This research program proposes to test the predictions of a new model of the neurobiology of reading and reading disability by investigating how encoding conditions, reading expertise, and reading strategies influence the cortical areas recruited for reading. Specifically, a series of behavioral and functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) experiments will address the following three questions: (1) How does the functional organization of reading processes change with adaptive learning in skilled adult readers? (2) To what extent are these changes general across populations (reading disabled[RD] and non-impaired [NI] readers)? and (3) How do alternative instructional/remediation strategies differentially influence the cortical circuitry recruited for reading? These experiments will manipulate the encoding of novel words (either pseudowords or words written in an unfamiliar orthography) by differentially encouraging the encoding of orthographic, phonologic, semantic, and general linguistic information. In addition, reading strategy will be manipulated by teaching participants to read novel orthographies by means of either analytic or holistic reading instruction. By furthering our understanding of the connections between neurobiological functions and reading behaviors, we may be able to determine the ways that RD populations are constrained by their neurobiological development and how training might remediate those limitations. The results from these studies may also lead to new insights into the efficacy of reading instruction and remediation procedures.
| Sandak, Rebecca; Mencl, W Einar; Frost, Stephen J et al. (2004) The neurobiology of adaptive learning in reading: a contrast of different training conditions. Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci 4:67-88 |
