title: Training-induced neural plasticity in visual-word decoding and the role of syllables.
abstract: To investigate the neural underpinnings of word decoding, and how it changes as a function of repeated exposure, we trained Dutch participants repeatedly over the course of a month of training to articulate a set of novel disyllabic input strings written in Greek script to avoid the use of familiar orthographic representations. The syllables in the input were phonotactically legal combinations but non-existent in the Dutch language, allowing us to assess their role in novel word decoding. Not only trained disyllabic pseudowords were tested but also pseudowords with recombined patterns of syllables to uncover the emergence of syllabic representations. We showed that with extensive training, articulation became faster and more accurate for the trained pseudowords. On the neural level, the initial stage of decoding was reflected by increased activity in visual attention areas of occipito-temporal and occipito-parietal cortices, and in motor coordination areas of the precentral gyrus and the inferior frontal gyrus. After one month of training, memory representations for holistic information (whole word unit) were established in areas encompassing the angular gyrus, the precuneus and the middle temporal gyrus. Syllabic representations also emerged through repeated training of disyllabic pseudowords, such that reading recombined syllables of the trained pseudowords showed similar brain activation to trained pseudowords and were articulated faster than novel combinations of letter strings used in the trained pseudowords.
authors: Radboud University Nijmegen, Behavioural Science Institute, P.O. Box 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Radboud University Nijmegen, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, P.O. Box 9101, Kapittelweg 29, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: atsuko.takashima@fcdonders.ru.nl.
authors: Atsuko
authors: A
authors: Takashima
authors: Radboud University Nijmegen, Behavioural Science Institute, P.O. Box 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors: Barbara
authors: B
authors: Wagensveld
authors: Scientific Bureau of the Public Prosecution Service, Postbus 20305, 2500 EH The Hague, The Netherlands.
authors: Miranda
authors: M
authors: van Turennout
authors: Institute for Psychology II, University of Münster, Fliednerstr. 21, 48149 Münster, Germany.
authors: Pienie
authors: P
authors: Zwitserlood
authors: Radboud University Nijmegen, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, P.O. Box 9101, Kapittelweg 29, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors: Peter
authors: P
authors: Hagoort
authors: Radboud University Nijmegen, Behavioural Science Institute, P.O. Box 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors: Ludo
authors: L
authors: Verhoeven
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011214:Practice, Psychological; D011930:Reaction Time; D011932:Reading; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Mental syllabary; Pseudoword decoding; Reading; Word learning; fMRI