The relation between neurofunctional and neurostructural determinants of phonological processing in pre-readers

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience

Jan Wouters¹  Jolijn Vanderauwera²  Maaike Vandermosten²  Pol Ghesquière³  Astrid De Vos⁴  Sophie Vanvooren⁴ 

[1] Corresponding author at: Herestraat 49 box 721, B-3000, Leuven, Belgium.;Parenting and Special Education Research Unit, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven - University of Leuven, Leopold Vanderkelenstraat 32 Box 3765, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium;Psychological Sciences Research Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, Place du Cardinal Mercier 10, B-1348 Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium;Research Group Experimental ORL, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven - University of Leuven, Herestraat 49 Box 721, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium;

关键词: Arcuate fasciculus;    Auditory steady-state responses;    Diffusion MRI;    Neural synchronization;    Phonological processing;    Pre-reading;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Phonological processing skills are known as the most robust cognitive predictor of reading ability. Therefore, the neural determinants of phonological processing have been extensively investigated by means of either neurofunctional or neurostructural techniques. However, to fully understand how the brain represents and processes phonological information, there is need for studies that combine both methods. The present study applies such a multimodal approach with the aim of investigating the pre-reading relation between neural measures of auditory temporal processing, white matter properties of the reading network and phonological processing skills. We administered auditory steady-state responses, diffusion-weighted MRI scans and phonological awareness tasks in 59 pre-readers. Our results demonstrate that a stronger rightward lateralization of syllable-rate (4 Hz) processing coheres with higher fractional anisotropy in the left fronto-temporoparietal arcuate fasciculus. Both neural features each in turn relate to better phonological processing skills. As such, the current study provides novel evidence for the existence of a pre-reading relation between functional measures of syllable-rate processing, structural organization of the arcuate fasciculus and cognitive precursors of reading development. Moreover, our findings demonstrate the value of combining different neural techniques to gain insight in the underlying neural systems for reading (dis)ability.

【 授权许可】

Unknown