Austria.,Neuroscience Institute, Christian Doppler Clinic, Paracelsus Medical University, Ignaz-Harrer-Str. 79, Salzburg, 5020, Austria
| | - Martin Kronbichler
- Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Salzburg, Hellbrunnerstr. 34, Salzburg, 5020, Austria.,Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, Hellbrunnerstr. 34, Salzburg, 5020, Austria.,Neuroscience Institute, Christian Doppler Clinic, Paracelsus Medical University, Ignaz-Harrer-Str. 79, Salzburg, 5020, Austria
| | - Fabio Richlan
- Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Salzburg, Hellbrunnerstr. 34, Salzburg, 5020, Austria.,Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, Hellbrunnerstr. 34, Salzburg, 5020, Austria
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45
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Cui Z, Xia Z, Su M, Shu H, Gong G. Disrupted white matter connectivity underlying developmental dyslexia: A machine learning approach. Hum Brain Mapp 2016; 37:1443-58. [PMID: 26787263 PMCID: PMC6867308 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.23112] [Citation(s) in RCA: 105] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2015] [Revised: 12/06/2015] [Accepted: 12/26/2015] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Developmental dyslexia has been hypothesized to result from multiple causes and exhibit multiple manifestations, implying a distributed multidimensional effect on human brain. The disruption of specific white-matter (WM) tracts/regions has been observed in dyslexic children. However, it remains unknown if developmental dyslexia affects the human brain WM in a multidimensional manner. Being a natural tool for evaluating this hypothesis, the multivariate machine learning approach was applied in this study to compare 28 school-aged dyslexic children with 33 age-matched controls. Structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and diffusion tensor imaging were acquired to extract five multitype WM features at a regional level: white matter volume, fractional anisotropy, mean diffusivity, axial diffusivity, and radial diffusivity. A linear support vector machine (LSVM) classifier achieved an accuracy of 83.61% using these MRI features to distinguish dyslexic children from controls. Notably, the most discriminative features that contributed to the classification were primarily associated with WM regions within the putative reading network/system (e.g., the superior longitudinal fasciculus, inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, thalamocortical projections, and corpus callosum), the limbic system (e.g., the cingulum and fornix), and the motor system (e.g., the cerebellar peduncle, corona radiata, and corticospinal tract). These results were well replicated using a logistic regression classifier. These findings provided direct evidence supporting a multidimensional effect of developmental dyslexia on WM connectivity of human brain, and highlighted the involvement of WM tracts/regions beyond the well-recognized reading system in dyslexia. Finally, the discriminating results demonstrated a potential of WM neuroimaging features as imaging markers for identifying dyslexic individuals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zaixu Cui
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal UniversityBeijing100875China
| | - Zhichao Xia
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal UniversityBeijing100875China
| | - Mengmeng Su
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal UniversityBeijing100875China
| | - Hua Shu
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal UniversityBeijing100875China
| | - Gaolang Gong
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal UniversityBeijing100875China
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46
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Xia Z, Hoeft F, Zhang L, Shu H. Neuroanatomical anomalies of dyslexia: Disambiguating the effects of disorder, performance, and maturation. Neuropsychologia 2015; 81:68-78. [PMID: 26679527 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2015.12.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2015] [Revised: 09/17/2015] [Accepted: 12/06/2015] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
An increasing body of studies has revealed neuroanatomical impairments in developmental dyslexia. However, whether these structural anomalies are driven by dyslexia (disorder-specific effects), absolute reading performance (performance-dependent effects), and/or further influenced by age (maturation-sensitive effects) remains elusive. To help disentangle these sources, the current study used a novel disorder (dyslexia vs. control) by maturation (younger vs. older) factorial design in 48 Chinese children who were carefully matched. This design not only allows for direct comparison between dyslexics versus controls matched for chronological age and reading ability, but also enables examination of the influence of maturation and its interaction with dyslexia. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) showed that dyslexic children had reduced regional gray matter volume in the left temporo-parietal cortex (spanning over Heschl's gyrus, planum temporale and supramarginal gyrus), middle frontal gyrus, superior occipital gyrus, and reduced regional white matter in bilateral parieto-occipital regions (left cuneus and right precuneus) compared with both age-matched and reading-level matched controls. Therefore, maturational stage-invariant neurobiological signatures of dyslexia were found in brain regions that have been associated with impairments in the auditory/phonological and attentional systems. On the other hand, maturational stage-dependent effects on dyslexia were observed in three regions (left ventral occipito-temporal cortex, left dorsal pars opercularis and genu of the corpus callosum), all of which were previously reported to be involved in fluent reading and its development. These striking dissociations collectively suggest potential atypical developmental trajectories of dyslexia, where underlying mechanisms are currently unknown but may be driven by interactions between genetic and/or environmental factors. In summary, this is the first study to disambiguate maturational stage on neuroanatomical anomalies of dyslexia in addition to the effects of disorder, reading performance and maturational stage on neuroanatomical anomalies of dyslexia, despite the limitation of a relatively small sample-size. These results will hopefully encourage future research to place greater emphasis on taking a developmental perspective to dyslexia, which may, in turn, further our understanding of the etiological basis of this neurodevelopmental disorder, and ultimately optimize early identification and remediation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhichao Xia
- State Key Lab of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China; Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China; Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, UCSF, 401 Parnassus Ave, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA
| | - Fumiko Hoeft
- Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, UCSF, 401 Parnassus Ave, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA; Haskins Laboratories, 300 George St #900, New Haven, CT 06511, USA; Department of Neuropsychiatry, Keio University School of Medicine, 35 Shinanomachi Shinjuku Tokyo, 160-8582, Japan
| | - Linjun Zhang
- College of Chinese Studies, Beijing Language and Culture University, Beijing 100083, China
| | - Hua Shu
- State Key Lab of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China; Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
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47
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Olulade OA, Flowers DL, Napoliello EM, Eden GF. Dyslexic children lack word selectivity gradients in occipito-temporal and inferior frontal cortex. NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL 2015; 7:742-54. [PMID: 25844326 PMCID: PMC4375638 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2015.02.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2015] [Revised: 02/20/2015] [Accepted: 02/20/2015] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
fMRI studies using a region-of-interest approach have revealed that the ventral portion of the left occipito-temporal cortex, which is specialized for orthographic processing of visually presented words (and includes the so-called "visual word form area", VWFA), is characterized by a posterior-to-anterior gradient of increasing selectivity for words in typically reading adults, adolescents, and children (e.g. Brem et al., 2006, 2009). Similarly, the left inferior frontal cortex (IFC) has been shown to exhibit a medial-to-lateral gradient of print selectivity in typically reading adults (Vinckier et al., 2007). Functional brain imaging studies of dyslexia have reported relative underactivity in left hemisphere occipito-temporal and inferior frontal regions using whole-brain analyses during word processing tasks. Hence, the question arises whether gradient sensitivities in these regions are altered in dyslexia. Indeed, a region-of-interest analysis revealed the gradient-specific functional specialization in the occipito-temporal cortex to be disrupted in dyslexic children (van der Mark et al., 2009). Building on these studies, we here (1) investigate if a word-selective gradient exists in the inferior frontal cortex in addition to the occipito-temporal cortex in normally reading children, (2) compare typically reading with dyslexic children, and (3) examine functional connections between these regions in both groups. We replicated the previously reported anterior-to-posterior gradient of increasing selectivity for words in the left occipito-temporal cortex in typically reading children, and its absence in the dyslexic children. Our novel finding is the detection of a pattern of increasing selectivity for words along the medial-to-lateral axis of the left inferior frontal cortex in typically reading children and evidence of functional connectivity between the most lateral aspect of this area and the anterior aspects of the occipito-temporal cortex. We report absence of an IFC gradient and connectivity between the lateral aspect of the IFC and the anterior occipito-temporal cortex in the dyslexic children. Together, our results provide insights into the source of the anomalies reported in previous studies of dyslexia and add to the growing evidence of an orthographic role of IFC in reading.
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Affiliation(s)
- O A Olulade
- Center for the Study of Learning, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC, USA
| | - D L Flowers
- Center for the Study of Learning, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC, USA
| | - E M Napoliello
- Center for the Study of Learning, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC, USA
| | - G F Eden
- Center for the Study of Learning, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC, USA
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48
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Martin A, Schurz M, Kronbichler M, Richlan F. Reading in the brain of children and adults: a meta-analysis of 40 functional magnetic resonance imaging studies. Hum Brain Mapp 2015; 36:1963-81. [PMID: 25628041 PMCID: PMC4950303 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.22749] [Citation(s) in RCA: 183] [Impact Index Per Article: 20.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2014] [Accepted: 01/13/2015] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
We used quantitative, coordinate-based meta-analysis to objectively synthesize age-related commonalities and differences in brain activation patterns reported in 40 functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies of reading in children and adults. Twenty fMRI studies with adults (age means: 23-34 years) were matched to 20 studies with children (age means: 7-12 years). The separate meta-analyses of these two sets showed a pattern of reading-related brain activation common to children and adults in left ventral occipito-temporal (OT), inferior frontal, and posterior parietal regions. The direct statistical comparison between the two meta-analytic maps of children and adults revealed higher convergence in studies with children in left superior temporal and bilateral supplementary motor regions. In contrast, higher convergence in studies with adults was identified in bilateral posterior OT/cerebellar and left dorsal precentral regions. The results are discussed in relation to current neuroanatomical models of reading and tentative functional interpretations of reading-related activation clusters in children and adults are provided.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Martin
- Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Salzburg, Hellbrunnerstr. 34, 5020, Salzburg, Austria; Neuroscience Institute, Christian Doppler Clinic, Paracelsus Medical University, Ignaz-Harrer-Str. 79, 5020, Salzburg, Austria
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49
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Insights into the genetic foundations of human communication. Neuropsychol Rev 2015; 25:3-26. [PMID: 25597031 DOI: 10.1007/s11065-014-9277-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2014] [Accepted: 12/22/2014] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
The human capacity to acquire sophisticated language is unmatched in the animal kingdom. Despite the discontinuity in communicative abilities between humans and other primates, language is built on ancient genetic foundations, which are being illuminated by comparative genomics. The genetic architecture of the language faculty is also being uncovered by research into neurodevelopmental disorders that disrupt the normally effortless process of language acquisition. In this article, we discuss the strategies that researchers are using to reveal genetic factors contributing to communicative abilities, and review progress in identifying the relevant genes and genetic variants. The first gene directly implicated in a speech and language disorder was FOXP2. Using this gene as a case study, we illustrate how evidence from genetics, molecular cell biology, animal models and human neuroimaging has converged to build a picture of the role of FOXP2 in neurodevelopment, providing a framework for future endeavors to bridge the gaps between genes, brains and behavior.
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Pagnotta MF, Zouridakis G, Lizarazu M, Lallier M, Molinaro N, Carreiras M. Low frequency overactivation in dyslexia: Evidence from resting state Magnetoencephalography. ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE IEEE ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY SOCIETY. IEEE ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY SOCIETY. ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 2015; 2015:6959-6962. [PMID: 26737893 DOI: 10.1109/embc.2015.7319993] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
In this study, we compared the brain activation profiles obtained from resting state Magnetoencephalographic (MEG) activity in 15 dyslexic patients with the profiles of 15 normal controls, using power spectral density (PSD) analysis. We first estimated intracranial dipolar MEG sources on a dense grid on the cortical surface and then projected these sources on a standardized atlas with 68 regions of interest (ROIs). Averaging the PSD values of all sources in each ROI across all control subjects resulted in a normative database that was used to convert the PSD values of dyslexic patients into z-scores in eight distinct frequency bands. We found that dyslexic patients exhibited statistically significant overactivation in the delta band (0.1-4 Hz) in the right temporal (entorhinal and insula), left inferior frontal (Broca's area), and right inferior frontal regions. Overactivation may be interpreted as a compensatory mechanism for reading characterizing dyslexic patients. These findings suggest that resting-state MEG activation maps may be used as specific biomarkers that can help with the diagnosis of and assess the efficacy of intervention in dyslexia.
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