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09:00 - 10:30
Parallel sessions 7
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09:00 - 10:30
Room: HSZ - N4
Chair/s:
Benjamin Gagl
Visual word recognition and reading are central to human communication. Still, literacy rates are declining, increasing the need for better reading education and interventions for readers with low skill levels. At the beginning of such developments, one must understand the cognitions underlying reading. Here, we combine presentations that provide current developments in reading research, investigating how language, script, and memory influence visual word recognition processes in behavior and brain activation. We will start with a study by Sabrina Turker, which investigates the influence of language and memory skills on reading disabilities. The second study, by Benjamin Gagl, examines the influence of which items are stored in the lexicon on orthographic processing in visual word recognition behavior and brain responses. The third study, by Amelie Hague, investigates script familiarity on brain response dynamics. The fourth study, by Maz Mohamed, analyzes how learning to read in different languages influences the process of lexical access. Finally, Jana Hasenäcker presents a large-scale study of German lexicon decision data, which is essential to exploring novel hypotheses built on consensus-based guidelines, embracing open science methodology. The symposium relies on behavioral and brain findings across studies using implemented theoretical approaches through computational models, and offers an overview of the availability of novel datasets. Thus, this symposium delivers a comprehensive update on the neuro-cognitive processes implemented in reading and visual word recognition, including current theoretical advancements. 
Submission 314
Brain Response Dynamics During the Early Processing of Novel Script as Compared to Familiar Script
SymposiumTalk-03
Presented by: Amelie Haugg
Amelie Haugg, Nada Frei, Silvia Brem
University of Zurich, Switzerland
Introduction

When we learn how to read, an extensive, specialized reading network is established in the brain. Yet, the neural dynamics that support the earliest stages of reading remain poorly understood. Here, we combined a brief artificial script reading training with fMRI time-course analyses to characterize how adults process a newly learned script relative to a familiar script during a lexical decision task.

Methods

61 typically reading adults completed tests on working memory, attention, and reading fluency, and trained 12 associations of artificial script letters and German speech sounds. After training, participants performed a lexical decision task with words and pseudowords written in either artificial script or Latin script during fMRI. Finally, an artificial script reading fluency task was performed.

Results

Compared to Latin script reading fluency, artificial script reading fluency showed stronger correlations with attention (r(60)=0.56, p<0.001; difference: z(60)=1.90, p=0.03) and working memory (r(60)=0.38, p=0.003; difference: z(60)=1.63, p=0.05). During the lexical decision task, artificial script reading elicited greater activation within the multiple-demand network than Latin script reading. Further, time course analyses revealed substantial differences in peak latencies between key regions of the brain’s reading network and demonstrated a link between artificial script reading fluency and peak activation within the Visual Word Form Area, Precentral Gyrus, and Inferior Parietal Lobule.

Discussion

Our findings demonstrate the value of fMRI time-course analyses when investigating reading processes in the brain and indicate that domain-general processes (i.e., attention and working memory) rapidly scaffold early reading in the brain.