Lutz Christina G, Coraj Seline, Fraga-González Gorka, Brem Silvia
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Psychiatric University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Switzerland; Neuroscience Center Zurich, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, Switzerland.
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Psychiatric University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Switzerland; Neuroscience Center Zurich, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, Switzerland; Family Larsson-Rosenquist Foundation Center for Neurodevelopment, Growth, and Nutrition of the Newborn, Department of Neonatology, University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
Cortex. 2024 Mar;172:185-203. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2023.12.010. Epub 2024 Jan 17.
The specialization of left ventral occipitotemporal brain regions to automatically process word forms develops with reading acquisition and is diminished in children with poor reading skills (PR). Using a fast periodic visual oddball stimulation (FPVS) design during electroencephalography (EEG), we examined the level of sensitivity and familiarity to word form processing in ninety-two children in 2nd and 3rd grade with varying reading skills (n = 35 for PR, n = 40 for typical reading skills; TR). To test children's level of "sensitivity", false font (FF) and consonant string (CS) oddballs were embedded in base presentations of word (W) stimuli. "Familiarity" was examined by presenting letter string oddballs with increasing familiarity (CS, pseudoword - PW, W) in FF base stimuli. Overall, our results revealed stronger left-hemispheric coarse sensitivity effects ("FF in W" > "CS in W") in TR than in PR in both topographic and oddball frequency analyses. Further, children distinguished between orthographically legal and illegal ("W/PW in FF" > "CS in FF") but not yet between lexical and non-lexical ("W in FF" vs "PW in FF") word forms. Although both TR and PR exhibit visual sensitivity and can distinguish between orthographically legal and illegal letter strings, they still struggle with nuanced lexical distinctions. Moreover, the strength of sensitivity is linked to reading proficiency. Our work adds to established knowledge in the field to characterize the relationship between print tuning and reading skills and suggests differences in the developmental progress to automatically process word forms.
左腹侧枕颞脑区自动处理单词形式的特化随着阅读能力的获得而发展，在阅读能力差的儿童（PR）中则会减弱。我们在脑电图（EEG）过程中采用快速周期性视觉Oddball刺激（FPVS）设计，研究了92名二、三年级阅读能力不同的儿童（PR组35名，典型阅读能力组（TR）40名）对单词形式处理的敏感程度和熟悉程度。为了测试儿童的“敏感程度”，在单词（W）刺激的基础呈现中嵌入了假字体（FF）和辅音串（CS）Oddball。通过在FF基础刺激中呈现熟悉度逐渐增加的字母串Oddball（CS、伪单词 - PW、W）来检验“熟悉程度”。总体而言，我们的结果显示，在地形图和Oddball频率分析中，TR组的左半球粗敏感性效应（“W中的FF”>“W中的CS”）比PR组更强。此外，儿童能够区分正字法合法和非法的（“FF中的W/PW”>“FF中的CS”）但还不能区分词汇和非词汇的（“FF中的W”与“FF中的PW”）单词形式。虽然TR组和PR组都表现出视觉敏感性，并且能够区分正字法合法和非法的字母串，但他们在细微的词汇区分上仍有困难。此外，敏感程度与阅读熟练度有关。我们的工作增加了该领域的现有知识，以描述印刷体调整与阅读技能之间的关系，并表明在自动处理单词形式的发展进程中存在差异。
