Fronto-central dysfunctions in reading disability depend on subtype: guessers but not spellers

The goal of this study was to test the hypothesis that the inhibitory deficits previously found in children with the guessing subtype of dyslexia (who read fast and inaccurately) can be attributed to dysfunctions in the fronto-central brain areas. For this purpose, the electrocortical correlates of the inhibition mechanism were assessed in a stop task that was adapted for event-related brain potential recording. It was found that in children with the spelling subtype of dyslexia (who read slowly and accurately) and normal readers, a positive component with a fronto-central scalp distribution was related to processes engaged in the inhibition of a response. Guessers did not show this “inhibition P300.” Analyses of the lateralized readiness potential (LRP) data suggested that response inhibition in spellers depended (at least in part) on their ability to inhibit the central activation of the response. In guessers, the association between response inhibition and inhibition of activity in the central motor structures was found to be weaker. It was concluded that the inhibitory deficits in guessers can be attributed to dysfunctions in the fronto-central brain structures involved in selective motor inhibition (indicated by the LRP data) and nonselective motor inhibition (indicated by the P300 data). It was suggested that there may be an association between guessers and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder children in that both clinical groups may suffer from the same type of deficits in executive functioning.