Azaiez Najla, Loberg Otto, Hämäläinen Jarmo A, Leppänen Paavo H T
Department of Psychology, Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland.
Department of Psychology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Bournemouth University, Bournemouth, United Kingdom.
Front Neurosci. 2022 Jul 19;16:921977. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2022.921977. eCollection 2022.
Neural correlates in reading and speech processing have been addressed extensively in the literature. While reading skills and speech perception have been shown to be associated with each other, their relationship remains debatable. In this study, we investigated reading skills, speech perception, reading, and their correlates with brain source activity in auditory and visual modalities. We used high-density event-related potentials (ERPs), fixation-related potentials (FRPs), and the source reconstruction method. The analysis was conducted on 12-13-year-old schoolchildren who had different reading levels. Brain ERP source indices were computed from frequently repeated Finnish speech stimuli presented in an auditory oddball paradigm. Brain FRP source indices were also computed for words within sentences presented in a reading task. The results showed significant correlations between speech ERP sources and reading scores at the P100 (P1) time range in the left hemisphere and the N250 time range in both hemispheres, and a weaker correlation for visual word processing N170 FRP source(s) in the posterior occipital areas, in the vicinity of the visual word form areas (VWFA). Furthermore, significant brain-to-brain correlations were found between the two modalities, where the speech brain sources of the P1 and N250 responses correlated with the reading N170 response. The results suggest that speech processes are linked to reading fluency and that brain activations to speech are linked to visual brain processes of reading. These results indicate that a relationship between language and reading systems is present even after several years of exposure to print.
阅读和言语加工中的神经关联在文献中已得到广泛探讨。虽然阅读技能和言语感知已被证明相互关联，但其关系仍存在争议。在本研究中，我们调查了阅读技能、言语感知、阅读情况，以及它们与听觉和视觉模态下脑源活动的相关性。我们使用了高密度事件相关电位（ERP）、注视相关电位（FRP）和源重建方法。分析对象为12至13岁、阅读水平不同的学童。脑ERP源指标是根据听觉Oddball范式中呈现的频繁重复的芬兰语语音刺激计算得出的。对于阅读任务中句子内的单词，也计算了脑FRP源指标。结果显示，言语ERP源与左半球P100（P1）时间范围内以及双侧半球N250时间范围内的阅读分数之间存在显著相关性，而后枕叶区域视觉词形区（VWFA）附近视觉单词加工的N170 FRP源的相关性较弱。此外，在两种模态之间发现了显著的脑间相关性，其中P1和N250反应的言语脑源与阅读N170反应相关。结果表明，言语加工过程与阅读流畅性相关，对言语的脑激活与阅读的视觉脑过程相关。这些结果表明，即使在接触印刷品数年之后，语言和阅读系统之间的关系依然存在。
