Neural Basis of Language Processing

孩子们学习口语似乎毫不费力，而学习阅读则是在整个学年中缓慢发展的，需要明确的指导和训练。尽管孩子们在获得这种复杂技能的难易程度上各不相同，但对大多数人来说，阅读最终会成为一种自动的能力。本研究旨在探讨阅读的神经基础，通过评估神经认知语言网络随阅读技能的发展而发生的变化。我们假设，语言网络的实质性重组发生在支持阅读，而正字法的访问（即，打印字访问）是这一点的标志。 这项发现补助金将资助艾米Desroches博士和她的研究团队在温尼伯大学的阅读和语言实验室的发展。本研究采用多模态方法，利用事件相关电位（ERP）和功能磁共振成像（fMRI）来研究阅读发展的神经机制。这一系列的研究将监测神经反应的正字法相似性在口语单词识别四组：成年人，学龄期良好的读者，开始读者，和学龄前儿童。这项工作的具体目的是分离出支持阅读的神经机制。我们将研究随着阅读技能的发展，语言网络如何变化以适应阅读。这些结果对发展性阅读障碍的诊断和治疗具有广泛的意义，这是北美最普遍的学习障碍。

Whereas children learn spoken language seemingly effortlessly, learning to read develops slowly through the school years and requires explicit instruction and training. Although children vary in the ease with which they acquire this complex skill, reading eventually becomes automatic for most individuals. The present proposal examines the neural basis of reading, by evaluating the changes that undergo the neurocognitive language network with the development of reading skill. We hypothesize that substantial restructuring of the language network occurs to support reading, and that orthographic access (i.e., printed word access) during spoken word recognition is a marker of this. This Discovery Grant will fund Dr. Amy Desroches and her research team in the Development of Reading and Language Laboratory at the University of Winnipeg. Our research takes a multi-modal approach, examining the neural mechanisms underlying reading development using both event-related potentials (ERPs) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). This collection of studies will monitor neural responses to orthographic similarity during spoken word recognition in four groups: adults, school-aged good readers, beginning readers, and preschoolers. The specific aim of this work is to isolate the neural mechanisms that develop to support reading. We will examine how the language network changes to accommodate reading as reading-skill develops. The results have broad implications for the diagnosis and treatment of developmental dyslexia, the most prevalent learning disorder in North America.