Neural Basis of Language Processing

虽然孩子们学习口语似乎毫不费力，但学习阅读在学校里发展缓慢，需要明确的指导和训练。尽管孩子们掌握这项复杂技能的难易程度各不相同，但对大多数人来说，阅读最终都变成了一种自然而然的行为。本文通过分析阅读技能发展过程中神经认知语言网络的变化，探讨阅读的神经基础。我们假设语言网络发生了实质性的重组以支持阅读，而在口语单词识别过程中，正字法访问（即印刷单词访问）是这一点的标志。这项发现基金将资助Amy Desroches博士和她在温尼伯大学阅读和语言发展实验室的研究团队。我们的研究采用多模态方法，利用事件相关电位（ERPs）和功能磁共振成像（fMRI）来研究阅读发展的神经机制。这一系列研究将监测四组人在口语单词识别过程中对正字法相似性的神经反应：成年人、学龄良好的阅读者、初级阅读者和学龄前儿童。这项工作的具体目的是分离支持阅读的神经机制。我们将研究语言网络如何随着阅读技能的发展而变化以适应阅读。该研究结果对发育性阅读障碍的诊断和治疗具有广泛的意义，发育性阅读障碍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.