Xi Yu1,2 | Jennifer Zuk2 | Meaghan V. Perdue2,3,4 | Ola Ozernov-Palchik2,5 |
Talia Raney2 | Sara D. Beach5,6 | Elizabeth S. Norton7 | Yangming Ou8,9,10 |
John D. E. Gabrieli5 | Nadine Gaab2,11,12
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, Division of Developmental Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut
- Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, Connecticut
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Division of Medical Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
- Division of Newborn Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
- Fetal-Neonatal Neuroimaging and Developmental Science Center, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
- Department of Radiology, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
- Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Abstract
Developmental dyslexia affects 40–60% of children with a familial risk (FHD+) compared to a general prevalence of 5–10%. Despite the increased risk, about half of FHD+ children develop typical reading abilities (FHD+Typical). Yet the underlying neural characteristics of favorable reading outcomes in at-risk children remain unknown. Utilizing a retrospective, longitudinal approach, this study examined whether putative protective neural mechanisms can be observed in FHD+Typical at the prereading stage. Functional and structural brain characteristics were examined in 47 FHD+ prereaders who subsequently developed typical (n = 35) or impaired (n = 12) reading abilities and 34 controls (FHD−Typical). Searchlight-based multivariate pattern analyses identified distinct activation patterns during phonological processing between FHD+Typical and FHD−Typical in right inferior frontal gyrus (RIFG) and left temporo-parietal cortex (LTPC) regions. Follow-up analyses on groupspecific classification patterns demonstrated LTPC hypoactivation in FHD+Typical compared to FHD−Typical, suggesting this neural characteristic as an FHD+ phenotype. In contrast, RIFG showed hyperactivation in FHD+Typical than FHD−Typical, and its activation pattern was positively correlated with subsequent reading abilities in FHD+ but not controls (FHD−Typical). RIFG hyperactivation in FHD+Typical was further associated with increased interhemispheric functional and structural connectivity. These results suggest that some protective neural mechanisms are already established in FHD+Typical prereaders supporting their typical reading development.
KEYWORDS
children, developmental dyslexia, DTI, functional MRI, pediatric neuroimaging