scholarly journals Automaticity in the reading circuitry

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sung Jun Joo ◽  
Kambiz Tavabi ◽  
Sendy Caffara ◽  
Jason D Yeatman
Keyword(s):  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Reading Skill ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Visual Words ◽  
Skilled Reading ◽  
Fixation Task ◽  
Language Region ◽  
Automatic Activation ◽  
Measure Word

Skilled reading requires years of practice associating visual symbols with speech sounds. Over the course of the learning process, this association becomes effortless and automatic. Here we test whether automatic activation of spoken-language circuits in response to visual words is a hallmark of skilled reading. Magnetoencephalography was used to measure word-selective responses under multiple cognitive tasks (N = 42, 7-12 years of age). Even when attention was drawn away from the words by performing an attention-demanding fixation task, strong word-selective responses were found in a language region (i.e., superior temporal gyrus) starting at ~300 ms after stimulus onset. Critically, this automatic word-selective response was indicative of reading skill: the magnitude of word-selective responses correlated with individual reading skill. Our results suggest that automatic recruitment of spoken-language circuits is a hallmark of skilled reading; with practice, reading becomes effortless as the brain learns to automatically translate letters into sounds and meaning.

scholarly journals Predictors of Early Reading Skill in 5-Year-Old Children With Hearing Loss Who Use Spoken Language

2013 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Cupples ◽  
Teresa Y.C. Ching ◽  
Kathryn Crowe ◽  
Julia Day ◽  
Mark Seeto
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Early Reading ◽  
Reading Skill ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Children With Hearing Loss

How do writing systems shape reading and reading acquisition?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathy Rastle
Keyword(s):  
Text Comprehension ◽  
Reading Acquisition ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Written Language ◽  
Writing System ◽  
Writing Systems ◽  
Skilled Reading ◽  
Statistical Regularities ◽  
Reading System ◽  
The Relationship

Writing is a relatively recent cultural invention, and reading is a skill that requires years of instruction, dedication, and practice. My talk will consider how the nature of a writing system influences reading acquisition and skilled reading. I consider the nature of statistical regularities that characterize English orthography and show across several experiments that knowledge encoded in the skilled reading system mirrors these regularities. This analysis reveals that weaknesses in the relationship between spelling and sound give rise to powerful regularities between spelling and meaning that are critical for text comprehension. I conclude by thinking about how written language differs from spoken language and argue that these differences may be at the heart of human capacity for rapid, skilled reading.

Visual, presaccadic, and cognitive activation of single neurons in monkey lateral intraparietal area

1996 ◽  
Vol 76 (5) ◽  
pp. 2841-2852 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. L. Colby ◽  
J. R. Duhamel ◽  
M. E. Goldberg
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Cognitive Factors ◽  
Visual Response ◽  
Single Neurons ◽  
Visual Responses ◽  
Related Activity ◽  
Lateral Intraparietal Area ◽  
Fixation Task ◽  
Saccade Task

1. Posterior parietal cortex contains neurons that are visually responsive and active in relation to saccadic eye movements. We recorded from single neurons in a subregion of parietal cortex, the lateral intraparietal area (LIP), in alert rhesus monkeys. To characterize more completely the circumstances under which LIP neurons are responsive, we used five tasks designed to test the impact of sensory, motor, and cognitive factors. We obtained quantitative data in multiple tasks in 91 neurons. We measured neural activity during central fixation and in relation to stimulus onset and saccade onset. 2. LIP neurons have visual responses to the onset of a stationary stimulus in the receptive field. These visual responses occurred both in tasks that require a subsequent eye movement toward the stimulus and in tasks in which eye movements are not permitted, indicating that this activity is sensory rather than presaccadic. 3. Visual responses were enhanced when the monkey had to use information provided by the stimulus to guide its behavior. The amplitude of the sensory response to a given stimulus was increased in a task in which the monkey would subsequently make a saccade to the location signaled by the stimulus, as compared with the amplitude of the visual response in a simple fixation task. 4. The visual response was also enhanced when the monkey attended to the stimulus without looking at it. This result shows that enhancement does not reflect saccade preparation because the response is enhanced even when the monkey is not permitted to make a saccade. Instead, enhancement reflects the allocation of attention to the spatial locus of the receptive field. 5. Many LIP neurons had saccade-related activity in addition to their visual responses. The visual response for most neurons was stronger than the saccade-related activation. 6. Saccade-related activity was independent of visual activity. Similar presaccadic activity was observed in trials that included a recent visual stimulus (memory-guided saccade task) and in trials with no visual stimulus (learned saccade task). 7. We observed increases in activity during fixation in tasks in which the monkey could anticipate the onset of a behaviorally significant stimulus. LIP neurons usually showed low levels of background firing in the fixation task during the period before stimulus onset. This background activity was increased in the peripheral attention and memory-guided saccade tasks during the period when the monkey was waiting for a behaviorally relevant stimulus to appear. 8. The results from these several tasks indicate that LIP neurons are activated in a variety of circumstances and are not involved exclusively in sensory processing or motor planning. The modulation of sensory responses by attention and anticipation suggests that cognitive factors play a major role in parietal function.

scholarly journals Seeing Sounds and Hearing Sights: The Influence of Prior Learning on Current Perception

2008 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 1030-1042 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer D. Ryan ◽  
Sandra N. Moses ◽  
Melanie L. Ostreicher ◽  
Timothy Bardouille ◽  
Anthony T. Herdman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Occipital Cortex ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Evoked Responses ◽  
Prior Learning ◽  
Visual Cortices ◽  
Neural Underpinnings ◽  
Prior Experiences

It is well known that previous perceptual experiences alter subsequent perception, but the details of the neural underpinnings of this general phenomenon are still sketchy. Here, we ask whether previous experiences with an item (such as seeing a person's face) leads to the alteration of the neural correlates related to processing of the item as such, or whether it creates additional associative connections between such substrates and those activated during prior experience. To address this question, we used magnetoencephalography (MEG) to identify neural changes accompanying subjects' viewing of unfamiliar versus famous faces and hearing the names of unfamiliar versus famous names. We were interested in the nature of the involvement of auditory brain regions in the viewing of faces, and in the involvement of visual regions in the hearing of names. Evoked responses from MEG recordings for the names and faces conditions were localized to auditory and visual cortices, respectively. Unsurprisingly, peak activation strength of evoked responses was larger for famous versus nonfamous names within the superior temporal gyrus (STG), and was similar for famous and nonfamous faces in the occipital cortex. More relevant to the issue of experience on perception, peak activation strength in the STG was larger for viewed famous versus nonfamous faces, and peak activation within the occipital cortex was larger for heard famous versus nonfamous names. Critically, these experience-related responses were present within 150–250 msec of stimulus onset. These findings support the hypothesis that prior experiences may influence processing of faces and names such that perception encompasses more than what is imparted on the senses.

scholarly journals Perceptual Demand Modulates Activation of Human Auditory Cortex in Response to Task-irrelevant Sounds

2013 ◽  
Vol 25 (9) ◽  
pp. 1553-1562 ◽  
Author(s):  
Merav Sabri ◽  
Colin Humphries ◽  
Matthew Verber ◽  
Jain Mangalathu ◽  
Anjali Desai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Cortex ◽  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Perceptual Task ◽  
Visual Modality ◽  
Auditory Modality ◽  
Sound Processing ◽  
Neural Representations ◽  
Task Irrelevant

In the visual modality, perceptual demand on a goal-directed task has been shown to modulate the extent to which irrelevant information can be disregarded at a sensory-perceptual stage of processing. In the auditory modality, the effect of perceptual demand on neural representations of task-irrelevant sounds is unclear. We compared simultaneous ERPs and fMRI responses associated with task-irrelevant sounds across parametrically modulated perceptual task demands in a dichotic-listening paradigm. Participants performed a signal detection task in one ear (Attend ear) while ignoring task-irrelevant syllable sounds in the other ear (Ignore ear). Results revealed modulation of syllable processing by auditory perceptual demand in an ROI in middle left superior temporal gyrus and in negative ERP activity 130–230 msec post stimulus onset. Increasing the perceptual demand in the Attend ear was associated with a reduced neural response in both fMRI and ERP to task-irrelevant sounds. These findings are in support of a selection model whereby ongoing perceptual demands modulate task-irrelevant sound processing in auditory cortex.

scholarly journals EPS mid-career prize lecture 2017: Writing systems, reading, and language

2019 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
pp. 677-692 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen Rastle
Keyword(s):  
Deep Understanding ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Rapid Analysis ◽  
Written Language ◽  
Writing System ◽  
Writing Systems ◽  
Meaningful Information ◽  
Skilled Reading ◽  
Reading System ◽  
The Relationship

Skilled reading reflects an accumulation of experience with written language. Written language is typically viewed as an expression of spoken language, and this perspective has motivated approaches to understanding reading and reading acquisition. However, in this article, I develop the proposal that written language has diverged from spoken language in important ways that maximise the transmission of meaningful information, and that this divergence has been central to the development of rapid, skilled reading. I use English as an example to show that weaknesses in the relationship between spelling and sound can give rise to strong regularities between spelling and meaning that are critical for the rapid analysis of printed words. I conclude by arguing that the nature of the reading system is a reflection of the writing system and that a deep understanding of reading can be obtained only through a deep understanding of written language.

scholarly journals Fast responses to images of animate and inanimate objects in the nonhuman primate amygdala

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Cleeren ◽  
I. D. Popivanov ◽  
W. Van Paesschen ◽  
Peter Janssen
Keyword(s):  
Visual Information ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Visual Stream ◽  
Object Categories ◽  
Fast Route ◽  
High Gamma ◽  
Fixation Task ◽  
Ventral Visual Stream ◽  
Subcortical Pathway ◽  
Passive Fixation

Abstract Visual information reaches the amygdala through the various stages of the ventral visual stream. There is, however, evidence that a fast subcortical pathway for the processing of emotional visual input exists. To explore the presence of this pathway in primates, we recorded local field potentials in the amygdala of four rhesus monkeys during a passive fixation task showing images of ten object categories. Additionally, in one of the monkeys we also obtained multi-unit spiking activity during the same task. We observed remarkably fast medium and high gamma responses in the amygdala of the four monkeys. These responses were selective for the different stimulus categories, showed within-category selectivity, and peaked as early as 60 ms after stimulus onset. Multi-unit responses in the amygdala were lagging the gamma responses by about 40 ms. Thus, these observations add further evidence that selective visual information reaches the amygdala of nonhuman primates through a very fast route.

scholarly journals Word selectivity in high-level visual cortex and reading skill

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily C. Kubota ◽  
Sung Jun Joo ◽  
Elizabeth Huber ◽  
Jason D. Yeatman
Keyword(s):  
Struggling Readers ◽  
Temporal Cortex ◽  
Reading Skill ◽  
Fine Tuning ◽  
Strongly Correlated ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Visual Word Form Area ◽  
Skilled Reading ◽  
High Level ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractWord-selective neural responses in human ventral occipito-temporal cortex (VOTC) emerge as children learn to read, creating a visual word form area (VWFA) in the literate brain. It has been suggested that the VWFA arises through competition between pre-existing selectivity for other stimulus categories, changing the topography of VOTC to support rapid word recognition. Here, we hypothesized that competition between words and objects would be resolved as children acquire reading skill. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we examined the relationship between responses to words and objects in VOTC in two ways. First, we defined the VWFA using a words > objects contrast and found that only skilled readers had a region that responded more to words than objects. Second, we defined the VWFA using a words > faces contrast and examined selectivity for words over objects in this region. We found that word selectivity strongly correlated with reading skill, suggesting reading skill-dependent tuning for words. Furthermore, we found that low word selectivity in struggling readers was not due to a lack of response to words, but to a high response to objects. Our results suggest that the fine-tuning of word-selective responses in VOTC is a critical component of skilled reading.

Influence of Temporal Overlap on Time Course of the Simon Effect

2012 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 88-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulia Baroni ◽  
Antonello Pellicano ◽  
Luisa Lugli ◽  
Roberto Nicoletti ◽  
Robert W. Proctor
Keyword(s):  
Simon Effect ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Visual Stimuli ◽  
Irrelevant Stimulus ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Stimulus Quality ◽  
Unconditional Response ◽  
Automatic Activation ◽  
Response Activation ◽  
Temporal Overlap

Two experiments are reported in which we manipulated relevant and irrelevant stimulus dimensions to assess whether an increase in temporal overlap would influence the time course of a “standard” Simon effect (obtained when visual stimuli are presented on the left/right of the screen and left/right responses are performed with uncrossed hands). This procedure is new in two ways: First, the manipulations were intended to reduce, instead of increase, the distance between conditional and unconditional response-activation processes. Second, we manipulated the relevant and irrelevant stimulus dimensions in a manner that did not vary stimulus onset asynchronies, precues, or go/no go trials, or alter the stimulus quality. Results were consistent with the hypothesis that when the two response processes are shifted closer to each other, the Simon effect would be sustained across time, instead of decreasing as typically found. These findings are discussed in line with the temporal overlap hypothesis and with an automatic activation account.

Neocortical Correlates of Vibrotactile Detection in Humans

2013 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher I. Moore ◽  
Emilie Crosier ◽  
Douglas N. Greve ◽  
Robert Savoy ◽  
Michael M. Merzenich ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Threshold Level ◽  
Relative Activity ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Activity Level ◽  
Vibrotactile Stimulation ◽  
Somatosensory Cortices ◽  
Perceptual Performance ◽  
Temporal And Spatial

This study examined the cortical representation of vibrotactile detection in humans using event-related fMRI paired with psychophysics. Suprathreshold vibrotactile stimulation activated several areas, including primary (SI) and second somatosensory cortices (SII/PV). For threshold-level stimuli, poststimulus activity in contralateral and ipsilateral SII/PV was the best correlate of detection success. In these areas, evoked signals on hit trials were significantly greater than on missed trials in all participants, and the relative activity level across stimulation amplitudes matched perceptual performance. Activity in the anterior insula and superior temporal gyrus also correlated with hits and misses, suggesting that a “ventral stream” of somatosensory representations may play a crucial role in detection. In contrast, poststimulus activity in Area SI was not well correlated with perception and showed an overall negative response profile for threshold-level stimulation. A different correlate of detection success was, however, observed in SI. Activity in this representation immediately before stimulus onset predicted performance, a finding that was unique to SI. These findings emphasize the potential role of SII/PV in detection, the importance of state dynamics in SI for perception, and the possibility that changes in the temporal and spatial pattern of SI activity may be essential to the optimal representation of threshold-level stimuli for detection.

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