Assessing the neural dynamics of reading in deaf adults

阅读能力差是一个重大的公共卫生问题，因为识字率低与许多负面的社会和经济后果（例如，就业机会差、获得保健信息的机会有限、公民参与减少）有关。NIDCD 2017-2021年战略计划中的一个优先领域包括研究“确定以手语作为主要交流方式的人成功理解和使用书面语言的核心和外围因素（第48页）”。为此，该项目调查了支持成年手语者成功阅读的神经认知过程，这些手语者出生时失聪或在婴儿早期失聪。本研究的主要目的是利用心理语言学范式和事件相关电位（ERPs）来区分聋相关因素和阅读相关因素在聋人识别单字（目标1和2）、平行识别多个单词（目标3）和理解句子（目标4）时影响阅读回路功能的因素。目的1验证了一种假设，即感觉依赖的神经可塑性影响早期视觉和正字法加工的时间进程，但在阅读水平相当的聋人和听力健全的读者中，后期词汇语义加工是相似的。目的2验证了聋读者在阅读词形复杂的单词时优先使用词形-语义途径，而拼写能力较好的人则使用词形-切分途径的假设。目的3检验失聪读者表现出更大的中央凹-中央凹文字处理效应的假设，这是由于空间注意分布的变化与早期失聪有关。目的4在句子层面的加工中验证了这一假设，并调查了先前发现的失聪者对语法错误（P600）的ERP反应差异是由于语法错误的类型和/或早期语言剥夺的影响。这些目标将通过创新的方法来实现，这些方法将erp与新的侧卫范式结合起来，并在自然阅读过程中共同注册眼球运动。我们还使用线性混合效应回归来确定阅读、拼写和语音技能的连续测量对ERP组件的影响，使用单次试验EEG数据。该项目的结果将促进我们对阅读系统的神经可塑性的理解，并将是为阅读能力差的聋人制定有针对性的补救方案的关键。通过了解熟练的成年聋人读者如何弥补语言障碍，可以精心设计干预措施来促进这些技能。总的来说，这个项目将有助于建立一个框架，创造新的策略来提高聋哑儿童和成人的阅读技能。

Poor reading skills represent a significant public health concern because low literacy is associated with many negative social and economic outcomes (e.g., poor employment opportunities, limited access to health care information, reduced civic engagement). A Priority Area in NIDCD’s strategic plan for 2017-2021 includes research to “Identify central and peripheral factors associated with the successful comprehension and use of written language for people who use sign language as their primary way of communication (pg. 48)”. To that end, this project investigates the neuro-cognitive processes that support successful reading in adult signers who were born deaf or became deaf in early infancy. The primary goal is to use psycholinguistic paradigms and event-related potentials (ERPs) to differentiate deafness-related from reading-related factors that impact the functioning of the reading circuit when deaf adults recognize single-words (Aims 1 and 2), identify multiple words in parallel (Aim 3), and comprehend sentences (Aim 4). Aim 1 tests the hypothesis that sensory-dependent neural plasticity impacts the time course of early visual and orthographic processes, but that later lexico-semantic processes are similar for deaf and hearing readers with comparable reading levels. Aim 2 tests the hypothesis that deaf readers prioritize the morpho-semantic route for reading morphologically complex words but that better spellers utilize the morpho-segmentation route. Aim 3 tests the hypothesis that deaf readers exhibit greater parafoveal-on-foveal word processing effects due to changes in the distribution of spatial attention associated with early deafness. Aim 4 tests this hypothesis for sentence-level processing and also investigates whether the previously identified difference in the ERP response to grammatical violations (the P600) for deaf readers is due to the type of violation and/or to effects of early language deprivation. These aims will be achieved through innovative methods that combine ERPs with novel flanker paradigms and with co-registered eye-movements during natural reading. We also use linear mixed effects regression to identify the effects of continuous measures of reading, spelling, and phonological skills on ERP components using single trial EEG data. The results of this project will advance our understanding of the neuroplasticity of the reading system and will be key to creating targeted remediation programs for deaf adults with poor reading ability. By understanding how skilled adult deaf readers compensate for reduced access to speech, interventions can be crafted to promote those skills. Overall, this project will help build a framework for creating new strategies to improve reading skills in deaf children and adults.