Reading aloud: a psychophysiological investigation in children

This study investigated the electrophysiological responses to single-letter reading in children (reading-related potentials) and explored the morphological differences between covert and overt reading conditions. Sixty-five healthy children (6-13 years) participated in this study. Reading-related potentials were recorded during visual stimulation with single Italian alphabetic letters. Stimuli were displayed for 5 ms either automatically at a randomly jittered time lag or upon voluntary self-paced button press by children. In the covert conditions, children had to passively look at single letters, while in the overt conditions children were required to read aloud the letters. Electromyographic activity of the forearm and lips was additionally recorded during all tasks. Superimposition of reading-related potentials with the electromyographic activity of forearm and lips during self-paced reading aloud allowed to segregate the reading-related components into four periods: preparatory, pre-lexical, lexical and post-lexical. Reading-related potentials of the preparatory period can be related to preparation/intention to read, those of the pre-lexical period to visual-perceptual processes, those of the lexical period to the external/internal reafferent activity and those of the post-lexical period to the feedback processes following task completion. Analysis of variance showed a significant interaction of reading-related components with electrode locations and task conditions in all periods. The systematic characterization of the neurophysiological correlates of the elementary association between letters and sounds is helpful to highlight the neurobiological and functional basis of reading in healthy as well as impaired readers, for possibly developing neurophysiologically grounded rehabilitation therapies and further improving the explanatory models of dyslexia.