The goal of this project is to examine developmental and individual differences in the neural substrate for lexical processing in normal children (7-15 year olds) using fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging). We propose to examine these differences with lexical tasks designed to tap into intra-modal processing (auditory rhyming and visual spelling tasks), conversion between orthography and phonology during crossmodal processing (auditory spelling and visual rhyming tasks) and modal word comprehension (auditory and visual meaning tasks). This proposal has three specific aims. First, we will use a combination of a cross-sectional and longitudinal design in order to measure developmental changes in lexical processing across a wide age range in a relatively short amount of time. We expect that development will produce increased activation in unimodal areas consistent with the modality of input and decreased activation in posterior heteromodal areas. Second, we will examine whether the correlation between brain activation and individual differences in skill depends on developmental level. We expect that behavior will correlate with the cognitive components required by the lexical task for older children, but will weakly correlate with posterior heteromodal activation for younger children. Third, we will examine developmental differences in the overlap in activation between auditory and visual modalities of input and between the spelling, rhyming and meaning tasks. We expect that younger children will show more overlap in activation than older children between moralities and between tasks.
These specific aims also incorporate parametric manipulations and a simple versus complex baseline for each lexical task, so that we can more clearly relate differences in activation during tasks to either developmental or skill differences in lexical processing. Because few fMRI studies have directly examined developmental or individual differences in lexical processing, this project on a normative population will have implications for future studies on the neural basis of reading and language impairments in children.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
1R01HD042049-01A1
Application #
6580463
Study Section
Biobehavioral and Behavioral Processes 3 (BBBP)
Program Officer
Lyon, Reid G
Project Start
2003-04-01
Project End
2007-03-31
Budget Start
2003-04-01
Budget End
2004-03-31
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2003
Total Cost
$275,949
Indirect Cost
Name
Northwestern University at Chicago
Department
Other Health Professions
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
160079455
City
Evanston
State
IL
Country
United States
Zip Code
60201
Weiss, Yael; Booth, James R (2017) Neural correlates of the lexicality effect in children. Brain Lang 175:64-70
Wise Younger, Jessica; Tucker-Drob, Elliot; Booth, James R (2017) Longitudinal changes in reading network connectivity related to skill improvement. Neuroimage 158:90-98
Gullick, Margaret M; Demir-Lira, Özlem Ece; Booth, James R (2016) Reading skill-fractional anisotropy relationships in visuospatial tracts diverge depending on socioeconomic status. Dev Sci 19:673-85
Lee, Shu-Hui; Booth, James R; Chou, Tai-Li (2016) Temporo-parietal connectivity uniquely predicts reading change from childhood to adolescence. Neuroimage 142:126-134
McNorgan, Chris; Chabal, Sarah; O'Young, Daniel et al. (2015) Task dependent lexicality effects support interactive models of reading: a meta-analytic neuroimaging review. Neuropsychologia 67:148-58
McNorgan, Chris; Booth, James R (2015) Skill dependent audiovisual integration in the fusiform induces repetition suppression. Brain Lang 141:110-23
Brennan, Christine; Booth, James R (2015) Large grain instruction and phonological awareness skill influence rime sensitivity, processing speed, and early decoding skill in adult L2 learners. Read Writ 28:917-938
Cao, Fan; Brennan, Christine; Booth, James R (2015) The brain adapts to orthography with experience: evidence from English and Chinese. Dev Sci 18:785-98
Lee, Shu-Hui; Booth, James R; Chou, Tai-Li (2015) Developmental changes in the neural influence of sublexical information on semantic processing. Neuropsychologia 73:25-34
Gullick, Margaret M; Booth, James R (2015) The direct segment of the arcuate fasciculus is predictive of longitudinal reading change. Dev Cogn Neurosci 13:68-74

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