Reduced pattern similarity in brain activation during orthographic processing in children with developmental dyslexia

• Published in: Brain and language Vol. 235; p. 105201
• Main Authors: Wu, Yu, Feng, Guoyan, Yan, Xiaohui, Perkins, Kyle, Liu, Lanfang, Yan, Xin, Cao, Fan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier Inc 01.12.2022
• Subjects: Brain - diagnostic imaging; Brain Mapping; Child; Developmental dyslexia; Dual-control group design; Dyslexia - diagnostic imaging; Dyslexia - psychology; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Orthographic processing; Pattern similarity; Reading; Developmental dyslexia; Pattern similarity; Dual-control group design; Orthographic processing
• ISSN: 0093-934X; 1090-2155
• DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2022.105201

•Reduced neural stability at the left occipito-temporal regions is a neural signature of dyslexia.•Neural stability supports behavioral stability.•Neural stability indicates the automaticity during reading. Intra-individual variability of neural response has been found to be negatively associated with cognitive proficiency and automaticity. However, whether developmental dyslexia (DD) is marked by greater intra-individual neural variability remains unclear. Using a multivariate approach and dual-control group design, the current study aims to examine whether the pattern similarity of brain activation during a visual spelling task is abnormal in children with DD compared to age control and reading control children. We found that there was reduced intra-subject pattern similarity at the left occipito-temporal regions in children with DD than both control groups, suggesting a neural signature of DD. Furthermore, we found that pattern similarity was positively associated with stability of reaction time and reading fluency in both children with DD and typical control children, suggesting that neural stability supports behavioral stability and automaticity during reading.