Balanced bilinguals favor lexical processing in their opaque language and conversion system in their shallow language

Referred to as orthographic depth, the degree of consistency of grapheme/phoneme correspondences varies across languages from high in shallow orthographies to low in deep orthographies. The present study investigates the impact of orthographic depth on reading route by analyzing evoked potentials to words in a deep (French) and shallow (German) language presented to highly proficient bilinguals. ERP analyses to German and French words revealed significant topographic modulations 240–280 ms post-stimulus onset, indicative of distinct brain networks engaged in reading over this time window. Source estimations revealed that these effects stemmed from modulations of left insular, inferior frontal and dorsolateral regions (German > French) previously associated to phonological processing. Our results show that reading in a shallow language was associated to a stronger engagement of phonological pathways than reading in a deep language. Thus, the lexical pathways favored in word reading are reinforced by phonological networks more strongly in the shallow than deep orthography

N170 visual word specialization on implicit and explicit reading tasks in Spanish speaking adult neoliterates

Adult literacy training is known to be difficult in terms of teaching and maintenance (Abadzi, 2003), perhaps because adults who recently learned to read in their first language have not acquired reading automaticity. This study examines fast word recognition process in neoliterate adults, to evaluate whether they show evidence of perceptual (automatic) distinctions between linguistic (words) and visual (symbol) stimuli. Such a mechanism is thought to be the basis for effortless reading associated with Visual Word Form Area activation that becomes "tuned" to scripts as literacy skills are acquired (McCandliss, Cohen, Dehaene, 2003). High density EEG was recorded from a group of adults who are neoliterate in two reading tasks: (1) a one-back task requiring implicit reading (available only to those who have attained automaticity), and (2) reading verification task, an explicit reading task, in which participants detected mismatches between pairs of visual and auditory words. Results were compared to recordings from a comparison group of adults who learned to read in childhood. Left-lateralized N170 ERP was targeted as an index of automaticity in reading. Participants from the comparison group showed left-lateralized N170 to word stimuli in both the implicit and explicit reading tasks. Conversely, N170 effects were not found on the participants form the study group on either implicit or explicit reading tasks. This suggests that automaticity in reading can be indexed in neoliterate adults using the ERP component N170, and that automaticity had not been acquired by the study group investigated here

Neural Correlates of Letter-String Length and Lexicality during Reading in a Regular Orthography

Behavioral studies have shown that short letter strings are read faster than long letter-strings and words are read faster than nonwords. Here, we describe the dynamics of letter-string length and lexicality effects at the cortical level, using magnetoencephalography, during a reading task in Finnish with long (eight-letter) and short (four-letter) word/nonword stimuli. Length effects were observed in two spatially and temporally distinct cortical activations: (1) in the occipital cortex at about 100 msec by the strength of activation, regardless of the lexical status of the stimuli, and (2) in the left superior temporal cortex between 200 and 600 msec by the duration of activation, with words showing a smaller effect than nonwords. A significant lexicality effect was also evident in this later activation, with stronger activation and longer duration for nonwords than words. There seem to be no distinct cortical areas for reading words and nonwords. The early length effect is likely to be due to the low-level visual analysis common to all stimulus letter-strings. The later lexicality and length effects apparently reflect converging lexico-semantic and phonological influences, and are discussed in terms of dual-route and single-route connectionist models of reading.Peer reviewe

Training-induced neural plasticity in visual-word decoding and the role of syllables

To investigate the neural underpinnings of word decoding, and how it changes as a function of repeated exposure, we trained Dutch participants repeatedly over the course of a month of training to articulate a set of novel disyllabic input strings written in Greek script to avoid the use of familiar orthographic representations. The syllables in the input were phonotactically legal combinations but non-existent in the Dutch language, allowing us to assess their role in novel word decoding. Not only trained disyllabic pseudowords were tested but also pseudowords with recombined patterns of syllables to uncover the emergence of syllabic representations. We showed that with extensive training, articulation became faster and more accurate for the trained pseudowords. On the neural level, the initial stage of decoding was reflected by increased activity in visual attention areas of occipito-temporal and occipito-parietal cortices, and in motor coordination areas of the precentral gyrus and the inferior frontal gyrus. After one month of training, memory representations for holistic information (whole word unit) were established in areas encompassing the angular gyrus, the precuneus and the middle temporal gyrus. Syllabic representations also emerged through repeated training of disyllabic pseudowords, such that reading recombined syllables of the trained pseudowords showed similar brain activation to trained pseudowords and were articulated faster than novel combinations of letter strings used in the trained pseudowords

Spatiotemporal dynamics of single-letter reading: a combined ERP-FMRI study

This work investigates the neural correlates of single-letter reading by combining event-related potentials (ERPs) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), thus exploiting their complementary spatiotemporal resolutions. Three externally-paced reading tasks were administered with an event-related design: passive observation of letters and symbols and active reading aloud of letters. ERP and fMRI data were separately recorded from 8 healthy adults during the same experimental conditions. Due to the presence of artifacts in the EEG signals, two subjects were discarded from further analysis. Independent Component Analysis was applied to ERPs, after dimensionality reduction by Principal Component Analysis: some independent components were clearly related to specific reading functions and the associated current density distributions in the brain were estimated with Low Resolution Electromagnetic Tomography Analysis method (LORETA). The impulse hemodynamic response function was modeled as a linear combination of linear B-spline functions and fMRI statistical analysis was performed by multiple linear regression. fMRI and LORETA maps were superimposed in order to identify the overlapping activations and the activated regions specifically revealed by each modality. The results showed the existence of neuronal networks functionally specific for letter processing and for explicit verbal-motor articulation, including the temporo-parietal and frontal regions. Overlap between fMRI and LORETA results was observed in the inferior temporal-middle occipital gyrus, suggesting that this area has a crucial and multifunctional role for linguistic and reading processes, likely because its spatial location and strong interconnection with the main visual and auditory sensory systems may have favored its specialization in grapheme-phoneme matching

Direct Evidence for Two Different Neural Mechanisms for Reading Familiar and Unfamiliar Words: An Intra-Cerebral EEG Study

After intensive practice, unfamiliar letter strings become familiar words and reading speed increases strikingly from a slow processing to a fast and with more global recognition of words. While this effect has been well documented at the behavioral level, its neural underpinnings are still unclear. The question is how the brain modulates the activity of the reading network according to the novelty of the items. Several models have proposed that familiar and unfamiliar words are not processed by separate networks but rather by common regions operating differently according to familiarity. This hypothesis has proved difficult to test at the neural level because the effects of familiarity and length on reading occur (a) on a millisecond scale, shorter than the resolution of fMRI and (b) in regions which cannot be isolated with non-invasive EEG or MEG. We overcame these limitations by using invasive intra-cerebral EEG recording in epileptic patients. Neural activity (gamma-band responses, between 50 and 150 Hz) was measured in three major nodes of reading network – left inferior frontal, supramarginal, and inferior temporo-occipital cortices – while patients silently read familiar (words) and unfamiliar (pseudo-words) items of two lengths (short composed of one-syllable vs. long composed of three-syllables). While all items elicited strong neural responses in the three regions, we found that the duration of the neural response increases with length only for pseudo-words, in direct relation to orthographic-to-phonological conversion. Our results validate at the neural level the hypothesis that all words are processed by a common network operating more or less efficiently depending on words’ novelty

Relationship between early development of spelling and reading

The research reported in this thesis examined the relationship between beginning spelling and reading. More specifically, it focussed on the relationship between the development of early reading and spelling in a context where the approach to early reading instruction includes systematic phonological awareness and decoding instruction. A critical assumption made by proponents of developmental early literacy models is that transfer of skills and knowledge from reading to spelling will occur spontaneously and without formal instruction (Frith, 1980). By contrast instruction-centred approaches make the assumption that there are critical pre-requisite skills that can and should be taught explicitly (Carnine, Silbert & Kameenui, 1997). The difference between these approaches is highlighted in the treatment of invented spelling, a popular activity in Western Australian junior primary classes. A series of studies was undertaken to examine the effect on invented and standard spelling performance of teaching Year 1 children phonological awareness and the strategy of sounding out words. Data were gathered from a range of settings using different research tools. The relationship between phonological awareness and beginning reading and spelling performance was explored initially through a single case study. A post-hoc study was then undertaken with a cohort of students who had received systematic decoding instruction to examine whether proficiency in the decoding of nonwords was related to spelling performance. This permitted an analysis of common sub-skills of decoding and encoding. In the main study the effect on different aspects of reading and spelling performance of using Let\u27s Decode, an approach that includes explicit phonological awareness and systematic decoding instruction, was investigated. In addition, an analysis was made of whether students who received explicit instruction in skills known to contribute to beginning reading and spelling produced superior invented spelling samples. A qualitative analysis was made of the. pre and post invented spelling tests of two pairs of students from the control and intervention groups matched on invented spelling and phonological awareness skills at the beginning of the year, and re tested at the end of Year 1. The final research question involved a single-subject research design to examine the effect of explicit instruction in isolating phonemes in words and prompts to \u27listen for sounds\u27 prior to, and during, the process of spelling words. The single case study revealed a child who was regarded as a competent speller and reader but who could only read words in a familiar context and who had developed a strategy for spelling words based on copying an adult model. This was interpreted as evidence supporting the need for phonological awareness instruction as a pre-requisite for spelling. The post-hoc analysis of a class of students who had received systematic decoding instruction showed that no student classified as a \u27good decoder\u27 could also be classified as a \u27poor speller\u27. This result was considered evidence of a strong link between the phonological knowledge that is required to decode and the role of alphabetic knowledge in spelling. The main study revealed phonological awareness and systematic decoding instruction was associated with superior invented and conventional spelling and reading performance on all reading and spelling measures. Of particular importance was the finding that students who commenced the study with very weak phonological awareness and who subsequently received systematic phonological and decoding instruction showed greater gains in invented spelling than matched students in the control condition. The single subject design showed the effectiveness of phonological awareness individualised instruction on invented spelling for weak students from both intervention and control conditions. It was concluded that the ability to invent spelling is improved when students receive explicit instruction in phonological awareness and systematic decoding but that some students, namely those with persistent weakness in phonological awareness, also require explicit prompts to apply their alphabetic knowledge to spelling words. The implications for instruction of these findings are discussed