An examination of the rapid automatized naming–reading relationship using functional magnetic resonance imaging

Rapid automatized naming (RAN) has been established to be a strong predictor of reading. Yet, the neural correlates underlying the RAN-reading relationship remain unknown. Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine: (a) the extent to which RAN and reading activate similar brain regions (within subjects), (b) whether RAN and reading are directly related in the shared activity network outlined in (a), and (c) to what extent RAN neural activation predicts behavioral reading performance. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), university students (N=15; Mean age=20.6 years) were assessed on RAN (letters and digits) and single-word reading (words and non-words). The results revealed a common RAN-reading network that included regions associated with motor planning (cerebellum), semantic access (middle temporal gyrus), articulation (supplementary motor area, pre-motor), and grapheme-phoneme translation (supramarginal gyrus). We found differences between RAN and reading with respect to percent signal change (PSC) in phonological and orthographic regions, but not in articulatory regions. Significant correlations between the neural RAN and reading parameters were found primarily in motor/articulatory regions. Further, we found a unique relationship between in-scanner reading response time and RAN PSC in the left inferior frontal gyrus. Taken together, these findings support the notion that RAN and reading activate similar neural networks. However, the relationship between RAN and reading is primarily driven by commonalities in the motor-sequencing/articulatory processes.

[1]  P. Bowers,et al.  The role of naming speed within a model of reading acquisition , 2002 .

[2]  Satrajit S. Ghosh,et al.  Neural modeling and imaging of the cortical interactions underlying syllable production , 2006, Brain and Language.

[3]  Peter E. Keller,et al.  The ADaptation and Anticipation Model (ADAM) of sensorimotor synchronization , 2013, Front. Hum. Neurosci..

[4]  Cathy J. Price,et al.  A review and synthesis of the first 20 years of PET and fMRI studies of heard speech, spoken language and reading , 2012, NeuroImage.

[5]  M. Wolf,et al.  The double-deficit hypothesis for the developmental dyslexias. , 1999 .

[6]  George K. Georgiou,et al.  Different RAN components relate to reading at different points in time , 2014 .

[7]  Rebecca Treiman,et al.  The English Lexicon Project , 2007, Behavior research methods.

[8]  R. Kikinis,et al.  Middle and inferior temporal gyrus gray matter volume abnormalities in first-episode schizophrenia: an MRI study. , 2006, The American journal of psychiatry.

[9]  G Jobard,et al.  Evaluation of the dual route theory of reading: a metanalysis of 35 neuroimaging studies , 2003, NeuroImage.

[10]  N. Meiran,et al.  Task set switching in schizophrenia. , 2000, Neuropsychology.

[11]  D. Compton.  Modeling the Relationship between Growth in Rapid Naming Speed and Growth in Decoding Skill in First-Grade Children. , 2003 .

[12]  R. Wagner,et al.  The nature of phonological processing and its causal role in the acquisition of reading skills. , 1987 .

[13]  C. Price.  The anatomy of language: a review of 100 fMRI studies published in 2009 , 2010, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

[14]  Patricia Greig Bowers,et al.  Theoretical links among naming speed, precise timing mechanisms and orthographic skill in dyslexia , 1993 .

[15]  Soo-Eun Chang,et al.  Common neural substrates support speech and non-speech vocal tract gestures , 2009, NeuroImage.

[16]  M. Eckert.  Neuroanatomical Markers for Dyslexia: A Review of Dyslexia Structural Imaging Studies , 2004, The Neuroscientist : a review journal bringing neurobiology, neurology and psychiatry.

[17]  Maria Chang,et al.  Structural brain alterations associated with dyslexia predate reading onset , 2011, NeuroImage.

[18]  Z. Breznitz.  Brain Activity During Performance of Naming Tasks: Comparison Between Dyslexic and Regular Readers , 2005 .

[19]  Rauno Parrila,et al.  Articulation Rate, Naming Speed, Verbal Short-Term Memory, and Phonological Awareness: Longitudinal Predictors of Early Reading Development? , 2004 .

[20]  Frank H. Guenther,et al.  A neural theory of speech acquisition and production , 2012, Journal of Neurolinguistics.

[21]  Jonathan D. Cohen,et al.  Improved Assessment of Significant Activation in Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI): Use of a Cluster‐Size Threshold , 1995, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[22]  R. Parrila,et al.  Predictors of word reading skills in good and struggling readers in Sinhala , 2014 .

[23]  A. González-Garrido,et al.  Rapid Automatized Naming and Lexical Decision in Children from an Electrophysiological Perspective , 2011, Clinical EEG and neuroscience.

[24]  Stephen R. Burgess,et al.  Contributions of Phonological Awareness and Rapid Automatic Naming Ability to the Growth of Word-Reading Skills in Second- to Fifth-Grade Children. , 1997 .

[25]  Blair C. Armstrong,et al.  The what, when, where, and how of visual word recognition , 2014, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[26]  R. Stainthorp,et al.  An experimental comparison between rival theories of rapid automatized naming performance and its relationship to reading. , 2007, Journal of experimental child psychology.

[27]  George K. Georgiou,et al.  Rapid naming speed components and reading development in a consistent orthography. , 2012, Journal of experimental child psychology.

[28]  Zhong-Lin Lu,et al.  Sensitivity to orthographic familiarity in the occipito-temporal region , 2008, NeuroImage.

[29]  J. Gabrieli,et al.  Functional neuroanatomical evidence for the double-deficit hypothesis of developmental dyslexia , 2014, Neuropsychologia.

[30]  Guy Trainin,et al.  Rapid Naming, Phonological Awareness, and Reading: A Meta-Analysis of the Correlation Evidence , 2003 .

[31]  Joseph K. Torgesen,et al.  Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing , 1997 .

[32]  George K. Georgiou,et al.  University students with a significant history of reading difficulties: what is and is not compensated? , 2007 .

[33]  Daisy Powell,et al.  Deficits in Orthographic Knowledge in Children Poor at Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) Tasks? , 2014 .

[34]  George K. Georgiou,et al.  RAN Components and Reading Development From Grade 3 to Grade 5: What Underlies Their Relationship? , 2009 .

[35]  George K. Georgiou,et al.  Predictors of word decoding and reading fluency across languages varying in orthographic consistency. , 2008 .

[36]  William W. Graves,et al.  Neural Systems for Reading Aloud: A Multiparametric Approach , 2009, Cerebral cortex.

[37]  Randy L. Buckner,et al.  An Event-Related fMRI Study of Overt and Covert Word Stem Completion , 2001, NeuroImage.

[38]  M. Wolf,et al.  Rapid automatized naming (RAN) and reading fluency: implications for understanding and treatment of reading disabilities. , 2012, Annual review of psychology.

[39]  Sven Joubert,et al.  Neural correlates of lexical and sublexical processes in reading , 2004, Brain and Language.

[40]  Steven Z. Rapcsak,et al.  The role of left posterior inferior temporal cortex in spelling , 2004, Neurology.

[41]  Thomas A Zeffiro,et al.  Development of neural mechanisms for reading , 2003, Nature Neuroscience.

[42]  L. Blomert,et al.  Naming problems do not reflect a second independent core deficit in dyslexia: double deficits explored. , 2009, Journal of experimental child psychology.

[43]  A. Riecker,et al.  The contribution of white and gray matter differences to developmental dyslexia: Insights from DTI and VBM at 3.0T , 2008, Neuropsychologia.

[44]  George K. Georgiou,et al.  Rapid naming speed and Chinese character recognition , 2008 .

[45]  F. Manis,et al.  Naming Speed, Phonological Awareness, and Orthographic Knowledge in Second Graders , 2000, Journal of learning disabilities.

[46]  S. Dehaene,et al.  The unique role of the visual word form area in reading , 2011, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[47]  M. L. Lambon Ralph,et al.  The Neural Organization of Semantic Control: TMS Evidence for a Distributed Network in Left Inferior Frontal and Posterior Middle Temporal Gyrus , 2010, Cerebral cortex.

[48]  S. Heim,et al.  Identifying brain systems for gaze orienting during reading: fMRI investigation of the Landolt paradigm , 2013, Front. Hum. Neurosci..

[49]  Kristina Moll,et al.  RAN Is Not a Measure of Orthographic Processing. Evidence From the Asymmetric German Orthography , 2009 .

[50]  Catherine McBride-Chang,et al.  What Is in the Naming? A 5-Year Longitudinal Study of Early Rapid Naming and Phonological Sensitivity in Relation to Subsequent Reading Skills in Both Native Chinese and English as a Second Language , 2011 .

[51]  Elisa Poskiparta,et al.  Development of and Relationship Between Phonological and Motivational Processes and Naming Speed in Predicting Word Recognition in Grade 1 , 2005 .

[52]  F. Conners,et al.  Phonological recoding, rapid automatized naming, and orthographic knowledge. , 2013, Journal of experimental child psychology.

[53]  Rutvik H. Desai,et al.  The neural substrates of natural reading: a comparison of normal and nonword text using eyetracking and fMRI , 2014, Front. Hum. Neurosci..

[54]  P. F. de Jong,et al.  What discrete and serial rapid automatized naming can reveal about reading , 2011 .

[55]  Mark S. Seidenberg,et al.  See Dick RAN: Rapid Naming and the Longitudinal Prediction of Reading Subskills in First and Second Graders , 1999 .

[56]  P. Dean,et al.  Dyslexia, development and the cerebellum , 2001, Trends in Neurosciences.

[57]  Steven Brown,et al.  Author ' s personal copy The somatotopy of speech : Phonation and articulation in the human motor cortex , 2009 .

[58]  R. Borowsky,et al.  What does rapid automatized naming measure? A new RAN task compared to naming and lexical decision , 2004, Brain and Language.

[59]  J. Bowey,et al.  On the association between serial naming speed for letters and digits and word‐reading skill: towards a developmental account , 2005 .

[60]  T. Braver,et al.  Anterior Cingulate and the Monitoring of Response Conflict: Evidence from an fMRI Study of Overt Verb Generation , 2000, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[61]  Thad A. Polk,et al.  Neural Dissociation of Number from Letter Recognition and Its Relationship to Parietal Numerical Processing , 2012, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[62]  K. Sunseth,et al.  Rapid Naming and Phonemic Awareness: Contributions to Reading, Spelling, and Orthographic Knowledge , 2002 .

[63]  Kristen D. Ritchey,et al.  Initial Evidence That Letter Fluency Tasks Are Valid Indicators of Early Reading Skill , 2003 .

[64]  Heikki Lyytinen,et al.  This Reprint May Differ from the Original in Pagination and Typographic Detail. Examining the Double-deficit Hypothesis in an Orthographically Consistent Language Examining the Double-deficit Hypothesis in an Orthographically Consistent Language Examining the Double-deficit Hypothesis in an Orthogra , 2022 .

[65]  R. Poldrack,et al.  Neural Systems for Rapid Automatized Naming in Skilled Readers: Unraveling the RAN-Reading Relationship , 2004, The Cognitive Neuroscience of Reading.

[66]  Karl Magnus Petersson,et al.  Rapid Automatized Naming and Reading Performance: A Meta-Analysis. , 2014 .

[67]  M. Denckla,et al.  Rapid ‘automatized’ naming (R.A.N.): Dyslexia differentiated from other learning disabilities , 1976, Neuropsychologia.

[68]  George K. Georgiou,et al.  Development of serial processing in reading and rapid naming. , 2013, Journal of experimental child psychology.

[69]  Nicole J. Conrad,et al.  Letter Processing and the Formation of Memory Representations in Children with Naming Speed Deficits , 2006 .

[70]  L. Cohen,et al.  The role of the supplementary motor area (SMA) in word production , 2006, Brain Research.

[71]  J. Mitchell.  Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing , 2001 .

[72]  Charles Hulme,et al.  Phoneme Awareness, Visual-Verbal Paired-Associate Learning, and Rapid Automatized Naming as Predictors of Individual Differences in Reading Ability , 2012 .

[73]  M. Denckla,et al.  Rapid "automatized" naming of pictured objects, colors, letters and numbers by normal children. , 1974, Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior.

[74]  G. Xue,et al.  Decoding the Neuroanatomical Basis of Reading Ability: A Multivoxel Morphometric Study , 2013, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[75]  Richard S. J. Frackowiak,et al.  Functional anatomy of a common semantic system for words and pictures , 1996, Nature.

[76]  Rauno Parrila,et al.  Naming Speed and Phonological Awareness as Predictors of Reading Development. , 2003 .

[77]  George K. Georgiou,et al.  Why is rapid automatized naming related to reading? , 2013, Journal of experimental child psychology.

[78]  Maneesh C. Patel,et al.  Perceptual Systems Controlling Speech Production , 2008, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[79]  E. Formisano,et al.  Neural correlates of verbal feedback processing: An fMRI study employing overt speech , 2007, Human brain mapping.

[80]  Richard S. J. Frackowiak,et al.  The neural correlates of the verbal component of working memory , 1993, Nature.

[81]  Joseph T. Devlin,et al.  Supramarginal gyrus involvement in visual word recognition , 2009, Cortex.

[82]  Joseph K. Torgesen,et al.  Longitudinal Studies of Phonological Processing and Reading , 1994, Journal of learning disabilities.

[83]  Margaret J. Snowling,et al.  Reading in an Alphasyllabary: Implications for a Language Universal Theory of Learning to Read , 2012 .

[84]  M. Eckert,et al.  Anatomical correlates of dyslexia: frontal and cerebellar findings. , 2003, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[85]  Richard K. Wagner,et al.  Relations Among Oral Reading Fluency, Silent Reading Fluency, and Reading Comprehension: A Latent Variable Study of First-Grade Readers , 2011, Scientific studies of reading : the official journal of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading.

[86]  R. Olson,et al.  Are RAN- and phonological awareness-deficits additive in children with reading disabilities? , 2001, Dyslexia.

[87]  Charles Hulme,et al.  Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) Taps a Mechanism That Places Constraints on the Development of Early Reading Fluency , 2009, Psychological science.

[88]  J. Ziegler,et al.  Orthographic Depth and Its Impact on Universal Predictors of Reading , 2010, Psychological science.

[89]  W. Levelt,et al.  The spatial and temporal signatures of word production components , 2004, Cognition.

[90]  S. Warkentin,et al.  Parietal Lobe Activation in Rapid, Automatized Naming by Adults , 2002, Perceptual and motor skills.

[91]  R. Savage,et al.  Deconstructing rapid automatized naming: Component processes and the prediction of reading difficulties , 2007 .

[92]  Heinrich H. Bülthoff,et al.  A comparison of geometric- and regression-based mobile gaze-tracking , 2014, Front. Hum. Neurosci..

[93]  Ron Borowsky,et al.  FMRI of Ventral and Dorsal Processing Streams in Basic Reading Processes: Insular Sensitivity to Phonology , 2006, Brain Topography.

[94]  R. Kikinis,et al.  Middle and inferior temporal gyrus gray matter volume abnormalities in chronic schizophrenia: an MRI study. , 2004, The American journal of psychiatry.

[95]  Richard S. Kruk,et al.  The predictive relations between non-alphanumeric rapid naming and growth in regular and irregular word decoding in at-risk readers , 2014 .

[96]  Identifying high-functioning dyslexics: is self-report of early reading problems enough? , 2012, Annals of dyslexia.