In a series of projects, we are studying how different parts of the brain work together in a network while we read or understand speech. We want to know what brain network dynamics can tell us about individual differences in children’s reading and language skills.
Think about what your brain is doing as you read the word on this page.
Most likely it is activating the parts of your brain that allow you to recognize the way letters and words look, sound and how they form meaningful words and ideas. Most previous studies of reading development have focused on each of these processes separately (“functional specialization”). Here we are using new advances in computational neuroscience to study how these processes coordinate their activity throughout a network (‘functional connectivity”). We find that brain network dynamics during reading and language comprehension tasks show strong correlations with children’s reading and vocabulary skills.
Being about to efficiently integrate the way letter combinations look with how they sound is the hallmark of skilled reading. We think studying this integration directly with EEG could provide a sensitive measure of the neural plasticity associated with learning to read.
*=supervised student co-authors; Erin Panda was formerly Erin White
Panda, E. J., *Kember, J., *Nayman, C., Emami, Z., Valiante, T.A., & Pang, E.W. (2022). Dynamic functional brain network connectivity during pseudoword processing relates to children’s reading skill. Neuropsychologia. 108181
Panda, E. J., Emami, Z., Valiante, T.A., & Pang, E.W. (2020). EEG Phase Synchronization during Semantic Unification Relates to Individual Differences in Children’s Vocabulary Skill. Developmental Science. e12984
White, E. J., *Nayman, C., Keller, A.E., Dunkley, B.T., Valiante, T.A., & Pang, E.W. (2018). Addressing the language binding problem with dynamic functional connectivity during meaningful spoken language comprehension. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 1960
Development of the Neurocognitive Processes used to Retrieve the Meaning of a Word from its Written Form
Jonah Kember, Department of Child and Youth Studies, Brock University, Dr. Erin Panda
Collaborators
Dr. Donna Coch, Professor of Education, Department of Psychological and Brain Science, Dartmouth College
Dr. Benjamin Dunkley, Associate Scientist, Neurosciences and Mental Health, The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids)
Dr. Elizabeth Pang, Senior Associate Scientist, Neurosciences and Mental Health, The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids)
Dr. Taufik Valiante, Senior Scientist, Krembil Research Institute, University Health Network