Abstract:Wang et al. Development of Print-Speech Integration in Beginning Readers RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS-Differential processing of congruent and incongruent audiovisual nonwords emerges in second grade and is reflected by an incongruency effect in right MTG/ITG.-Pseudoword reading improvements with time are associated with the strength of the emerging congruency effect to audiovisual nonwords in the left STG.-Functional coupling between the left occipito-temporal and the right SPL increases in typical readers for congrue… Show more
“…This growing semantic influence is not expected for single letters. In relation to this, the interactions between the vOTC and other sensory and higher association areas receives support from connectivity studies ( Saygin et al, 2016 ; Stevens et al, 2017 ; Wang et al, 2020 ). Fig.…”
Letters, foundational units of alphabetic writing systems, are quintessential to human culture. The ability to read, indispensable to perform in today’s society, necessitates a reorganization of visual cortex for fast letter recognition, but the developmental course of this process has not yet been characterized. Here, we show the emergence of visual sensitivity to letters across five electroencephalography measurements from kindergarten and throughout elementary school and relate this development to emerging reading skills. We examined the visual N1, the electrophysiological correlate of ventral occipito-temporal cortex activation in 65 children at varying familial risk for dyslexia. N1 letter sensitivity emerged in first grade, when letter sound knowledge gains were most pronounced and decayed shortly after when letter knowledge is consolidated, showing an inverted U-shaped development. This trajectory can be interpreted within an interactive framework that underscores the influence of top-down predictions. While the N1 amplitudes to letters correlated with letter sound knowledge at the beginning of learning, no association between the early N1 letter response and later reading skills was found. In summary, the current findings provide an important reference point for our neuroscientific understanding of learning trajectories and the process of visual specialization during skill learning.
“…This growing semantic influence is not expected for single letters. In relation to this, the interactions between the vOTC and other sensory and higher association areas receives support from connectivity studies ( Saygin et al, 2016 ; Stevens et al, 2017 ; Wang et al, 2020 ). Fig.…”
Letters, foundational units of alphabetic writing systems, are quintessential to human culture. The ability to read, indispensable to perform in today’s society, necessitates a reorganization of visual cortex for fast letter recognition, but the developmental course of this process has not yet been characterized. Here, we show the emergence of visual sensitivity to letters across five electroencephalography measurements from kindergarten and throughout elementary school and relate this development to emerging reading skills. We examined the visual N1, the electrophysiological correlate of ventral occipito-temporal cortex activation in 65 children at varying familial risk for dyslexia. N1 letter sensitivity emerged in first grade, when letter sound knowledge gains were most pronounced and decayed shortly after when letter knowledge is consolidated, showing an inverted U-shaped development. This trajectory can be interpreted within an interactive framework that underscores the influence of top-down predictions. While the N1 amplitudes to letters correlated with letter sound knowledge at the beginning of learning, no association between the early N1 letter response and later reading skills was found. In summary, the current findings provide an important reference point for our neuroscientific understanding of learning trajectories and the process of visual specialization during skill learning.
“…Past research reveals considerable inconsistency: some studies have shown stronger responses for matching conditions; others report the opposite pattern (see Table 2). Although it remains unclear what drives the direction of the effect (some proposals can be found in Hollaway, van Atteveldt, Blomert, & Ansari, 2018;Hocking & Price, 2008;Plewko et al, 2018;Wang, Karipidis, Pleisch, Fraga-Gonzalez, & Brem, 2020), we note that around 70% of the studies reporting stronger matching responses are fMRI studies. The reverse pattern has been more frequently observed in electrophysiology and with experimental designs that include non-simultaneous audiovisual presentations.…”
The ability to establish associations between visual objects and speech sounds is essential for human reading. Understanding the neural adjustments required for acquisition of these arbitrary audiovisual associations can shed light on fundamental reading mechanisms and help reveal how literacy builds on pre-existing brain circuits. To address these questions, the present longitudinal and cross-sectional MEG studies characterize the temporal and spatial neural correlates of audiovisual syllable congruency in children (4-9 years old, 22 males and 20 females) learning to read. Both studies showed that during the first years of reading instruction children gradually set up audiovisual correspondences between letters and speech sounds, which can be detected within the first 400 ms of a bimodal presentation and recruit the superior portions of the left temporal cortex. These findings suggest that children progressively change the way they treat audiovisual syllables as a function of their reading experience. This reading-specific brain plasticity implies (partial) recruitment of pre-existing brain circuits for audiovisual analysis.
“…Past research reveals considerable inconsistency: some studies have shown stronger responses for matching conditions; others report the opposite pattern (see Table 2). Although it remains unclear what drives the direction of the effect (some proposals can be found in Hollaway, van Atteveldt, Blomert, & Ansari, 2018;Hocking & Price, 2008;Plewko et al, 2018;Wang, Karipidis, Pleisch, Fraga-Gonzalez, & Brem, 2020), we note that around 70% of the studies reporting stronger matching responses are fMRI studies. The reverse pattern has been more frequently observed in electrophysiology and with experimental designs that include nonsimultaneous audiovisual presentations.…”
The ability to establish associations between visual objects and speech sounds is essential for human reading. Understanding the neural adjustments required for acquisition of these arbitrary audiovisual associations can shed light on fundamental reading mechanisms and help reveal how literacy builds on pre-existing brain circuits. To address these questions, the present longitudinal and cross-sectional MEG studies characterize the temporal and spatial neural correlates of audiovisual syllable congruency in children (4-9 years old, 22 males and 20 females) learning to read. Both studies showed that during the first years of reading instruction children gradually set up audiovisual correspondences between letters and speech sounds, which can be detected within the first 400 ms of a bimodal presentation and recruit the superior portions of the left temporal cortex. These findings suggest that children progressively change the way they treat audiovisual syllables as a function of their reading experience. This reading-specific brain plasticity implies (partial) recruitment of pre-existing brain circuits for audiovisual analysis.
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