Abstract
Reading plays a key role in education and communication in modern society. Learning to read establishes the connections between the visual word form area (VWFA) and language areas responsible for speech processing. Using resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) and Granger Causality Analysis (GCA) methods, the current developmental study aimed to identify the difference in the relationship between the connections of VWFA-language areas and reading performance in both adults and children. The results showed that: (1) the spontaneous connectivity between VWFA and the spoken language areas, i.e., the left inferior frontal gyrus/supramarginal gyrus (LIFG/LSMG), was stronger in adults compared with children; (2) the spontaneous functional patterns of connectivity between VWFA and language network were negatively correlated with reading ability in adults but not in children; (3) the causal influence from LIFG to VWFA was negatively correlated with reading ability only in adults but not in children; (4) the RSFCs between left posterior middle frontal gyrus (LpMFG) and VWFA/LIFG were positively correlated with reading ability in both adults and children; and (5) the causal influence from LIFG to LSMG was positively correlated with reading ability in both groups. These findings provide insights into the relationship between VWFA and the language network for reading, and the role of the unique features of Chinese in the neural circuits of reading.
Highlights
Reading is a skill unique to humans and it plays a critical role in education and communication in modern society
Group comparison in the resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) between visual word form area (VWFA) and the spoken language network showed that RSFCs of VWFA with left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG)/left supramariginal gyrus (LSMG) were stronger in adults than in children (LIFG, x, y, z = −54, 0, 9, t value = 3.387, p < 0.001, cluster size = 1782 mm3; LSMG, x, y, z = −57, −36, 27, t value = 3.524, p < 0.001, cluster size = 1431 mm3)
One-sample t-tests found that the RSFCs between these areas were all significantly different from zero, indicating that the connections between VWFA and the spoken language network existed in children, the strength was weaker than that in adults
Summary
Reading is a skill unique to humans and it plays a critical role in education and communication in modern society. In the brain, reading acquisition changes the functions and structures in the language-related brain areas (Carreiras et al, 2009; Dehaene et al, 2010; Monzalvo and Dehaene-Lambertz, 2013), and strengthens the connections between VWFA and spoken language regions including Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas responsible for articulation and auditory processing (e.g., Thiebaut de Schotten et al, 2014). Bouhali et al (2014) revealed that VWFA showed dense anatomical connections with anterior language areas; Cai et al (2008) found that the posterior occipito-temporal areas involved in visual word processing are lateralized to the same hemisphere involved in language production, indicating that these two systems are strongly attached in the reading brain Abboud et al (2015) found that VWFA shows more intrinsic functional connections with the left temporal cortex and the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG). Bouhali et al (2014) revealed that VWFA showed dense anatomical connections with anterior language areas; Cai et al (2008) found that the posterior occipito-temporal areas involved in visual word processing are lateralized to the same hemisphere involved in language production, indicating that these two systems are strongly attached in the reading brain
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