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Kristjánsson Á, Sigurdardottir HM. The Role of Visual Factors in Dyslexia. J Cogn 2023; 6:31. [PMID: 37397349 PMCID: PMC10312247 DOI: 10.5334/joc.287] [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] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2022] [Accepted: 06/13/2023] [Indexed: 07/04/2023] Open
Abstract
What are the causes of dyslexia? Decades of research reflect a determined search for a single cause where a common assumption is that dyslexia is a consequence of problems with converting phonological information into lexical codes. But reading is a highly complex activity requiring many well-functioning mechanisms, and several different visual problems have been documented in dyslexic readers. We critically review evidence from various sources for the role of visual factors in dyslexia, from magnocellular dysfunction through accounts based on abnormal eye movements and attentional processing, to recent proposals that problems with high-level vision contribute to dyslexia. We believe that the role of visual problems in dyslexia has been underestimated in the literature, to the detriment of the understanding and treatment of the disorder. We propose that rather than focusing on a single core cause, the role of visual factors in dyslexia fits well with risk and resilience models that assume that several variables interact throughout prenatal and postnatal development to either promote or hinder efficient reading.
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Affiliation(s)
- Árni Kristjánsson
- Icelandic Vision Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Iceland, IS
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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] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [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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Beyer M, Liebig J, Sylvester T, Braun M, Heekeren HR, Froehlich E, Jacobs AM, Ziegler JC. Structural gray matter features and behavioral preliterate skills predict future literacy – A machine learning approach. Front Neurosci 2022; 16:920150. [PMID: 36248649 PMCID: PMC9558903 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.920150] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2022] [Accepted: 08/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
When children learn to read, their neural system undergoes major changes to become responsive to print. There seem to be nuanced interindividual differences in the neurostructural anatomy of regions that later become integral parts of the reading network. These differences might affect literacy acquisition and, in some cases, might result in developmental disorders like dyslexia. Consequently, the main objective of this longitudinal study was to investigate those interindividual differences in gray matter morphology that might facilitate or hamper future reading acquisition. We used a machine learning approach to examine to what extent gray matter macrostructural features and cognitive-linguistic skills measured before formal literacy teaching could predict literacy 2 years later. Forty-two native German-speaking children underwent T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging and psychometric testing at the end of kindergarten. They were tested again 2 years later to assess their literacy skills. A leave-one-out cross-validated machine-learning regression approach was applied to identify the best predictors of future literacy based on cognitive-linguistic preliterate behavioral skills and cortical measures in a priori selected areas of the future reading network. With surprisingly high accuracy, future literacy was predicted, predominantly based on gray matter volume in the left occipito-temporal cortex and local gyrification in the left insular, inferior frontal, and supramarginal gyri. Furthermore, phonological awareness significantly predicted future literacy. In sum, the results indicate that the brain morphology of the large-scale reading network at a preliterate age can predict how well children learn to read.
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Affiliation(s)
- Moana Beyer
- Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Johanna Liebig
- Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- *Correspondence: Johanna Liebig,
| | - Teresa Sylvester
- Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Mario Braun
- Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, Universität Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
| | - Hauke R. Heekeren
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Biological Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Eva Froehlich
- Department of Decision Neuroscience and Nutrition, German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbrücke, Nuthetal, Germany
| | - Arthur M. Jacobs
- Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Johannes C. Ziegler
- Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive, Aix-Marseille Université and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Marseille, France
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Jiang W, Merhar SL, Zeng Z, Zhu Z, Yin W, Zhou Z, Wang L, He L, Vannest J, Lin W. Neural alterations in opioid-exposed infants revealed by edge-centric brain functional networks. Brain Commun 2022; 4:fcac112. [PMID: 35602654 PMCID: PMC9117006 DOI: 10.1093/braincomms/fcac112] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2021] [Revised: 03/29/2022] [Accepted: 05/03/2022] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Prenatal opioid exposure has been linked to adverse effects spanning multiple neurodevelopmental domains, including cognition, motor development, attention, and vision. However, the neural basis of these abnormalities is largely unknown. A total of 49 infants, including 21 opioid-exposed and 28 controls, were enrolled and underwent MRI (43 ± 6 days old) after birth, including resting state functional MRI. Edge-centric functional networks based on dynamic functional connections were constructed, and machine-learning methods were employed to identify neural features distinguishing opioid-exposed infants from unexposed controls. An accuracy of 73.6% (sensitivity 76.25% and specificity 69.33%) was achieved using 10 times 10-fold cross-validation, which substantially outperformed those obtained using conventional static functional connections (accuracy 56.9%). More importantly, we identified that prenatal opioid exposure preferentially affects inter- rather than intra-network dynamic functional connections, particularly with the visual, subcortical, and default mode networks. Consistent results at the brain regional and connection levels were also observed, where the brain regions and connections associated with visual and higher order cognitive functions played pivotal roles in distinguishing opioid-exposed infants from controls. Our findings support the clinical phenotype of infants exposed to opioids in utero and may potentially explain the higher rates of visual and emotional problems observed in this population. Finally, our findings suggested that edge-centric networks could better capture the neural differences between opioid-exposed infants and controls by abstracting the intrinsic co-fluctuation along edges, which may provide a promising tool for future studies focusing on investigating the effects of prenatal opioid exposure on neurodevelopment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Weixiong Jiang
- Biomedical Research Imaging Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States
| | - Stephanie L. Merhar
- Perinatal Institute, Division of Neonatology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and University of Cincinnati Department of Pediatrics, Cincinnati OH, United States
| | - Zhuohao Zeng
- East Chapel Hill High School, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States
| | - Ziliang Zhu
- Department of Biostatistics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States
| | - Weiyan Yin
- Biomedical Research Imaging Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States
| | - Zhen Zhou
- Biomedical Research Imaging Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States
| | - Li Wang
- Biomedical Research Imaging Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States
| | - Lili He
- Department of Radiology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati OH, United States
| | - Jennifer Vannest
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati OH, United States
| | - Weili Lin
- Biomedical Research Imaging Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States
- Department of Radiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States
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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] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [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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Vinci-Booher S, James KH. Protracted Neural Development of Dorsal Motor Systems During Handwriting and the Relation to Early Literacy Skills. Front Psychol 2021; 12:750559. [PMID: 34867637 PMCID: PMC8639586 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.750559] [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] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2021] [Accepted: 10/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Handwriting is a complex visual-motor skill that affects early reading development. A large body of work has demonstrated that handwriting is supported by a widespread neural system comprising ventral-temporal, parietal, and frontal motor regions in adults. Recent work has demonstrated that this neural system is largely established by 8 years of age, suggesting that the development of this system occurs in young children who are still learning to read and write. We made use of a novel MRI-compatible writing tablet that allowed us to measure brain activation in 5-8-year-old children during handwriting. We compared activation during handwriting in children and adults to provide information concerning the developmental trajectory of the neural system that supports handwriting. We found that parietal and frontal motor involvement during handwriting in children is different from adults, suggesting that the neural system that supports handwriting changes over the course of development. Furthermore, we found that parietal and frontal motor activation correlated with a literacy composite score in our child sample, suggesting that the individual differences in the dorsal response during handwriting are related to individual differences in emerging literacy skills. Our results suggest that components of the widespread neural system supporting handwriting develop at different rates and provide insight into the mechanisms underlying the contributions of handwriting to early literacy development.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Karin H. James
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, United States
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Liebig J, Froehlich E, Sylvester T, Braun M, Heekeren HR, Ziegler JC, Jacobs AM. Neural processing of vision and language in kindergarten is associated with prereading skills and predicts future literacy. Hum Brain Mapp 2021; 42:3517-3533. [PMID: 33942958 PMCID: PMC8249894 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.25449] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2020] [Revised: 03/15/2021] [Accepted: 04/06/2021] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
The main objective of this longitudinal study was to investigate the neural predictors of reading acquisition. For this purpose, we followed a sample of 54 children from the end of kindergarten to the end of second grade. Preliterate children were tested for visual symbol (checkerboards, houses, faces, written words) and auditory language processing (spoken words) using a passive functional magnetic resonance imaging paradigm. To examine brain-behavior relationships, we also tested cognitive-linguistic prereading skills at kindergarten age and reading performance of 48 of the same children 2 years later. Face-selective response in the bilateral fusiform gyrus was positively associated with rapid automatized naming (RAN). Response to both spoken and written words at preliterate age was negatively associated with RAN in the dorsal temporo-parietal language system. Longitudinally, neural response to faces in the ventral stream predicted future reading fluency. Here, stronger neural activity in inferior and middle temporal gyri at kindergarten age was associated with higher reading performance. Our results suggest that interindividual differences in the neural system of language and reading affect literacy acquisition and thus might serve as a marker for successful reading acquisition in preliterate children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johanna Liebig
- Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Center for Cognitive Neuroscience Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Eva Froehlich
- Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Center for Cognitive Neuroscience Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Teresa Sylvester
- Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Center for Cognitive Neuroscience Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Mario Braun
- Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, Universität Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
| | - Hauke R Heekeren
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Deparment of Biological Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Johannes C Ziegler
- Aix-Marseille Université and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive, Marseille, France
| | - Arthur M Jacobs
- Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Center for Cognitive Neuroscience Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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