A neural index of inefficient evidence accumulation in dyslexia underlying slow perceptual decision making

Stefanac, Nicole; Zhou, Shou-Han; Spencer‐Smith, Megan; O’Connell, Redmond G; Bellgrove, Mark A.

doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2021.05.021

Cited by 9 publications

(9 citation statements)

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“…While the EEG analysis was exploratory, the results are consistent with an earlier study of typically developing children ( Manning et al, 2021a ) and follow our hypothesised pattern ( https://osf.io/enkwm ). Similarly, Stefanac et al (2021 ) reported reduced centro-parietal build-up in children with dyslexia compared to chronological and reading age-matched controls. Yet, in our direction integration task, we found no compelling evidence for reduced centro-parietal build-up in children with dyslexia and the evidence for a relationship between this EEG measure and drift-rate was weaker.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Visual Motion and Decision-Making in Dyslexia: Reduced Accumulation of Sensory Evidence and Related Neural Dynamics

et al. 2021

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Children with and without dyslexia differ in their behavioural responses to visual information, particularly when required to pool dynamic signals over space and time. Importantly, multiple processes contribute to behavioural responses. Here we investigated which processing stages are affected in children with dyslexia when performing visual motion processing tasks, by combining two methods that are sensitive to the dynamic processes leading to responses. We used a diffusion model which decomposes response time and accuracy into distinct cognitive constructs, and high-density EEG. 50 children with dyslexia (24 male) and 50 typically developing children (28 male) aged 6 to 14 years judged the direction of motion as quickly and accurately as possible in two global motion tasks (motion coherence and direction integration), which varied in their requirements for noise exclusion. Following our pre-registered analyses, we fitted hierarchical Bayesian diffusion models to the data, blinded to group membership. Unblinding revealed reduced evidence accumulation in children with dyslexia compared to typical children for both tasks. Additionally, we identified a responselocked EEG component which was maximal over centro-parietal electrodes which indicated a neural correlate of reduced drift-rate in dyslexia in the motion coherence task, thereby linking brain and behaviour. We suggest that children with dyslexia tend to be slower to extract sensory evidence from global motion displays, regardless of whether noise exclusion is required, thus furthering our understanding of atypical perceptual decision-making processes in dyslexia. Significance statementReduced sensitivity to visual information has been reported in dyslexia, with a lively debate about whether these differences causally contribute to reading difficulties. In this large preregistered study with a blind modelling approach, we combine state-of-the art methods in both computational modelling and EEG analysis to pinpoint the stages of processing that are atypical in children with dyslexia in two visual motion tasks that vary in their requirement for noise exclusion. We find reduced evidence accumulation in children with dyslexia across both tasks, and identify a neural marker, allowing us to link brain and behaviour. We show that children with dyslexia exhibit general difficulties with extracting sensory evidence from global motion displays, not just in tasks that require noise exclusion.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Visual Motion and Decision-Making in Dyslexia: Reduced Accumulation of Sensory Evidence and Related Neural Dynamics

et al. 2021

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“…Mean alpha power was extracted bilaterally at peak electrodes - PO3/PO7 (left hemisphere) and PO4/PO8 (right hemisphere) - from 400 to 0 ms prior to the target onset and was baseline-corrected using the period of 700 to 400 ms before the target onset (Brosnan et al, 2020). For N2c components, peak negative amplitude was measured contralateral to the target hemifield, from electrodes P7 and P8 between 150 ms and 400 ms post target onset (Stefanac et al, 2021). CPP was extracted from the average of the potentials recorded at the peak electrodes - Pz and POz - and CNV was measured at FCz.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neurophysiology of perceptual decision-making and its alterations in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

Biabani,

Walsh,

Zhou

et al. 2023

Preprint

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ADHD is a prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder associated with adverse outcomes and significant social and economic cost. However, efforts to develop a more detailed understanding of the neuropsychology of ADHD are complicated by the diversity of interindividual presentation and the inability of current clinical tests to distinguish between its sensory, attentional, arousal or motoric contributions. Identifying objective methods that can decompose the clinical heterogeneity of ADHD is a long-held goal that will advance our understanding of aetiological processes and aid the development of personalised treatment approaches. Here, we examine key neuropsychological components of ADHD with an electrophysiological (EEG) decision making paradigm capable of isolating distinct neural signals of several key information processing stages necessary for sensory-guided actions from initial sensory processing to motor responses. We show that compared to typically developing children, children with ADHD display slower and less accurate behavioural performance driven by the atypical dynamics of discrete electrophysiological signatures of attentional allocation, the accumulation of sensory evidence, and strategic adjustments reflecting urgency of response. These findings offer an integrated account of impairments in ADHD and establish neural signals that can serve as critical guidance in constructing or constraining mechanistic accounts in future research, as well as in ADHD diagnosis and treatment tailoring.

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“…Additional neural metrics of build-up rate and peak amplitude were calculated using the response-locked CPP waveform. We first fitted a straight line to each participant's waveform [18][19][20]43 and defined the CPP build-up rate as the slope within a -150 to -50 ms window around the response 18,20,58 . Finally, CPP amplitude was defined as the mean amplitude of the response-locked waveform from -25 to 25ms post-response 20,42,59 .…”

Section: Pre-processingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neurophysiological mechanisms underlying post-stroke deficits in contralesional perceptual processing

Pearce,

Loughnane,

Chong

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Slowed responding to sensory inputs presented in contralesional space is pervasive following unilateral cerebral stroke, but the causal neurophysiological pathway by which this occurs remains unclear. To this end, here we leverage a perceptual decision-making framework to disambiguate information processing stages between sensation and action in 30 unilateral stroke patients (18 right hemisphere, 12 left hemisphere) and 27 neurologically healthy adults. By recording neural activity using electroencephalography (EEG) during task performance, we show that the relationship between strokes in either hemisphere and slowed contralesional response times is sequentially mediated by weaker target selection signals in the contralateral hemisphere (the N2c ERP), and subsequently delayed evidence accumulation signals (the centroparietal positivity). Notably, asymmetries in CPP and response times across hemispheres are associated with everyday functioning. Together, these data suggest a plausible neurophysiological pathway by which post-stroke contralesional slowing arises and highlight the utility of neurophysiological assessments for tracking clinically relevant behaviour.

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A neural index of inefficient evidence accumulation in dyslexia underlying slow perceptual decision making

Cited by 9 publications

References 100 publications

Visual Motion and Decision-Making in Dyslexia: Reduced Accumulation of Sensory Evidence and Related Neural Dynamics

Visual Motion and Decision-Making in Dyslexia: Reduced Accumulation of Sensory Evidence and Related Neural Dynamics

Neurophysiology of perceptual decision-making and its alterations in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

Neurophysiological mechanisms underlying post-stroke deficits in contralesional perceptual processing

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