Individual fMRI activation in orthographic mapping and morpheme mapping after orthographic or morphological spelling treatment in child dyslexics

Todd L. Richards, Elizabeth H. Aylward, Virginia W. Berninger, Katherine M. Field, Amie C. Grimme, Anne L. Richards, William Nagy

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

64 Scopus citations

Abstract

Four sets of word-form tasks were administered during fMRI scanning to 18 child dyslexics and 21 controls to identify unique brain activation associated with four kinds of mapping-orthographic, morpheme with and without phonological shift, and phoneme-before treatment, and to measure the effect on each kind of mapping after orthographic and morphological spelling treatment (to which dyslexics were randomly assigned). Dyslexics and/or controls showed significant pretreatment activation in group maps in 18 brain regions during one or more of the mapping tasks. Average fMRI z-scores were used to determine for each kind of fMRI mapping which of the 18 brain areas (a) differentiated dyslexics and controls before treatment; (b) showed significant pre- to posttreatment activation change in dyslexics; (c) showed post-treatment 'normalization' of activation; and (d) changed differently for dyslexics as a function of the kind of treatment received. Dyslexics in orthographic treatment showed reliable change, normalization, and reatment-specific response in right inferior frontal gyrus and right posterior parietal gyrus. Implications of the findings of the combined group map and individual (region of interest) analyses for neurolinguistics, including assessment, treatment and brain plasticity, and the role of different word forms in spelling at a specific developmental stage, are discussed.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)56-86
Number of pages31
JournalJournal of Neurolinguistics
Volume19
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2006
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Brain response to spelling treatment
  • Developmental dyslexia
  • Functional MRI
  • Morphological word forms
  • Orthographic word forms
  • Phonological word forms

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
  • Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
  • Linguistics and Language
  • Cognitive Neuroscience

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