The contribution of the left mid-fusiform cortical thickness to Chinese and English reading in a large Chinese sample

Abstract

Previous functional neuroimaging studies have shown that the left mid-fusiform cortex plays a critical role in reading. However, there is very limited research relating this region’s anatomical structure to reading performance either in native or second language. Using structural MRI and three reading tasks (Chinese characters, English words, and alphabetic pseudowords) and a non-reading task (visual-auditory learning), this study investigated the contributions of the left mid-fusiform cortical thickness to reading in a large sample of 226 Chinese subjects. Results showed that cortical thickness in the left mid-fusiform gyrus was positively correlated with performance on all three reading tasks but not with the performance on the non-reading task. Our findings provide structural evidence for the left mid-fusiform cortex as the “gateway” region for reading Chinese and English. The absence of the association between the left mid-fusiform cortical thickness and non-reading performance implied the specific role of this area in reading skills, not in general language skills.

The Association between Gray Matter Volume and Reading Proficiency: A Longitudinal Study of Beginning Readers

“…Previous studies that related reading performance to measures of gray matter volume, gray matter density, or gray matter thickness in normal reading participants in a cross-sectional manner, that is, at only one point in time, reported mostly positive associations in temporoparietal (He et al, 2013;Blackmon et al, 2010;Steinbrink et al, 2008) and occipitotemporal regions (Zhang et al, 2013;Hoeft et al, 2007). In contrast to these studies, no association between gray matter volume at baseline or follow-up measurement and reading proficiency at the respective (or the following) measurement time point could be found in this study.…”

“…More specifically, a positive association between reading performance and measures of gray matter volume, density, or thickness has been demonstrated in bilateral (Blackmon et al, 2010) or left (He et al, 2013;Steinbrink et al, 2008) temporoparietal and left (Zhang et al, 2013) or right (Hoeft et al, 2007) occipitotemporal regions. In addition, negative correlations have been reported for left occipitotemporal and bilateral inferior frontal regions (Blackmon et al, 2010) and the left posterior cingulate cortex (He et al, 2013).…”

Language-general and -specific white matter microstructural bases for reading

“…Again, for subjects who accurately read all 104 items in less than 45s, the reading scores were calculated as (104/time in s)*45 (i.e., estimated number of words that would have been read if they used all 45s). Both tests (TOWRE-SWE and CCRET) have been used in our previous studies that examined the structure and resting state functional connectivity correlates of reading skills (Zhang et al, 2013a; Zhang et al, 2013b). Because American and Chinese subjects took reading tests in their native languages, their scores could not be directly compared.…”

“…For example, the left occipitotemporal region, anterior part of superior temporal gyrus and superior posterior part of inferior frontal gyrus were found to be involved in reading different languages (Bolger et al, 2005; Thuy et al, 2004; Zhang et al, 2013a). These regions might be for language-general visual analysis, phonological identification of word form and semantic processing (Bolger et al, 2005).…”

Resting-state functional connectivity and reading abilities in first and second languages

“…Test items were arranged in order of difficulty from easy to more difficult items. Both tests (TOWRE-SWE and CCRET) have been used in our previous study that examined the structure of the left FFG and L1 and L2 reading in Chinese subjects (Zhang et al, 2013). The correlation between reading scores of L1 and L2 was significant (r = .50, p < .001).…”