Prereader to beginning reader: changes induced by reading acquisition in print and speech brain networks

Abstract

Background: Literacy acquisition is a demanding process that induces significant changes in the brain, especially in the spoken and written language networks. Nevertheless, large-scale paediatric fMRI studies are still limited. Methods: We analyzed fMRI data to show how individual differences in reading performance correlate with brain activation for speech and print in 111 children attending kindergarten or first grade and examined group differences between a matched subset of emergent-readers and prereaders. Results: Across the entire cohort, individual differences analysis revealed that reading skill was positively correlated with the magnitude of activation difference between words and symbol strings in left superior temporal, inferior frontal and fusiform gyri. Group comparisons of the matched subset of pre-and emergent-readers showed higher activity for emergent-readers in left inferior frontal, precentral, and postcentral gyri. Individual differences in activation for natural versus vocoded speech were also positively correlated with reading skill, primarily in the left temporal cortex. However, in contrast to studies on adult illiterates, group comparisons revealed higher activity in prereaders compared to readers in the frontal lobes. Print-speech coactivation was observed only in readers and individual differences analyses revealed a positive correlation between convergence and reading skill in the left superior temporal sulcus. Conclusions: These results emphasise that a child's brain undergoes several modifications to both visual and oral language systems in the process of learning to read. They also suggest that print-speech convergence is a hallmark of acquiring literacy.

Distinct neural substrates of individual differences in components of reading comprehension in adults with or without dyslexia

“…The precuneus has been frequently invoked in studies of language comprehension (Binder et al, 2009;Price, 2012) and reading (Chyl et al, 2018;Rimrodt et al, 2009;Roe et al, 2018;Ryherd et al, 2018;Schulz et al, 2008Schulz et al, , 2009Shaywitz et al, 2002), and there is evidence to suggest it represents the extent to which attentional resources are allocated to these tasks (Kuperberg et al, 2003;Schulz et al, 2008Schulz et al, , 2009. Consistent with the current findings, several studies have demonstrated negative associations between activation in the precuneus and out-of-scanner reading (Chyl et al, 2018;Rimrodt et al, 2009;Ryherd et al, 2018).…”

Spoken language proficiency predicts print-speech convergence in beginning readers

“…The cross-modal integration of these auditory and visual processes results in a brain network of frontal, temporal, and parietal regions that is activated during both auditory word (speech) and visual word (print) processing, across languages and orthographies (Rueckl et al, 2015). This co-active network for auditory and visual language processes, also called print-speech convergence, is thought to emerge as a function of learning to read (Chyl et al, 2018). However, the cognitive abilities that precede and predict the emergence of this shared network, setting the stage for successful reading acquisition, remain unknown.…”

The impact of second language immersion: Evidence from a bi-directional longitudinal cross-linguistic study

“…Preston et al (2016) found that the extent of overlap in the activation associated with the processing of print and speech in L1 in seven-year olds was a strong predictor of the development of reading abilities two years later. These findings suggest that successful reading acquisition for L1 results in the reorganization of the oral language networks in the brain into amodal reading related systems (Chyl et al, 2018;S. J.…”