Understanding how to promote the recovery of written language production skills subsequent to neural injury is important not only because literacy plays a central role in the personal and economic success of their individual, but also because research indicates that written language deficits may be amenable to treatment even when spoken language deficits are not. Thus, the successful treatment of acquired dysgraphia may provide a means of communication for individuals who are otherwise unable to communicate. For these reasons it is important to understand the neural mechanisms that support recovery of written language functions and how successful treatment might be promoted. This study is designed to identify the neural substrates of written language production in the intact brain and investigate the neural mechanisms that support learning and recovery of written language in the injured brain. We will use the non-invasive brain-imaging technique of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with the following aims. In the intact brain we will identify: (a) the brain areas that subserve written language production and (b) the neural mechanisms that support the learning of new spellings. In the injured brain we will examine: (c) the neural changes that take place in individuals who have suffered neural injury affecting their spelling abilities and (d) the neural changes that occur in the course of the recovery of spelling abilities in response to behavioral treatment. The combined investigation of written language production and learning in both the intact and damaged brain provides a powerful convergent methodology for elucidating the neural mechanisms that support recovery of function. Such an investigation requires expertise across a number of domains and to this end, the proposed study brings together a multi-disciplinary team with specializations in: the cognitive and neuropsychological aspects of spelling and acquired dysgraphia, the neurological aspects of stroke and brain injury, the neuroimaging of language, learning and memory, and the statistical methods that are required for longitudinal treatment studies. This research will provide important information regarding the neural mechanisms that support effective treatment of written language impairments and will further our understanding of the cognitive neuroscience of literacy specifically, and of neural plasticity more generally.
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