Reading and cognitive abilities: Longitudinal studies of brain and behavior changes in young children

Molfese, Dennis L.; Molfese, Victoria J.; Key, Sasha; Modglin, Arlene; Kelley, S. D.; Terrell, Shona

doi:10.1007/s11881-002-0008-7

Cited by 25 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Deficits in phonological awareness, reading, and temporal resolution are linked to abnormal neural representation of sound in the auditory system (18,(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32). Relative to normal-learning children, children with reading impairments show reduced cortical asymmetry of language processing (31,33,78) and reduced amplitude or delayed latencies of the mismatch negativity, a cortical response reflecting preconscious neural representation of stimulus differences (27,32).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Subcortical differentiation of stop consonants relates to reading and speech-in-noise perception

Hornickel

Skoe

Nicol

et al. 2009

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

219

261

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Children with reading impairments have deficits in phonological awareness, phonemic categorization, speech-in-noise perception, and psychophysical tasks such as frequency and temporal discrimination. Many of these children also exhibit abnormal encoding of speech stimuli in the auditory brainstem, even though responses to click stimuli are normal. In typically developing children the auditory brainstem response reflects acoustic differences between contrastive stop consonants. The current study investigated whether this subcortical differentiation of stop consonants was related to reading ability and speech-in-noise performance. Across a group of children with a wide range of reading ability, the subcortical differentiation of 3 speech stimuli ([ba], [da], [ga]) was found to be correlated with phonological awareness, reading, and speech-in-noise perception, with better performers exhibiting greater differences among responses to the 3 syllables. When subjects were categorized into terciles based on phonological awareness and speech-in-noise performance, the top-performing third in each grouping had greater subcortical differentiation than the bottom third. These results are consistent with the view that the neural processes underlying phonological awareness and speech-in-noise perception depend on reciprocal interactions between cognitive and perceptual processes.brainstem ͉ dyslexia ͉ electrophysiology ͉ experience-dependent plasticity ͉ learning impairment L earning impairments, primarily reading disorders, are among the most prevalently diagnosed exceptionalities in school-aged children, affecting Ϸ 5% to 7% of the population (1). These impairments coincide with a number of perceptual deficits including inordinate difficulty perceiving speech in noise as well as neural encoding deficits in the auditory system. In typically developing children, differences in contrastive speech stimuli are encoded subcortically (2), but the possible relationship between subcortical encoding of stimulus differences and reading ability has not been previously explored.Behavioral Impairments. Children with reading impairments often show deficits in phonological processing, which may be caused by degraded phonological representations or an inability to access these representations effectively (3)(4)(5). This population also exhibits impairments in speech sound discrimination (i.e., contrastive syllables) relative to controls matched for age and reading level (6, 7), suggesting that impairments are not simply caused by a maturational delay. These effects are especially prevalent for place of articulation and voice onset time contrasts, which reflect dynamic spectral and temporal contrasts, respectively. Perceptual discrimination deficits seem to be limited to the rapid spectral transitions between consonants and vowels and are not found for steady-state vowels or when formant transitions are lengthened (8-10). Moreover, when presented with between-and within-phonemic category judgments, typically developing children successfully di...

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confidence: 99%

Subcortical differentiation of stop consonants relates to reading and speech-in-noise perception

Hornickel

Skoe

Nicol

et al. 2009

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

219

261

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“…Molfese and Molfese (Molfese, Molfese, Key, Modglin, Kelley, & Terrell, 2002; have postulated that reading and other language proficiencies have a foundation in neurally based speech perception abilities. These basic abilities are present from birth to a degree, and provide the basis for subsequent language development including phonological and phonemic processing.…”

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confidence: 99%

Development of auditory event-related potentials in young children and relations to word-level reading abilities at age 8 years

Espy

Molfese

et al. 2004

Ann. of Dyslexia

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A relationship between brain responses at birth and later emerging language and reading skills have been shown, but questions remain whether changes in brain responses after birth continue to predict the mastery of language-related skills such as reading development. To determine whether developmental changes in the brain-based perceptual skills are systematically related to differences in wordlevel reading proficiency at age 8 years, brain event-related potentials (ERPs) to speech and nonspeech stimuli were recorded annually at the ages of 1 through 8 years in a sample of 109 typically developing children. Two measures of wordlevel reading (one that requires decoding of real words and one of pseudowords) were administered at age 8 years. Growth curve analysis, using the hierarchical linear models, related reading performance (average versus low) to the longitudinal maturation in the ERP waveform peak and latencies. Maturational changes (e.g., slope, acceleration, and cubic growth) in N1 amplitude from ages 1 to 4 were related to proficiency in decoding pseudoword stimuli only, with children who were less proficient in decoding pseudowords evidencing more steeply negative declines in amplitude with age, particularly at the frontal and parietal recording sites in response to both speech and nonspeech stimuli. In contrast, proficiency in decoding real words was related to developmental changes in N2 amplitudes from ages 4 to 8 only at the parietal recording site, and only in response to nonspeech stimuli. The early development of biologically based differences in the perception and processing of auditory information contributes to later group differences in reading proficiencies at school age.

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“…The technique of recording event-related potentials from the scalp has been reported to be one of the few non-invasive methods currently available for the study of the underlying mechanisms in language function in children and neural-related events in children [39] . The predictive value of this investigative technique has also been consistently reported in developmental populations relating to later language development in tracking long-term language changes [38,40] . Accordingly, the use of event-related potentials to sensitively identify changes over time in childhood populations is considered an important future aspect in accurately defining and mapping the nature of activations in language function performance following treatment for cerebellar tumour.…”

Section: Discussion Of Casesmentioning

confidence: 77%

The Impact of a Cerebellar Tumour on Language Function in Childhood

Docking

Murdoch

Suppiah

2007

Folia Phoniatr Logop

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Background/Aims:Childhood-acquired cerebellar studies to date have appeared to present a concordant pattern of specific neuropsychological profiles depending on lesion site. The aim was to determine the impact of a cerebellar tumour specifically on language function in children by reporting both the general and high-level language abilities of 4 cases with differing sites of hemispheric and vermal involvement. Methods: The language abilities of 4 children (aged from 7 years 9 months to 13 years), treated with surgery and/or radiotherapy for cerebellar tumour 6 months to 3 years previously, were examined. A standardized battery of general and high-level language assessments was administered. Results: Analysis revealed intact abilities across all 4 cases on measures of general language, including receptive language, expressive language, receptive vocabulary and naming. While 2 of the 4 cases also demonstrated intact high-level language skills across all measures, the remaining 2 demonstrated specific deficits in linguistic problem solving at 6 months after treatment. Follow-up assessment of 1 case also demonstrated further decline in this area 12 months later. Conclusion: Findings of high-level language deficits in problem solving in 2 of the 4 cases examined supported previous reports of specific impairments in high-level language and in thinking flexibility and problem solving following cerebellar hemispheric damage in childhood.

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Reading and cognitive abilities: Longitudinal studies of brain and behavior changes in young children

Cited by 25 publications

References 27 publications

Subcortical differentiation of stop consonants relates to reading and speech-in-noise perception

Subcortical differentiation of stop consonants relates to reading and speech-in-noise perception

Development of auditory event-related potentials in young children and relations to word-level reading abilities at age 8 years

The Impact of a Cerebellar Tumour on Language Function in Childhood

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