Contributions of letter-speech sound learning and visual print tuning to reading improvement: evidence from brain potential and dyslexia training studies

Gorka Fraga González*, Gojko Žarić, Jurgen Tijms, Milene Bonte, Maurits W van der Molen

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

We use a neurocognitive perspective to discuss the contribution of learning letter-speech sound (L-SS) associations and visual specialization in the initial phases of reading in dyslexic children. We review findings from associative learning studies on related cognitive skills important for establishing and consolidating L-SS associations. Then we review brain potential studies, including our own, that yielded two markers associated with reading fluency. Here we show that the marker related to visual specialization (N170) predicts word and pseudoword reading fluency in children who received additional practice in the processing of morphological word structure. Conversely, L-SS integration (indexed by mismatch negativity (MMN)) may only remain important when direct orthography to semantic conversion is not possible, such as in pseudoword reading. In addition, the correlation between these two markers supports the notion that multisensory integration facilitates visual specialization. Finally, we review the role of implicit learning and executive functions in audiovisual learning in dyslexia. Implications for remedial research are discussed and suggestions for future studies are presented.

Original languageEnglish
Article number10
Number of pages23
JournalBrain Sciences
Volume7
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 18 Jan 2017

Keywords

  • reading
  • dyslexia
  • ERP
  • MMN
  • N170
  • letter-speech sound integration
  • associative learning
  • ERROR-RELATED NEGATIVITY
  • EVENT-RELATED POTENTIALS
  • SERIAL REACTION-TIME
  • DEVELOPMENTAL DYSLEXIA
  • WORD RECOGNITION
  • COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE
  • LITERACY ACQUISITION
  • ARTIFICIAL LANGUAGE
  • DETECTION MECHANISM
  • CORTICAL NETWORKS

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