Brain Morphology and Neuropsychological Profiles in A Family Displaying Dyslexia and Superior Nonverbal Intelligence

Behavioral research suggests that individuals with dyslexia may have exceptional skills in nonverbal cognitive processes, while genetic studies have noted that giftedness, high IQ and/or special talents tend to run in families. Taken together, these results suggest that persons within families (particularly offspring) may share similar cortical systems supporting those functions. Postmortem and in vivo imaging studies have linked dyslexia to abnormalities in the structures associated with the parietal operculum (PO) (e.g., planum temporale, supramarginal gyrus, and angular gyrus). In this paper we present data on a single family showing a link between dyslexia, superior nonverbal IQ and atypical PO presentation. We consider the psychometric and neurological patterns of this family as a tentative etiological test of the putative dyslexia-talent association.

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