Abstract
The mismatch negativity (MMN), an electrophysiological response to an oddball auditory stimulus, is related to reading ability in many studies. There are conflicting findings regarding exactly how the MMN relates to risk or actual diagnosis of dyslexia/reading impairment, perhaps due to the heterogeneity of abilities in children with reading impairment. In this study, 166 English-speaking kindergarten children oversampled for dyslexia risk completed behavioral assessments and a speech-syllable MMN paradigm. We examined how early and late MMN mean amplitude and laterality were related to two established predictors of reading ability: phonological awareness (PA) and rapid automatized naming (RAN). In bootstrapped group analyses, late MMN amplitude was significantly greater in children with typical PA ability than low PA ability. In contrast, laterality of the early and late MMN was significantly different in children with low versus typical RAN ability. Continuous analyses controlling for child age, non-verbal IQ, and letter and word identification abilities showed the same associations between late MMN amplitude with PA and late MMN laterality with RAN. These findings suggest that amplitude of the MMN may relate to phonological representations and ability to manipulate them, whereas MMN laterality may reflect differences in brain processes that support automaticity needed for reading.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Article number | 624617 |
| Journal | Frontiers in Human Neuroscience |
| Volume | 15 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jun 18 2021 |
Funding
We thank Carlos Cardenas, Candice Coulter, Abbie Cyr, Keri Garel, Kelly Halverson, Andrew Peach, and our research testers for invaluable assistance with data collection. We also thank Brittany Manning, Emily Harriott, Emma Baime, Shelby Isaacs, Silvia Clement-Lam, Skylar Ozoh, and Cadence Reed Bippen for assistance with EEG data processing. We also thank the Athinoula A. Martinos Imaging Center at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT and its staff. We also thank the participating families, school coordinators, teachers, and principals. Funding. This work was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD Grant R01HD067312) to NG and JG. This work was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD Grant R01HD067312) to NG and JG.
Keywords
- ERP
- MMN
- dyslexia
- mismatch negativity
- phonological awareness
- rapid automatized naming
- reading
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology
- Neurology
- Psychiatry and Mental health
- Biological Psychiatry
- Behavioral Neuroscience
