Abstract
BackgroundEvent-related brain potentials (ERPs) were used to investigate training-related changes in fast visual word recognition of functionally illiterate adults. Analyses focused on the left-lateralized occipito-temporal N170, which represents the earliest processing of visual word forms. Event-related brain potentials were recorded from 20 functional illiterates receiving intensive literacy training for adults, 10 functional illiterates not participating in the training and 14 regular readers while they read words, pseudowords or viewed symbol strings. Subjects were required to press a button whenever a stimulus was immediately repeated.ResultsAttending intensive literacy training was associated with improvements in reading and writing skills and with an increase of the word-related N170 amplitude. For untrained functional illiterates and regular readers no changes in literacy skills or N170 amplitude were observed.ConclusionsResults of the present study suggest that the word-related N170 can still be modulated in adulthood as a result of the improvements in literacy skills.
Highlights
Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were used to investigate training-related changes in fast visual word recognition of functionally illiterate adults
The literacy skills of functional illiterates obtained in childhood seem to be sufficient to account for the left-lateralized discrimination between word-like stimuli and symbol strings
In contrast to the experimental group receiving intensive literacy training, no changes were observed in functional illiterates receiving less intensive training. This group attended literacy courses as well, the present study demonstrated that literacy trainings held with a low frequency did not cause changes in literacy skills and in early visual word recognition
Summary
Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were used to investigate training-related changes in fast visual word recognition of functionally illiterate adults. Event-related brain potentials were recorded from 20 functional illiterates receiving intensive literacy training for adults, 10 functional illiterates not participating in the training and 14 regular readers while they read words, pseudowords or viewed symbol strings. Visual stimuli evoke a negative-going wave peaking between 120 ms and 200 ms after stimulus onset, which is often referred to as N170. This component is triggered by any visual stimulus, the amplitude strongly depends on the perceptual familiarity of certain stimulus classes. Maurer and colleagues investigated the development of the word-related N170 by comparing words and symbol strings in pre-literate children, literate children and adults [3,4,5]. Investigations of the same children in the fifth grade [5] and the comparison between children and adults [4,5] showed that the N170 specialization for printed words
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