Changed functional connectivity at rest in functional illiterates after extensive literacy training.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Science
• Educational Psychology

Background:

• 6.2 million adults in Germany experience functional illiteracy (FI).
• Literacy is crucial for employment and social integration.
• Specialized literacy training was developed to address these deficits.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate training-related changes in intrinsic functional connectivity (iFC) in adults with functional illiteracy.
• To compare brain activity in functional illiterates (FI) with normal adult readers.
• To identify neural network alterations associated with literacy skills.

Main Methods:

• Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) was used.
• 20 FI adults and 20 normal readers participated.
• Independent component analysis (ICA) defined neural networks.

Main Results:

• Before training, FI showed increased iFC in left-fronto-parietal and Basal Ganglia networks, and decreased iFC in a visual network.
• After training, FI exhibited normalized connectivity in specific frontal regions and between the supramarginal gyrus and Basal Ganglia.
• Increased iFC was observed in the visual network of FI post-training, correlating with improved reading and spelling.

Conclusions:

• Poor literacy skills are linked to abnormal iFC in brain areas vital for reading.
• Intensive literacy training effectively modifies functional connectivity within and between neural networks crucial for literacy.
• These findings highlight the brain's plasticity in response to literacy interventions.