Search

About 7.5million adults in Germany cannot read and write properly despite attending school for several years. They are considered to be functional illiterates. Since the ability to read and write is crucial for being employed and socially accepted, we developed a literacy training to overcome these deficits. In this study, we investigate the structural changes induced by the training. A group of 20 functional illiterates and 20 adult normal readers participated in the study. Group differences as well as intervention-related changes in gray (voxel-based morphometry, VBM) and white matter (Tract-Based Spatial Statistics, TBSS, applied to fractional anisotropy, FA, obtained with diffusion tensor imaging, DTI) were assessed in functional illiterates and normal reading controls. VBM analyses revealed decreased gray matter intensities in functional illiterates compared to normal readers before training in several reading-related brain regions such as the superior temporal gyrus, supramarginal gyrus, and angular gyrus. Using TBSS, functional illiterates showed reduced FA values in the genu of the corpus callosum. After training, both the gray matter intensities and FA values increased in functional illiterates and were no longer statistically different from controls' pre-test data. Moreover, the increase was positively correlated with reading and writing skills. The findings suggest that poor literacy skills are associated with several structural abnormalities in reading-related brain areas. In addition, we showed that while literacy skills of functional illiterates improved after training, the structural differences to controls disappeared., (Copyright © 2017 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were used to investigate training-related changes in fast visual word recognition of functionally illiterate adults. Analyses focused on the left-lateralized occipito-temporal N170, which represents the earliest processing of visual word forms. Event-related brain potentials were recorded from 20 functional illiterates receiving intensive literacy training for adults, 10 functional illiterates not participating in the training and 14 regular readers while they read words, pseudowords or viewed symbol strings. Subjects were required to press a button whenever a stimulus was immediately repeated., Results: Attending intensive literacy training was associated with improvements in reading and writing skills and with an increase of the word-related N170 amplitude. For untrained functional illiterates and regular readers no changes in literacy skills or N170 amplitude were observed., Conclusions: Results of the present study suggest that the word-related N170 can still be modulated in adulthood as a result of the improvements in literacy skills.

Background: The use of self-generated and externally provided information in performance monitoring is reflected by the appearance of error-related and feedback-related negativities (ERN and FRN), respectively. Several authors proposed that ERN and FRN are supported by similar neural mechanisms residing in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the mesolimbic dopaminergic system. The present study is aimed to test the functional relationship between ERN and FRN. Using an Eriksen-Flanker task with a moving response deadline we tested 17 young healthy subjects. Subjects received feedback with respect to their response accuracy and response speed. To fulfill both requirements of the task, they had to press the correct button and had to respond in time to give a valid response., Results: When performance monitoring based on self-generated information was sufficient to detect a criterion violation an ERN was released, while the subsequent feedback became redundant and therefore failed to trigger an FRN. In contrast, an FRN was released if the feedback contained information which was not available before and action monitoring processes based on self-generated information failed to detect an error., Conclusion: The described pattern of results indicates a functional interrelationship of response and feedback related negativities in performance monitoring.

Background: Previous research has demonstrated a relationship between memory recall and P300 amplitude in list learning tasks, but the variables mediating this P300-recall relationship are not well understood. In the present study, subjects were required to recall items from lists consisting of 12 words, which were presented in front of pictures taken from the IAPS collection. One word per list is made distinct either by font color or by a highly arousing background IAPS picture. This isolation procedure was first used by von Restorff. Brain potentials were recorded during list presentation., Results: Recall performance was enhanced for color but not for emotional isolates. Event-related brain potentials (ERP) showed a more positive P300-component for recalled non-isolated words and color-isolated words, compared to the respective non-remembered words, but not for words isolated by arousing background., Conclusion: Our findings indicate that it is crucial to take emotional mediator variables into account, when using the P300 to predict later recall. Highly arousing environments might force the cognitive system to interrupt rehearsal processes in working memory, which might benefit transfer into other, more stable memory systems. The impact of attention-capturing properties of arousing background stimuli is also discussed.

The present study investigated differences in sequential learning between subjects who were or were not informed of the presence of a repeating sequence (intentional or incidental group, respectively). Subjects had to learn a 16-letter-long repeating sequence that was irregularly disrupted by deviating stimuli. Reaction times indicated that both groups learned the sequential regularities. Intentional learners showed a larger learning effect. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) recorded during performance of the task showed a reliably enhanced amplitude for the N2b- and P3b-components for deviant letters for intentional learners, but not for incidental learners. These results are discussed in the context of models proposing that different neural structures are involved in implicit and explicit serial learning., (Copyright 2003 Elsevier Science B.V.)

Event-related brain potentials were recorded in two three-stimulus oddball tasks in 13 adult dyslexic and 13 age- and IQ-matched normal readers. The stimuli consisted of a random series of frequent (80%) and non-frequent tones (10%) as well as occasionally inserted novel sounds (10%). The experiment comprised an active (response to the rare target tone) and a passive listening condition. No performance differences were found for dyslexic and normal readers in the active task. In both conditions, novel sounds evoked a centrally distributed P3a-component followed by a P3b-component most prominent at parietal electrodes for target and novel sounds. Additionally, a slow negativity emerged after presentation of novel sounds at frontal electrodes. In the active condition only, peak amplitude of the P3a and the frontal slow negativity to novel stimuli were slightly enlarged for dyslexic readers. These findings indicate a larger distractability of dyslexic readers (enhancement of P3a to novel tones). Furthermore, we propose that dyslexics need to employ more cognitive resources to refocus on the task at hand (as indicated by the enlarged slow frontal negativity).

Testing language abilities is common in the context of migration. It has been observed that approximately 6.2 million adults in Germany are low literate and that approximately 47% of this group does not have German as their L1. Similar findings have been reported for other modern Western societies with compulsory schooling and a well-developed educational system. However, in most testing situations no exemptions are granted for low literate learners and the same tests are used irrespective of the level of reading proficiency. In this review we focus on brain imaging research showing that reading-related neural networks in the brain differ between (L1) low literate adults and adults with normal reading abilities. We argue that these differences in functional brain anatomy influence cognition in general and should form the basis for changes in the practice of granting exemptions in language testing involving low literate adults. Possible consequences for language assessment for different purposes are discussed. Furthermore, the reported influence of literacy on functional brain organization should be considered for decisions in the context of granting exemptions for low literates in language assessment.

Differences in word processing between adult developmental dyslexic (n=12) and normal readers (n=12) were studied using event-related brain potentials recorded while subjects performed a recognition memory task. During the first part of the experiment, words were presented consecutively, and within this phase one third of the words were repeated. Subjects had to indicate whether a given word had previously been seen or not. After a delay of 1 hr, a second phase was administered. Here, another list containing 33% old words (presented in Phase 1) and 66% new words was shown and an old/new decision was required. In both categories, half of the words presented in either phase were of high normative frequency, and the other half were of low-frequency in the German language. Recognition performance was superior in normal readers for both high-and low-frequency words. In Phase 1, a fronton-centrally distributed N400 repetition effect discriminated between correctly identified old and new words (new words more negative). This effect was present for dyslexic as well as normal readers and for high-and low-frequency words. Between 450 and 800 ms., a 'P600 old/new effect' emerged (ERPs evoked by old words were more positive than those for new words). This effect was larger for low-frequency words. In Phase 2, an old/new effect was obtained for normal readers only. These findings are discussed in relation to current concepts of dyslexia and of semantic processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]