title: Is the impaired N170 print tuning specific to developmental dyslexia? A matched reading-level study with poor readers and dyslexics.
abstract: Left N170 print tuning has been associated with visual expertise for print and has been reported to be impaired in dyslexics, using age matched designs. This is the first time N170 print tuning has been compared in adult dyslexics and adult poor readers, matched in reading level. Participants performed a lexical decision task using both word-like stimuli and symbol strings. In contrast to dyslexics, poor readers displayed similar N170 tuning to control expert readers, suggesting that impaired N170 specialization is a hallmark of developmental dyslexia. Our findings provide electrophysiological support for dyslexia being the result of abnormal specialization of the left occipito-temporal areas involved in the expert processing of print. Furthermore, as shown by correlations data and in accordance with the phonological mapping deficit theory, the impaired visual expertise for print described in dyslexics may have been caused by their core phonological deficits.
authors.affiliation: INSERM 1114, Pôle de Psychiatrie, Hôpital Civil de Strasbourg, France. Electronic address: g.mahe@unistra.fr.
authors.forename: Gwendoline
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mahé
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bonnefond
authors.forename: Nadège
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Doignon-Camus
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004410:Dyslexia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology
keywords: Developmental dyslexia; N170 print tuning; Phonological mapping deficit theory; Poor readers; Reading-level matched design