Neurobiological studies of reading and reading disability

Evidence from neuroimaging studies, including our own, suggest that skilled word identification in reading is related to the functional integrity of two consolidated left hemisphere (LH) posterior systems: a dorsal (temporo-parietal) circuit and a ventral (occipito-temporal) circuit. This posterior system appears to be functionally disrupted in developmental dyslexia. Relative to nonimpaired readers, reading-disabled individuals demonstrate heightened reliance on both inferior frontal and right hemisphere posterior regions, presumably in compensation for the LH posterior difficulties. We propose a neurobiological account suggesting that for normally developing readers, the dorsal circuit predominates at first, and in conjunction with premotor systems, is associated with analytic processing necessary for learning to integrate orthographic with phonological and lexical–semantic features of printed words. The ventral circuit constitutes a fast, late-developing, word form system, which underlies fluency in word recognition. Learning outcomes: As a result of this activity, (1) the participant will learn about a model of lexical processing involving specific cortical regions. (2) The participant will learn about evidence which supports the theory that two dorsal LH systems may be disrupted in developmental dyslexia. (3) The participant will learn that individuals with reading impairment may rely on other regions of the brain to compensate for the disruption of posterior function.