Brain sensitivity to print emerges when children learn letter-speech sound correspondences.
The acquisition of reading skills is a major landmark process in a human's cognitive development. On the neural level, a new functional network develops during this time, as children typically learn to associate the well-known sounds of their spoken language with unfamiliar characters in alphabetic languages and finally access the meaning of written words, allowing for later reading. A critical component of the mature reading network located in the left occipito-temporal cortex, termed the "visual word-form system" (VWFS), exhibits print-sensitive activation in readers. When and how the sensitivity of the VWFS to print comes about remains an open question. In this study, we demonstrate the initiation of occipito-temporal cortex sensitivity to print using functional MRI (fMRI) (n = 16) and event-related potentials (ERP) (n = 32) in a controlled, longitudinal training study. Print sensitivity of fast (<250 ms) processes in posterior occipito-temporal brain regions accompanied basic associative learning of letter-speech sound correspondences in young (mean age 6.4 +/- 0.08 y) nonreading kindergarten children, as shown by concordant ERP and fMRI results. The occipito-temporal print sensitivity thus is established during the earliest phase of reading acquisition in childhood, suggesting that a crucial part of the later reading network first adopts a role in mapping print and sound.
Brem
Silvia
S
Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Agora Center, 40014 Jyväskylä, Finland. sbrem@kjpd.uzh.ch
Bach
Silvia
S
Kucian
Karin
K
Guttorm
Tomi K
TK
Martin
Ernst
E
Lyytinen
Heikki
H
Brandeis
Daniel
D
Richardson
Ulla
U
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009778:Occipital Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D011932:Reading; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*
Neuroimage. 2006 Nov 1;33(2):749-58
16920367
Neuron. 2007 Jul 5;55(1):143-56
17610823
Ann Neurol. 2007 Apr;61(4):363-70
17444510
Neuroimage. 2008 Feb 15;39(4):1988-2001
18180168
Neuroimage. 2006 Feb 1;29(3):822-37
16257546
Brain. 1999 Nov;122 ( Pt 11):2119-32
10545397
Science. 2001 Sep 28;293(5539):2425-30
11577229
J Cogn Neurosci. 2005 Oct;17(10):1532-52
16269095
J Cogn Neurosci. 2007 Oct;19(10):1643-55
18271738
Brain. 2007 Dec;130(Pt 12):3200-10
17728359
J Cogn Neurosci. 1999 May;11(3):235-60
10402254
J Neurosci. 2006 May 31;26(22):6052-61
16738248
J Learn Disabil. 2000 May-Jun;33(3):286-96
15505966
Neuroimage. 2006 Jul 1;31(3):1315-26
16644241
Nature. 1994 Nov 17;372(6503):260-3
7969469
Cereb Cortex. 2008 Sep;18(9):2054-65
18245043
Hum Brain Mapp. 2009 Jun;30(6):1833-44
19288464
J Cogn Neurosci. 2000 Mar;12(2):281-97
10771412
Psychol Rev. 2001 Jan;108(1):204-56
11212628
Science. 2001 Mar 16;291(5511):2165-7
11251124
Brain Topogr. 2001 Winter;14(2):131-7
11797811
Trends Cogn Sci. 2005 Jul;9(7):335-41
15951224
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 May 22;104(21):9087-92
17502592
Trends Cogn Sci. 2003 Jul;7(7):293-299
12860187
Nat Neurosci. 2003 Jul;6(7):767-73
12754516
Brain. 2004 Aug;127(Pt 8):1845-52
15240433
Cereb Cortex. 1999 Jul-Aug;9(5):476-83
10450892
Brain. 2000 Feb;123 ( Pt 2):291-307
10648437