Neural tuning of the reading system

阅读是一项对我们的社会、教育和政治生活至关重要的技能，但我们对大脑如何“适应”书面文字知之甚少。许多理论认为，阅读建立在言语感知的基础上，而语音表征的质量--也就是那些与单词发音有关的质量--在大脑对印刷单词的反应中起着核心作用。天生失聪的熟练读者对这些模型提出了挑战，因为他们没有丰富的语音表征。本研究旨在探讨具有相似阅读能力的听障及听力正常成人的文字阅读过程。其主要目的是了解参与阅读的大脑区域是否受到语音知识和听觉经验差异的影响。脑电图（EEG）和创新的统计分析将被用来确定大脑对单词的反应时间是如何受到耳聋和阅读技能的影响。功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）也将被用来描述失聪和听力正常的读者的大脑区域如何对先前与单词阅读相关的区域做出反应。此外，该项目旨在通过提供一个便于聋人使用的环境（例如，“聋人友好”实验室）和促进学术进步的培训。主要研究者（Karen Emmorey博士和菲利普霍尔科姆博士）致力于改善聋人学生的机会。该项目包含六项研究，使用神经调谐范式来识别基于刺激和基于经验的因素，这些因素塑造了大脑对正字法刺激的反应。两项事件相关电位（ERP）研究调查了不同神经反应的“微调”（例如，N/P170、N270）跨多个代表级别（例如，单词、伪单词、辅音字符串、伪字母字符串）。使用线性混合效应（LME）分析，这些实验研究如何在特定的语言技能调节这些ERP组件的个体差异。两项功能磁共振成像研究与这些ERP研究平行，但利用功能磁共振成像范式的优势来揭示阅读回路中的功能和空间组织。第三个ERP研究测试提出的N400 w和N400 c ERP反应（利用聋人和听力参与者之间的差异，就隐式图片命名）的双峰互动激活模型（BIAM）之间的区别。最后一项研究探讨了聋人和听力个体之间视觉周边注意力的差异是否会影响字母的神经调谐（使用视觉拥挤范式）。通过解决有关阅读回路灵活性的基础科学问题，该项目将为开发阅读干预措施和改善聋人和听力正常人的阅读习得提供基础证据。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

Reading is a skill that is critical for our social, educational, and political lives, and yet we know relatively little about how our brain becomes "tuned" to written words. Many theories propose that reading builds upon speech perception and that the quality of phonological representations -- that is, those related to how words sound -- plays a central role in how the brain responds to printed words. Skilled readers who are congenitally and profoundly deaf pose a challenge to these models because they do not have rich phonological representations of speech. This project investigates word reading processes in deaf and hearing adults who have similar reading abilities. Its main aim is to understand whether brain areas involved in reading are impacted by differences in phonological knowledge and auditory experience. Electroencephalography (EEG) and innovative statistical analyses will be used to determine how the timing of the brain's response to words is influenced by deafness and reading skill. Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) will also be used to characterize how brain regions previously linked to word-reading respond for deaf and hearing readers. In addition, this project aims to promote the participation of deaf people in research by providing an environment that is accessible to them (e.g., "deaf friendly" labs) and training that facilitates academic advancement. The principal investigators (Drs. Karen Emmorey and Phillip Holcomb) are committed to improving opportunities for deaf students.This project contains six studies that use neural tuning paradigms to identify the stimulus-based and experience-based factors that shape the brain's response to orthographic stimuli. Two event-related potential (ERP) studies investigate the "fine tuning" of different neural responses (e.g., N/P170, N270) across several levels of representation (e.g., words, pseudowords, consonant strings, pseudo-letter strings). Using linear mixed effects (LME) analyses these experiments examine how individual variation in specific linguistic skills modulate these ERP components. Two fMRI studies parallel these ERP studies but capitalize on the strengths of fMRI paradigms to reveal functional and spatial organization within the reading circuit. A third ERP study tests the distinction proposed by the Bimodal Interactive Activation Model (BIAM) between the N400w and N400c ERP responses (exploiting differences between deaf and hearing participants with respect to implicit picture naming). The final study examines whether differences in visual peripheral attention between deaf and hearing individuals impact neural tuning to letters (using a visual crowding paradigm). By addressing basic science questions about the flexibility of the reading circuit, this project will provide foundational evidence for developing reading interventions and improving reading acquisition for both deaf and hearing people.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.