1 Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, Educational Neuroimaging Center , Technion, Haifa, Israel .
2 Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium, Reading and Literacy Discovery Center, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center , Cincinnati, Ohio.
Brain Connect. 2018 Oct;8(8):516-525. doi: 10.1089/brain.2018.0595.
Children with reading difficulties (RDs) often receive related accommodations in schools, such as additional time for examinations and reading aloud written material. Existing data suggest that these readers share challenges in executive functions (EFs). Our study was designed to determine whether children with RDs have specific challenges in EFs and define neurobiological signatures for such difficulties using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data. Reading and EFs abilities were assessed in 8-12-year-old children with RDs and age-matched typical readers. Functional MRI data were acquired during a Stroop task, and functional connectivity of the EFs defined network was calculated in both groups and related to reading ability. Children with RDs showed lower reading and EFs abilities and demonstrated greater functional connectivity between the EFs network and visual, language, and cognitive control regions during the Stroop task, compared to typical readers. Our results suggest that children with RDs utilize neural circuits supporting EFs more so than do typical readers to perform a cognitive task. These results also provide a neurobiological explanation for the challenges in EFs shared by children with RDs and explain challenges this group shares outside of the reading domain.
阅读障碍（RD）儿童在学校通常会接受相关的特殊教育服务，例如延长考试时间和朗读书面材料。现有数据表明，这些读者在执行功能（EFs）方面存在共同的挑战。我们的研究旨在确定 RD 儿童在执行功能方面是否存在特定的挑战，并使用磁共振成像（MRI）数据定义此类困难的神经生物学特征。我们评估了 8-12 岁 RD 儿童和年龄匹配的典型阅读者的阅读和执行功能能力。在 Stroop 任务期间获取功能磁共振成像数据，并在两组中计算执行功能定义网络的功能连接，并将其与阅读能力相关联。与典型阅读者相比，RD 儿童的阅读和执行功能能力较低，并且在 Stroop 任务期间，EF 网络与视觉、语言和认知控制区域之间的功能连接更强。我们的结果表明，RD 儿童在执行认知任务时比典型阅读者更多地利用支持 EF 的神经回路。这些结果还为 RD 儿童共同面临的 EF 挑战提供了神经生物学解释，并解释了该群体在阅读领域之外面临的挑战。
