The reading-attention relationship: Variations in working memory network activity during single word decoding in...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Psychology
• Developmental Psychology

Background:

• Working memory (WM) is crucial for reading comprehension.
• Emerging evidence suggests WM also impacts foundational reading skills.
• Few studies have directly investigated WM network recruitment in developmental dyslexia (DD) during reading tasks.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine working memory (WM) network activation during single word reading in children with and without developmental dyslexia (DD).
• To compare WM network recruitment across different stimulus types (familiar words, pseudowords, false fonts) in DD and control groups.

Main Methods:

• Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to assess WM network activity in 77 children with DD and 22 controls.
• Participants completed a 1-back oddball task with familiar words, pseudowords, and false fonts.
• Predefined regions of the WM network were analyzed for activation differences.

Main Results:

• Children with DD exhibited bilateral WM region recruitment for all stimuli.
• Control children showed left-lateralized WM recruitment only for pseudowords.
• Group differences in WM activation were observed for false font and familiar word conditions, driven by increased right-hemisphere activity in the DD group.

Conclusions:

• The findings suggest atypical working memory (WM) network engagement in children with developmental dyslexia (DD).
• Increased right-hemisphere WM activity in DD may reflect inefficient decoding and word recognition strategies.
• This study highlights the role of the WM network in the pathophysiology of DD.