Longitudinal changes in cortical responses to letter-speech sound stimuli in 8–11 year-old children
Abstract While children are able to name letters fairly quickly, the automatisation of letter-speech sound mappings continues over the first years of reading development. In the current longitudinal fMRI study, we explored developmental changes in cortical responses to letters and speech sounds acro...
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2022-01-01
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Series: | npj Science of Learning |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-021-00118-3 |
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author | Linda Romanovska Roef Janssen Milene Bonte |
author_facet | Linda Romanovska Roef Janssen Milene Bonte |
author_sort | Linda Romanovska |
collection | DOAJ |
description | Abstract While children are able to name letters fairly quickly, the automatisation of letter-speech sound mappings continues over the first years of reading development. In the current longitudinal fMRI study, we explored developmental changes in cortical responses to letters and speech sounds across 3 yearly measurements in a sample of 18 8–11 year old children. We employed a text-based recalibration paradigm in which combined exposure to text and ambiguous speech sounds shifts participants’ later perception of the ambiguous sounds towards the text. Our results showed that activity of the left superior temporal and lateral inferior precentral gyri followed a non-linear developmental pattern across the measurement sessions. This pattern is reminiscent of previously reported inverted-u-shape developmental trajectories in children’s visual cortical responses to text. Our findings suggest that the processing of letters and speech sounds involves non-linear changes in the brain’s spoken language network possibly related to progressive automatisation of reading skills. |
first_indexed | 2024-12-24T01:01:11Z |
format | Article |
id | doaj.art-8a9e7bab59ff447fb8bf6198ba6e63b7 |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 2056-7936 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-12-24T01:01:11Z |
publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
publisher | Nature Portfolio |
record_format | Article |
series | npj Science of Learning |
spelling | doaj.art-8a9e7bab59ff447fb8bf6198ba6e63b72022-12-21T17:23:21ZengNature Portfolionpj Science of Learning2056-79362022-01-017111210.1038/s41539-021-00118-3Longitudinal changes in cortical responses to letter-speech sound stimuli in 8–11 year-old childrenLinda Romanovska0Roef Janssen1Milene Bonte2Maastricht Brain Imaging Center, Department Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht UniversityMaastricht Brain Imaging Center, Department Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht UniversityMaastricht Brain Imaging Center, Department Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht UniversityAbstract While children are able to name letters fairly quickly, the automatisation of letter-speech sound mappings continues over the first years of reading development. In the current longitudinal fMRI study, we explored developmental changes in cortical responses to letters and speech sounds across 3 yearly measurements in a sample of 18 8–11 year old children. We employed a text-based recalibration paradigm in which combined exposure to text and ambiguous speech sounds shifts participants’ later perception of the ambiguous sounds towards the text. Our results showed that activity of the left superior temporal and lateral inferior precentral gyri followed a non-linear developmental pattern across the measurement sessions. This pattern is reminiscent of previously reported inverted-u-shape developmental trajectories in children’s visual cortical responses to text. Our findings suggest that the processing of letters and speech sounds involves non-linear changes in the brain’s spoken language network possibly related to progressive automatisation of reading skills.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-021-00118-3 |
spellingShingle | Linda Romanovska Roef Janssen Milene Bonte Longitudinal changes in cortical responses to letter-speech sound stimuli in 8–11 year-old children npj Science of Learning |
title | Longitudinal changes in cortical responses to letter-speech sound stimuli in 8–11 year-old children |
title_full | Longitudinal changes in cortical responses to letter-speech sound stimuli in 8–11 year-old children |
title_fullStr | Longitudinal changes in cortical responses to letter-speech sound stimuli in 8–11 year-old children |
title_full_unstemmed | Longitudinal changes in cortical responses to letter-speech sound stimuli in 8–11 year-old children |
title_short | Longitudinal changes in cortical responses to letter-speech sound stimuli in 8–11 year-old children |
title_sort | longitudinal changes in cortical responses to letter speech sound stimuli in 8 11 year old children |
url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-021-00118-3 |
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