Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, Neuroscience Center Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Sci Rep. 2018 May 8;8(1):7121. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-24909-8.
During reading acquisition, neural reorganization of the human brain facilitates the integration of letters and speech sounds, which enables successful reading. Neuroimaging and behavioural studies have established that impaired audiovisual integration of letters and speech sounds is a core deficit in individuals with developmental dyslexia. This longitudinal study aimed to identify neural and behavioural markers of audiovisual integration that are related to future reading fluency. We simulated the first step of reading acquisition by performing artificial-letter training with prereading children at risk for dyslexia. Multiple logistic regressions revealed that our training provides new precursors of reading fluency at the beginning of reading acquisition. In addition, an event-related potential around 400 ms and functional magnetic resonance imaging activation patterns in the left planum temporale to audiovisual correspondences improved cross-validated prediction of future poor readers. Finally, an exploratory analysis combining simultaneously acquired electroencephalography and hemodynamic data suggested that modulation of temporoparietal brain regions depended on future reading skills. The multimodal approach demonstrates neural adaptations to audiovisual integration in the developing brain that are related to reading outcome. Despite potential limitations arising from the restricted sample size, our results may have promising implications both for identifying poor-reading children and for monitoring early interventions.
在阅读习得过程中，人类大脑的神经重组促进了字母和语音的整合，从而使阅读取得成功。神经影像学和行为研究已经证实，字母和语音的视听整合受损是发展性阅读障碍个体的核心缺陷。本纵向研究旨在确定与未来阅读流畅度相关的视听整合的神经和行为标记物。我们通过对有阅读障碍风险的学龄前儿童进行人工字母训练来模拟阅读习得的第一步。多项逻辑回归显示，我们的训练为阅读习得初期的阅读流畅度提供了新的预测指标。此外，与视听对应相关的 400ms 左右的事件相关电位和左颞叶平面的功能磁共振成像激活模式提高了未来阅读困难者的交叉验证预测。最后，一项结合同时采集的脑电图和血流动力学数据的探索性分析表明，颞顶叶脑区的调制取决于未来的阅读技能。这种多模态方法证明了发育中的大脑对视听整合的神经适应性与阅读结果有关。尽管由于样本量有限可能存在潜在的局限性，但我们的结果可能对识别阅读困难的儿童和监测早期干预具有重要意义。
