Reading in the brain of children and adults: A meta‐analysis of 40 functional magnetic resonance imaging studies

Abstract

We used quantitative, coordinate‐based meta‐analysis to objectively synthesize age‐related commonalities and differences in brain activation patterns reported in 40 functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies of reading in children and adults. Twenty fMRI studies with adults (age means: 23–34 years) were matched to 20 studies with children (age means: 7–12 years). The separate meta‐analyses of these two sets showed a pattern of reading‐related brain activation common to children and adults in left ventral occipito‐temporal (OT), inferior frontal, and posterior parietal regions. The direct statistical comparison between the two meta‐analytic maps of children and adults revealed higher convergence in studies with children in left superior temporal and bilateral supplementary motor regions. In contrast, higher convergence in studies with adults was identified in bilateral posterior OT/cerebellar and left dorsal precentral regions. The results are discussed in relation to current neuroanatomical models of reading and tentative functional interpretations of reading‐related activation clusters in children and adults are provided. Hum Brain Mapp 36:1963–1981, 2015. © 2015 The Authors Human Brain Mapping Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc..

Evaluating cognitive models of visual word recognition using fMRI: Effects of lexical and sublexical variables

“…However, anatomical labeling may not always be consistent, and it seems likely that the precise localization of activation clusters in previous studies may extend dorsally beyond the supramarginal gyrus. This would explain the appearance of this region in meta-analyses (Martin et al, 2015;Taylor et al, 2013) as well as in our study.…”

“…The region in question overlaps with clusters found to be active during reading, in both adults and children, in the meta-analysis of Martin, Schurz, Kronbichler, and Richlan (2015). However, it was not included in the otherwise very widely distributed set of left-hemisphere regions discussed in a recent comprehensive review and synthesis of PET and fMRI studies related to speech, language, and reading (Price, 2012), suggesting that it may not be universally associated with reading processes.…”

Left cortical specialization for visual letter strings predicts rudimentary knowledge of letter-sound association in preschoolers

“…A similar developmental difference has been observed in fMRI, where sensitivity for words in children was found in more posterior brain regions compared with adults (36). This effect is thought to reflect children's reliance on a more posterior section of the visual word form system (VWFS) until whole-word recognition becomes automatized (37)(38)(39). Because the present FPVS-EEG approach does not require explicit processing of the words, and is thus less-or not-affected by motivation and comprehension, as well as by attentional and decisional processes, this hypothesis could be relatively easily tested with the exact same recording measure across development.…”

Transcranial direct current stimulation modulates efficiency of reading processes

“…Functional imaging studies have converged in the last two decades in identifying a left-hemisphere lateralized reading network that implicates the inferior frontal as well as extensive posterior regions (Turkeltaub et al, 2003; Martin et al, 2015). Underactivation of these regions has also been reported in individuals who have persistent reading difficulties such as dyslexia (Rumsey et al, 1992; Horwitz et al, 1998; Paulesu et al, 2001; McCandliss and Noble, 2003; Hoeft et al, 2006; Shaywitz et al, 2006).…”