Li H, Yuan B, Luo YJ, Liu J. Reading anxiety modulates the functional connectivity of the reading-related network during adult reading.
Brain Lang 2023;
242:105278. [PMID:
37209490 DOI:
10.1016/j.bandl.2023.105278]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2021] [Revised: 04/28/2023] [Accepted: 05/04/2023] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
Abstract
Researchers have studied cognitive and linguistic skills in predicting reading abilities, but the impact of affective factors such as anxiety on reading at the neurobiological level is not well understood. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the neural correlates of reading anxiety in adult readers performing a semantic judgment task. The results showed that reading anxiety was significantly correlated with response time but not with accuracy. Neurobiologically, functional connectivity strength rather than activation level of semantic-related areas significantly predicted reading anxiety. Activation of regions (i.e., the right putamen and right precentral gyrus) external to the semantic-related areas positively correlated with reading anxiety levels. These findings suggest that reading anxiety influences adult reading by modulating functional connections of semantic-related areas and brain activation of semantic-unrelated areas. This study provides insights into the neural mechanisms underlying reading anxiety experienced by adult readers.
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