From genes to behavior in developmental dyslexia.
All four genes thus far linked to developmental dyslexia participate in brain development, and abnormalities in brain development are increasingly reported in dyslexia. Comparable abnormalities induced in young rodent brains cause auditory and cognitive deficits, underscoring the potential relevance of these brain changes to dyslexia. Our perspective on dyslexia is that some of the brain changes cause phonological processing abnormalities as well as auditory processing abnormalities; the latter, we speculate, resolve in a proportion of individuals during development, but contribute early on to the phonological disorder in dyslexia. Thus, we propose a tentative pathway between a genetic effect, developmental brain changes, and perceptual and cognitive deficits associated with dyslexia.
Galaburda
Albert M
AM
Department of Neurology, Division of Behavioral Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, 330 Brookline Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA. agalabur@bidmc.harvard.edu
LoTurco
Joseph
J
Ramus
Franck
F
Fitch
R Holly
RH
Rosen
Glenn D
GD
D000818:Animals; D001519:Behavior; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000235:genetics / Q000503:physiopathology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004410:Dyslexia / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008958:Models, Molecular