Disrupted neural responses to phonological and orthographic processing in dyslexic children: an fMRI study

Developmental dyslexia, characterized by difficulty in reading, has been associated with phonological and orthographic processing deficits. fMRI was performed on dyslexic and normal-reading children (8-12 years old) during phonological and orthographic tasks of rhyming and matching visually presented letter pairs. During letter rhyming, both normal and dyslexic reading children had activity in left frontal brain regions, whereas only normal-reading children had activity in left temporo-parietal cortex. During letter matching, normal-reading children showed activity throughout extrastriate cortex, especially in occipito-parietal regions, whereas dyslexic children had little activity in extrastriate cortex during this task. These results indicate dyslexia may be characterized in childhood by disruptions in the neural bases of both phonological and orthographic processes important for reading.