Neural processing of vision and language in kindergarten is associated with prereading skills and predicts future literacy

Johanna Liebig,Mario Braun,Johannes C Ziegler,Teresa Sylvester,Hauke R Heekeren,Eva Froehlich,Arthur M Jacobs

doi:10.1002/hbm.25449

Abstract

The main objective of this longitudinal study was to investigate the neural predictors of reading acquisition. For this purpose, we followed a sample of 54 children from the end of kindergarten to the end of second grade. Preliterate children were tested for visual symbol (checkerboards, houses, faces, written words) and auditory language processing (spoken words) using a passive functional magnetic resonance imaging paradigm. To examine brain–behavior relationships, we also tested cognitive–linguistic prereading skills at kindergarten age and reading performance of 48 of the same children 2 years later. Face‐selective response in the bilateral fusiform gyrus was positively associated with rapid automatized naming (RAN). Response to both spoken and written words at preliterate age was negatively associated with RAN in the dorsal temporo‐parietal language system. Longitudinally, neural response to faces in the ventral stream predicted future reading fluency. Here, stronger neural activity in inferior and middle temporal gyri at kindergarten age was associated with higher reading performance. Our results suggest that interindividual differences in the neural system of language and reading affect literacy acquisition and thus might serve as a marker for successful reading acquisition in preliterate children.

Highlights

When children learn to read, they are confronted with a highly complex and challenging task in which they have to map a novel visual symbol system onto partially pre-existing spoken language representations (Ziegler, Perry, & Zorzi, 2020)
We examined whether the “readiness” or sensitivity of neural systems in response to vision and language is associated with cognitive–linguistic prereading skills and predicts future reading
We have shown that the neural systems of vision and spoken language are associated with interindividual differences in cognitive–linguistic preliterate skills

Summary

Introduction

When children learn to read, they are confronted with a highly complex and challenging task in which they have to map a novel visual symbol system onto partially pre-existing spoken language representations (Ziegler, Perry, & Zorzi, 2020). Less research is available on the causal role of visual factors (Goswami, 2015) and even fewer studies have examined the neural predictors of literacy development (Ozernov-Palchik & Gaab, 2016; Vandermosten, Hoeft, & Norton, 2016 for a meta-analysis and review). It is still a controversial and open research question as to whether specific preliterate neural correlates can reliably predict future literacy. An answer to this question would be extremely useful for the identification of children who are at risk of dyslexia

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