Increased Resting-State Functional Connectivity in the Cingulo-Opercular Cognitive-Control Network after Intervention in Children with Reading Difficulties

Abstract

Dyslexia, or reading difficulty, is characterized by slow, inaccurate reading accompanied by executive dysfunction. Reading training using the Reading Acceleration Program improves reading and executive functions in both children with dyslexia and typical readers. This improvement is associated with increased activation in and functional connectivity between the anterior cingulate cortex, part of the cingulo-opercular cognitive-control network, and the fusiform gyrus during a reading task after training. The objective of the current study was to determine whether the training also has an effect on functional connectivity of the cingulo-opercular and fronto-parietal cognitive-control networks during rest in children with dyslexia and typical readers. Fifteen children with reading difficulty and 17 typical readers (8-12 years old) were included in the study. Reading and executive functions behavioral measures and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data were collected before and after reading training. Imaging data were analyzed using a graphical network-modeling tool. Both reading groups had increased reading and executive-functions scores after training, with greater gains among the dyslexia group. Training may have less effect on cognitive control in typical readers and a more direct effect on the visual area, as previously reported. Statistical analysis revealed that compared to typical readers, children with reading difficulty had significantly greater functional connectivity in the cingulo-opercular network after training, which may demonstrate the importance of cognitive control during reading in this population. These results support previous findings of increased error-monitoring activation after reading training in children with dyslexia and confirm greater gains with training in this group.

Altered association between executive functions and reading and math fluency tasks in children with reading difficulties compared with typical readers

“…On the basis of the neurobiological model for EF suggested previously (Dosenbach, Fair, Cohen, Schlaggar, & Petersen, ), there are separate neural networks supporting speed of processing and working memory (i.e., fronto‐parietal network) and error monitoring and inhibition (i.e., cingulo‐opercular network). Additional networks were related to attention (dorsal attention, default mode network, and salience; Corbetta & Shulman, ) and the changes in correlations found in the current study may be a result of changes in functional connectivity within or between these networks between the two groups and across tasks, as was found previously (Horowitz‐Kraus, Toro‐Serey, et al, ). This point should be studied further.…”

“…These results extend the findings of previous studies, suggesting that reading fluency impairments in RD (Breznitz, ) are apparent in the arithmetic domain as well. These fluency challenges in individuals with RD can be linked to the suggested deficit in EF in these readers (Horowitz‐Kraus, Toro‐Serey, & DiFrancesco, ), including the ability to monitor their errors not only in reading (Horowitz‐Kraus & Breznitz, ) but also in non‐linguistic assignments (Horowitz‐Kraus, ). This may cause utilization of solution strategies in a less efficient manner (i.e., slow processing and poor fact retrieval; Fiona & Simmons, ) or prone to less error corrections (i.e., less accurate; Horowitz‐Kraus, , b), in both fields.…”

All Roads Lead to Rome? Distinct Neural Circuits in Different Developmental Disorders are Related to Reading Difficulties in Children

“…However, reading is not as intuitive as we may think. The neuroimaging era provides insights into the neural circuits involved in reading, and it appears that this cognitive ability relies not only on neural circuits related to language processing [2,3] but also those related to visual processing [3] and higher-level cognitive abilities, such as executive functions [4,5]. A fascinating orchestra of synchronized activation between the superior temporal gyrus and inferior frontal gyrus (i.e., language processing, see [2] the fusiform gyrus, cuneus and precuneus (i.e., visual processing, see ref.…”

“…[3]), and the anterior cingulate cortex in particular and the cinguloopercular and fronto-parietal cognitive control networks in general [4][5][6] all are needed for fluent reading. Given this involvement of multiple neural circuits and cognitive abilities, it is not surprising that reading difficulties may result from a variety of impairments or an altered activation in any of the aforementioned neural circuits.…”

Funções Executivas na Dislexia do Desenvolvimento: Revendo Evidências de Pesquisas

“…Um estudo apresentou os resultados obtidos ao longo de 12 anos de avaliação e intervenção de um Centro Multidisciplinar de Dificuldade de Aprendizagem na Universidade de Washington (BERNINGER et al, 2008) A maioria dos estudos envolveu crianças com idade média entre 9 e 11 anos. Um estudo investigou crianças com idade pré-escolar (THOMPSON et al, 2015), cinco investigações envolveram adolescentes (BROSNAN et al, 2002;KAPOULA et al, 2010;HOROWITZ-KRAUS;BREZNITZ, 2014;HOROWITZ-KRAUS, 2014; HOROWITZ-KRAUS; TORO-SEREY; DIFRANCESCO, 2015), e um trabalho foi realizado também com adultos (BROSNAN et al, 2002). Com relação a metodologia, 94% dos trabalhos utilizou grupo controle de leitores típicos para comparar o desempenho dos estudantes com dislexia, sendo a maioria deles pareados por idade.…”