Phonological awareness predicts activation patterns for print and speech.
Using fMRI, we explored the relationship between phonological awareness (PA), a measure of metaphonological knowledge of the segmental structure of speech, and brain activation patterns during processing of print and speech in young readers from 6 to 10 years of age. Behavioral measures of PA were positively correlated with activation levels for print relative to speech tokens in superior temporal and occipito-temporal regions. Differences between print-elicited activation levels in superior temporal and inferior frontal sites were also correlated with PA measures with the direction of the correlation depending on stimulus type: positive for pronounceable pseudowords and negative for consonant strings. These results support and extend the many indications in the behavioral and neurocognitive literature that PA is a major component of skill in beginning readers and point to a developmental trajectory by which written language engages areas originally shaped by speech for learners on the path toward successful literacy acquisition.
Frost
Stephen J
SJ
Haskins Laboratories, 300 George Street, New Haven, CT 06511, USA. frosts@haskins.yale.edu
Landi
Nicole
N
Mencl
W Einar
WE
Sandak
Rebecca
R
Fulbright
Robert K
RK
Tejada
Eleanor T
ET
Jacobsen
Leslie
L
Grigorenko
Elena L
EL
Constable
R Todd
RT
Pugh
Kenneth R
KR
D001364:Awareness / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods; D002648:Child; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007807:Language Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008606:Mental Processes / Q000502:physiology; D010700:Phonetics; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011932:Reading; D013060:Speech / Q000502:physiology*; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology