Refractory effects on auditory-evoked responses in children with reading disorders

The current study investigated neural refractory effects in children (8-12 years) with reading disorders and a control group. Cortical responses (P1 and N250) to the sound /da / were measured at interstimulus intervals of 538, 1072 and 2152 ms. As expected, owing to slow neural recovery periods, both groups showed longer cortical response latencies at the shortest interstimulus interval of 538 ms. N250 showed a slower neural refractory period at the short interstimulus interval (538 ms) for children with reading disorders than the control group, however. Only control group children showed interhemispheric differences for the N250 peak. No group differences were evident for P1. The results suggest that children with reading disorders have different and slower underlying neural responses than typically developing children.