Del Maschio Nicola, Bellini Camilla, Giannachi Matteo, Mauro Gianpaolo Del, Abutalebi Jubin
Centre for Neurolinguistics and Psycholinguistics, Faculty of Psychology, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy.
Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA.
Brain Struct Funct. 2025 Apr 23;230(4):55. doi: 10.1007/s00429-025-02919-3.
Reading is a core feature of human communication that develops throughout intensive academic training. Recently, a group of studies examined whether neuroanatomical variants that predate literacy acquisition may influence reading abilities at later stages of life, yielding mixed results. To complement and expand previous knowledge, we used multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to investigate whether distinct anatomical patterns of the left occipito-temporal sulcus (OTS), which hosts the so-called "visual word form area" (VWFA), are predictive of reading skills and brain activity in typical adult readers. Overall, our findings indicate that: (1) the pattern of the left OTS is not predictive of participants' scores on reading fluency tests; (2) the pattern of the left OTS is not predictive of local brain activity during sentence-reading; (3) individual differences in the left OTS pattern are associated with the functional architecture of the left OTS as assessed by resting-state fMRI. In conclusion, while it is well-established that the acquisition of reading skills modifies brain structure and function, the predictive role of early neuroanatomical variants on reading skills and brain function in typical readers remains equivocal. Environmental and experience-related factors may have a greater and predominant role in accounting for ultimate reading abilities in healthy populations.
阅读是人类交流的一项核心功能，它在密集的学术训练过程中不断发展。最近，一组研究探讨了早于识字能力出现的神经解剖变异是否会在生命后期影响阅读能力，结果不一。为了补充和拓展先前的知识，我们使用多模态磁共振成像（MRI）来研究，作为所谓“视觉词形区”（VWFA）所在位置的左侧枕颞沟（OTS）的不同解剖模式，是否能够预测典型成年读者的阅读技能和大脑活动。总体而言，我们的研究结果表明：（1）左侧OTS的模式无法预测参与者在阅读流畅性测试中的得分；（2）左侧OTS的模式无法预测句子阅读过程中的局部大脑活动；（3）通过静息态功能磁共振成像评估，左侧OTS模式的个体差异与左侧OTS的功能结构相关。总之，虽然阅读技能的习得会改变大脑结构和功能这一点已得到充分证实，但早期神经解剖变异对典型读者阅读技能和大脑功能的预测作用仍不明确。环境和与经验相关的因素可能在解释健康人群的最终阅读能力方面发挥更大且更主要的作用。
