Event-related potential and lexical decision task in dyslexic adults: Lexical and lateralization effects

Developmental dyslexia is a specific learning disorder that presents cognitive and neurobiological impairments related to different patterns of brain activation throughout development, continuing in adulthood. Lexical decision tasks, together with electroencephalography (EEG) measures that have great temporal precision, allow the capture of cognitive processes during the task, and can assist in the understanding of altered brain activation processes in adult dyslexics. High-density EEG allows the use of temporal analyses through event-related potentials (ERPs). The aim of this study was to compare and measure the pattern of ERPs in adults with developmental dyslexia and good readers, and to characterize and compare reading patterns between groups. Twenty university adults diagnosed with developmental dyslexia and 23 healthy adult readers paired with dyslexics participated in the study. The groups were assessed in tests of intelligence, phonological awareness, reading, and writing, as well as through the lexical decision test (LDT). During LDT, ERPs were recorded using a 128-channel EEG device. The ERPs P100 occipital, N170 occipito-temporal, N400 centro-parietal, and LPC centro-parietal were analyzed. The results showed a different cognitive profile between the groups in the reading, phonological awareness, and writing tests but not in the intelligence test. In addition, the brain activation pattern of the ERPs was different between the groups in terms of hemispheric lateralization, with higher amplitude of N170 in the dyslexia group in the right hemisphere and opposite pattern in the control group and specificities in relation to the items of the LDT, as the N400 were more negative in the Dyslexia group for words, while in the control group, this ERP was more pronounced in the pseudowords. These results are important for understanding different brain patterns in developmental dyslexia and can better guide future interventions according to the changes found in the profile.

[1]  F. Isel,et al.  Evidence from ERP and Eye Movements as Markers of Language Dysfunction in Dyslexia , 2022, Brain sciences.

[2]  M. Berlingeri,et al.  Orthographic depth and developmental dyslexia: a meta-analytic study , 2021, Annals of Dyslexia.

[3]  Jelmer P Borst,et al.  Discovering the brain stages of lexical decision: Behavioral effects originate from a single neural decision process , 2021, Brain and Cognition.

[4]  A. Reis,et al.  Reading and reading-related skills in adults with dyslexia from different orthographic systems: a review and meta-analysis , 2020, Annals of Dyslexia.

[5]  J. Gabrieli,et al.  Distinct neural substrates of individual differences in components of reading comprehension in adults with or without dyslexia , 2020, NeuroImage.

[6]  Heikki Lyytinen,et al.  Cracking the Code: The Impact of Orthographic Transparency and Morphological-Syllabic Complexity on Reading and Developmental Dyslexia , 2019, Front. Psychol..

[7]  M. Laganaro,et al.  The electrophysiological correlates of developmental dyslexia: New insights from lexical decision and reading aloud in adults , 2018, Neuropsychologia.

[8]  G. Lerma-Usabiaga,et al.  Neural correlates of phonological, orthographic and semantic reading processing in dyslexia , 2018, NeuroImage: Clinical.

[9]  G. Hannell.  Developmental , 2018, Identifying Special Needs.

[10]  Kok Wai Wong,et al.  Review of EEG-based pattern classification frameworks for dyslexia , 2018, Brain Informatics.

[11]  Penny M. Pexman,et al.  An ERP investigation of vertical reading fluency in Scrabble® experts , 2017, Brain Research.

[12]  J. Ziegler,et al.  Spatiotemporal reorganization of the reading network in adult dyslexia , 2017, Cortex.

[13]  R. Isaacson,et al.  Diagnosis of developmental learning and attention disorders in adults: A review of clinical modalities , 2017 .

[14]  Natália Martins Dias,et al.  Instrumentos de avaliação de leitura em adultos: um estudo psicométrico , 2016 .

[15]  N. Gaab,et al.  Tackling the 'dyslexia paradox': reading brain and behavior for early markers of developmental dyslexia. , 2016, Wiley interdisciplinary reviews. Cognitive science.

[16]  N. Maurits,et al.  Print-Tuning Lateralization and Handedness: an Event-Related Potential Study in Dyslexic Higher Education Students. , 2016, Dyslexia.

[17]  Donna Coch,et al.  N1 and P2 to words and wordlike stimuli in late elementary school children and adults. , 2016, Psychophysiology.

[18]  Karl Magnus Petersson,et al.  Lexical and sublexical orthographic processing: An ERP study with skilled and dyslexic adult readers , 2015, Brain and Language.

[19]  Tito Sena,et al.  Manual Diagnóstico e Estatístico de Transtornos Mentais - DSM-5, estatísticas e ciências humanas: inflexões sobre normalizações e normatizações , 2014 .

[20]  C. Hulme,et al.  Developmental dyslexia in adults: behavioural manifestations and cognitive correlates. , 2014, Dyslexia.

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

[22]  Nadège Doignon-Camus,et al.  Is the impaired N170 print tuning specific to developmental dyslexia? A matched reading-level study with poor readers and dyslexics , 2013, Brain and Language.

[23]  G. Schulte-Körne,et al.  The time course of reading processes in children with and without dyslexia: an ERP study , 2013, Front. Hum. Neurosci..

[24]  S. Shaul.  Asynchrony of cerebral systems activated during word recognition: comparison of dyslexic and typical readers. , 2013, Journal of integrative neuroscience.

[25]  V. Lim,et al.  Lexical decision making in adults with dyslexia: an event-related potential study , 2012 .

[26]  Anne Bonnefond,et al.  Impaired visual expertise for print in French adults with dyslexia as shown by N170 tuning , 2012, Neuropsychologia.

[27]  Abraham Goldstein,et al.  Brain activity while reading words and pseudo-words: a comparison between dyslexic and fluent readers. , 2012, International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology.

[28]  S. Shaul.  Lexical decision with left, right and center visual field presentation: a comparison between dyslexic and regular readers by means of electrophysiological and behavioral measures , 2012 .

[29]  W. Sommer,et al.  Does silent reading speed in normal adult readers depend on early visual processes? Evidence from event-related brain potentials , 2012, Brain and Language.

[30]  C. Hulme,et al.  Interventions for children's language and literacy difficulties , 2012, International journal of language & communication disorders.

[31]  G. Thierry,et al.  Electrophysiological Evidence for Impaired Attentional Engagement with Phonologically Acceptable Misspellings in Developmental Dyslexia , 2011, Front. Psychology.

[32]  C. Bernard,et al.  Behavioral performances in participants with phonological dyslexia and different patterns on the N170 component , 2011, Brain and Cognition.

[33]  Tim Fosker,et al.  Language-universal Sensory Deficits in Developmental Dyslexia: English, Spanish, and Chinese , 2011, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[34]  Z. Breznitz,et al.  Brain activity during processing objects and pseudo-objects: Comparison between adult regular and dyslexic readers , 2011, Clinical Neurophysiology.

[35]  L. Jancke,et al.  ERP differences of pre-lexical processing between dyslexic and non-dyslexic children. , 2010, International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology.

[36]  Donna Coch,et al.  Word and pseudoword superiority effects reflected in the ERP waveform , 2010, Brain Research.

[37]  Naira A. Taroyan,et al.  Reading words and pseudowords in dyslexia: ERP and behavioural tests in English-speaking adolescents. , 2009, International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology.

[38]  E. Caylak,et al.  Neurobiological approaches on brains of children with dyslexia: review. , 2009, Academic radiology.

[39]  Tzipi Horowitz-Kraus,et al.  An error-detection mechanism in reading among dyslexic and regular readers – An ERP study , 2008, Clinical Neurophysiology.

[40]  Roberta Adorni,et al.  Orthographic familiarity, phonological legality and number of orthographic neighbours affect the onset of ERP lexical effects , 2008, Behavioral and Brain Functions.

[41]  H. Wimmer,et al.  A dual-route perspective on poor reading in a regular orthography: Evidence from phonological and orthographic lexical decisions , 2008, Cognitive neuropsychology.

[42]  M. Nöthen,et al.  Genetics of dyslexia: the evolving landscape , 2007, Journal of Medical Genetics.

[43]  Dorothee J. Chwilla,et al.  When Heuristics Clash with Parsing Routines: ERP Evidence for Conflict Monitoring in Sentence Perception , 2006, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[44]  Z. Breznitz.  Asynchrony of visual-orthographic and auditory-phonological word recognition processes: An underlying factor in dyslexia , 2002 .

[45]  W. Fierson,et al.  Learning Disabilities, Dyslexia, and Vision , 1984, Pediatrics.

[46]  D. Balota,et al.  Are lexical decisions a good measure of lexical access? The role of word frequency in the neglected decision stage. , 1984, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[47]  Kevin Kok Wai Wong,et al.  EEG Signal Analysis of Writing and Typing between Adults with Dyslexia and Normal Controls , 2018, Int. J. Interact. Multim. Artif. Intell..

[48]  M. Soriano-Ferrer,et al.  A review of the neurobiological basis of dyslexia in the adult population. , 2017 .

[49]  T. Mecca,et al.  Cognitive profiles on the WAIS-III intelligence test in Brazilian adults with dyslexia , 2014 .

[50]  Kara D. Federmeier,et al.  Thirty years and counting: finding meaning in the N400 component of the event-related brain potential (ERP). , 2011, Annual review of psychology.

[51]  Cláudia Nascimento,et al.  Contagem da frequência dos bigramas em palavras de quatro a seis letras do português brasileiro Bigram frequency for four- through six- letter words of Brazilian Portuguese , 2009 .

[52]  C. F. Lima.  Ler numa ortografia de profundidade intermédia: o papel da conversão grafema-fonema em português , 2008 .

[53]  B. Shaywitz,et al.  A definition of dyslexia , 2003 .