White matter correlates of reading subskills in children with and without reading disability

Reading and White Matter Development: A Systematic Review of Neuroplastic Changes in Literacy

Background/Objectives: Reading is a core cognitive ability that plays a central role in children's brain development and academic success. This review aims to examine the neuroplastic relationship between reading acquisition and white matter development from infancy through adolescence, with a focus on implications for literacy interventions and educational planning. Methods: A systematic review of 89 neuroimaging studies published between 1998 and 2024 was conducted. Eligible studies utilized diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) or structural MRI to investigate white matter changes related to reading behavior in children aged 0 to 18. Studies were identified through comprehensive searches in Web of Science and Scopus databases. Results: Children with stronger reading abilities consistently showed increased fractional anisotropy (FA) in key white matter pathways, such as the arcuate fasciculus and superior longitudinal fasciculus, supporting phonological processing and reading fluency. Longitudinal data suggest that early exposure to literacy enhances brain flexibility and white matter organization. In contrast, children with reading disabilities, including dyslexia, often show disorganized white matter structure, but compensatory pathways may emerge through targeted interventions. Conclusions: Reading experience is associated with measurable changes in white matter development across childhood. Early and sustained literacy engagement appears to optimize neural structures for reading. These findings can inform early diagnosis and improve pedagogical strategies for literacy education. Further research is needed on the long-term neurobiological effects of reading interventions.

Phonological decoding ability is associated with fiber density of the left arcuate fasciculus longitudinally across reading development

Numerous studies have linked reading ability to white matter microstructure using diffusion tensor imaging, but findings have been inconsistent and lack specificity. Fiber-specific diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) models offer enhanced precision in measuring specific microstructural features, but they have not yet been applied to examine associations between reading ability and white matter microstructure development as children learn to read. We applied constrained spherical deconvolution (CSD) and fiber-specific modelling to characterize developmental changes in fiber density of key white matter tracts of the reading network, and investigated associations between tract-wise fiber density and children's phonological decoding abilities. Fiber density was measured from ages 2-13 years, and decoding ability (pseudoword reading) was assessed at ages 6 years and older. Higher decoding ability was associated with greater fiber density in the left arcuate fasciculus, and effects remained consistent over time. Follow-up analysis revealed that asymmetry changes in the arcuate fasciculus were moderated by decoding ability: good decoders showed leftward asymmetry from early childhood onward, while poorer decoders shifted toward leftward asymmetry over time. These results suggest that densely organized fibers in the left arcuate fasciculus serve as a foundation for the development of reading skills from the pre-reading stage through fluent reading.

Control energy detects discrepancies in good vs. poor readers' structural-functional coupling during a rhyming task

Neuroimaging studies have identified functional and structural brain circuits that support reading. However, much less is known about how reading-related functional dynamics are constrained by white matter structure. Network control theory proposes that cortical brain dynamics are linearly determined by the white matter connectome, using control energy to evaluate the difficulty of the transition from one cognitive state to another. Here we apply this approach to linking brain dynamics with reading ability and disability in school-age children. A total of 51 children ages 8.25 -14.6 years performed an in-scanner rhyming task in visual and auditory modalities, with orthographic (spelling) and phonological (rhyming) similarity manipulated across trials. White matter structure and fMRI activation were used conjointly to compute the control energy of the reading network in each condition relative to a null fixation state. We then tested differences in control energy across trial types, finding higher control energy during non-word trials than word trials, and during incongruent trials than congruent trials. ROI analyses further showed a dissociation between control energy of the left fusiform and superior temporal gyrus depending on stimulus modality, with higher control energy for visual modalities in fusiform and higher control energy for auditory modalities in STG. Together, this study highlights that control theory can explain variations on cognitive demands in higher-level abilities such as reading, beyond what can be inferred from either functional or structural MRI measures alone.

Neural bases of reading fluency: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Reading fluency, the ability to read quickly and accurately, is a critical marker of successful reading and is notoriously difficult to improve in reading disabled populations. Despite its importance to functional literacy, fluency is a relatively under-studied aspect of reading, and the neural correlates of reading fluency are not well understood. Here, we review the literature of the neural correlates of reading fluency as well as rapid automatized naming (RAN), a task that is robustly related to reading fluency. In a qualitative review of the neuroimaging literature, we evaluated structural and functional MRI studies of reading fluency in readers from a range of skill levels. This was followed by a quantitative activation likelihood estimate (ALE) meta-analysis of fMRI studies of reading speed and RAN measures. We anticipated that reading speed, relative to untimed reading and reading-related tasks, would harness ventral reading pathways that are thought to enable the fast, visual recognition of words. The qualitative review showed that speeded reading taps the entire canonical reading network. The meta-analysis indicated a stronger role of the ventral reading pathway in rapid reading and rapid naming. Both reviews identified regions outside the canonical reading network that contribute to reading fluency, such as the bilateral insula and superior parietal lobule. We suggest that fluent reading engages both domain-specific reading pathways as well as domain-general regions that support overall task performance and discuss future avenues of research to expand our understanding of the neural bases of fluent reading.

The role of language-related functional brain regions and white matter tracts in network plasticity of post-stroke aphasia

The neural mechanisms underlying language recovery after a stroke remain controversial. This review aimed to summarize the plasticity and reorganization mechanisms of the language network through neuroimaging studies. Initially, we discussed the involvement of right language homologues, perilesional tissue, and domain-general networks. Subsequently, we summarized the white matter functional mapping and remodeling mechanisms associated with language subskills. Finally, we explored how non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) promoted language recovery by inducing neural network plasticity. It was observed that the recruitment of right hemisphere language area homologues played a pivotal role in the early stages of frontal post-stroke aphasia (PSA), particularly in patients with larger lesions. Perilesional plasticity correlated with improved speech performance and prognosis. The domain-general networks could respond to increased "effort" in a task-dependent manner from the top-down when the downstream language network was impaired. Fluency, repetition, comprehension, naming, and reading skills exhibited overlapping and unique dual-pathway functional mapping models. In the acute phase, the structural remodeling of white matter tracts became challenging, with recovery predominantly dependent on cortical activation. Similar to the pattern of cortical activation, during the subacute and chronic phases, improvements in language functions depended, respectively, on the remodeling of right white matter tracts and the restoration of left-lateralized language structural network patterns. Moreover, the midline superior frontal gyrus/dorsal anterior cingulate cortex emerged as a promising target for NIBS. These findings offered theoretical insights for the early personalized treatment of aphasia after stroke.

Reading processes of public and private middle school and high school students

INTRODUCTION

Reading has been widely discussed, mainly due to the published results of international performance tests of schoolchildren. The gaps generated in literacy hinder the development of basic skills necessary for reading, which will have a negative impact on the teaching-learning process from elementary school to high school. This study aimed to compare the reading performance of the students in public and private schools through tests of the Brazilian reading processes-PROLEC-SE-R.

METHODS

Cross-sectional study. The Brazilian adaptation of the PROLEC-SE-R was administered to 436 students: 221 from the state school (G1 6th year, n = 30; G2 7th year, n = 33; G3 8th year, n = 35; G4 9th year, n = 31; G5 1st year, n = 32; G6 2nd year, n = 30; G7 3rd year, n = 30) e 215 private schools (G8 6th year, n = 31; G9 7th year, n = 31; G10 8th year, n = 30; G11 9th year, n = 31; G12 1st year, n = 30; G13 2nd year, n = 31; G14 3rd year, n = 31). Tools of descriptive and bivariate analysis were used.

RESULTS

Superior performance of the private school students on spelling tests helps their reading as evidenced by their scores for syntactic and semantic processes. When the knowledge of the use of the word in text, extraction of meaning and its understanding was needed, the difficulty of access to the mental lexicon of the studied population became evident.

CONCLUSION

The PROLEC-SE-R, in addition to establishing the reading profile of elementary and high school students, shows that the gaps in teaching and learning, which exist between public and private education in the literacy period, accompany students throughout the basic education cycle. Knowing the reading profile and in which process there is a disruption is important so that the teaching of specific strategies can be promoted throughout the entire schooling process, especially in primary and secondary education.

Atypical reliance on monocular visual pathway for face and word recognition in developmental dyslexia

Studies with individuals with developmental dyslexia (DD) have documented impaired perception of words and faces, both of which are domains of visual expertise for human adults. In this study, we examined a possible mechanism that might be associated with the impaired acquisition of visual expertise for words and faces in DD, namely, the atypical engagement of the monocular visual pathway. Participants with DD and typical readers (TR) judged whether a pair of sequentially presented unfamiliar faces or nonwords were the same or different, and the pair of stimuli were displayed in an eye-specific fashion using a stereoscope. Based on evidence of greater reliance on subcortical structures early in development, we predicted differences between the groups in the engagement of lower (monocular) versus higher (binocular) regions of the visual pathways. Whereas the TR group showed a monocular advantage for both stimulus types, the DD participants evinced a monocular advantage for faces and words that was much greater than that measured in the TRs. These findings indicate that the DD individuals have enhanced subcortical engagement and that this might arise from the failure to fine-tune cortical correlates mediating the discrimination of homogeneous exemplars in domains of expertise.