The ability to decode and produce written language constitutes a major pillar for successful participation in modern technology-based societies. Efficient processing of graphs (i.e., characters of a written script which code linguistic units as phonemes or syllables; e.g., letters, aksharas) is the foundation of reading. Letter recognition ability is an essential precursor of word reading in alphabetic languages and is also an important predictor of future reading skills. However, ~5-10% of children are affected by developmental dyslexia, exhibiting anomalous letter processing and failing to acquire fluent decoding. Without adequate literacy skills, they are at risk for adverse academic, economic, and psychosocial consequences.
Neurocognitive research has established that skillful letter processing depends on a functionally specialized system for visual graph recognition that emerges along reading development, and whose core region is located at the left ventral occipitotemporal cortex (vOT). Thanks to this system, typical readers process graphs faster and differently than other symbols. Importantly, around the world, literacy instruction is often a multimodal learning process, linking visual graphs with speech-sounds and with motor gestures via handwriting. Indeed, graphs are multisensory representations and visual word recognition is supported by a widespread brain network including visual, spoken language, and motor systems.
The development of automatic letter-speech sound associations (audio-visual integration) is critical in the acquisition of reading skills, and a failure to automatize these associations results in an impairment of reading. Accordingly, during learning, parts of the auditory association cortex adapt to the processing of the letter-speech sound associations, and activation in phonological areas and in vOT increase with reading expertise.
Recent neuroimaging studies have also suggested that handwriting practice has a significant impact on the formation of a neural system specialized for graphs. Furthermore, behavioral results have shown that handwriting practice during learning may facilitate later graph recognition. Research in logographic languages such as Chinese unveils universal and language-specific brain circuits underlying multisensory integration in reading acquisition. Finally, results from neuropsychological cases have suggested that graphic motor knowledge acquired through handwriting might be a promising avenue to ameliorate letter identification in impaired readers.
The mechanisms by which learning audio-visual and motor-visual associations relate to (in)efficient graph recognition and reading across languages and writing systems are still open. This Research Topic aims to contribute to the understanding of these mechanisms, by providing a forum in which researchers from neurocognitive, behavioral, developmental, and educational scientific fields define the state of the art and future directions on this issue.
We welcome reviews of current work, original research, and opinion articles that focus on:
• The importance of multi-systems interplays during literacy acquisition across languages and writing systems;
• How visual information is mapped to auditory/motor information when learning to read;
• How the speech production system and the motor action system affect the development of the visual system for graph recognition and interact with other components of the reading network (e.g., the attentional system);
• How the integration of graphs and speech-sounds/motor actions for writing enable successful reading;
• Behavioral and neural markers of audio-visual and motor-visual integration that are related to letter and word recognition skills;
• How neural systems that support multimodal integration differ in normal and dyslexic readers;
• From an educational and clinical perspective, research into the potential of multisensory training to ameliorate reading acquisition.
The ability to decode and produce written language constitutes a major pillar for successful participation in modern technology-based societies. Efficient processing of graphs (i.e., characters of a written script which code linguistic units as phonemes or syllables; e.g., letters, aksharas) is the foundation of reading. Letter recognition ability is an essential precursor of word reading in alphabetic languages and is also an important predictor of future reading skills. However, ~5-10% of children are affected by developmental dyslexia, exhibiting anomalous letter processing and failing to acquire fluent decoding. Without adequate literacy skills, they are at risk for adverse academic, economic, and psychosocial consequences.
Neurocognitive research has established that skillful letter processing depends on a functionally specialized system for visual graph recognition that emerges along reading development, and whose core region is located at the left ventral occipitotemporal cortex (vOT). Thanks to this system, typical readers process graphs faster and differently than other symbols. Importantly, around the world, literacy instruction is often a multimodal learning process, linking visual graphs with speech-sounds and with motor gestures via handwriting. Indeed, graphs are multisensory representations and visual word recognition is supported by a widespread brain network including visual, spoken language, and motor systems.
The development of automatic letter-speech sound associations (audio-visual integration) is critical in the acquisition of reading skills, and a failure to automatize these associations results in an impairment of reading. Accordingly, during learning, parts of the auditory association cortex adapt to the processing of the letter-speech sound associations, and activation in phonological areas and in vOT increase with reading expertise.
Recent neuroimaging studies have also suggested that handwriting practice has a significant impact on the formation of a neural system specialized for graphs. Furthermore, behavioral results have shown that handwriting practice during learning may facilitate later graph recognition. Research in logographic languages such as Chinese unveils universal and language-specific brain circuits underlying multisensory integration in reading acquisition. Finally, results from neuropsychological cases have suggested that graphic motor knowledge acquired through handwriting might be a promising avenue to ameliorate letter identification in impaired readers.
The mechanisms by which learning audio-visual and motor-visual associations relate to (in)efficient graph recognition and reading across languages and writing systems are still open. This Research Topic aims to contribute to the understanding of these mechanisms, by providing a forum in which researchers from neurocognitive, behavioral, developmental, and educational scientific fields define the state of the art and future directions on this issue.
We welcome reviews of current work, original research, and opinion articles that focus on:
• The importance of multi-systems interplays during literacy acquisition across languages and writing systems;
• How visual information is mapped to auditory/motor information when learning to read;
• How the speech production system and the motor action system affect the development of the visual system for graph recognition and interact with other components of the reading network (e.g., the attentional system);
• How the integration of graphs and speech-sounds/motor actions for writing enable successful reading;
• Behavioral and neural markers of audio-visual and motor-visual integration that are related to letter and word recognition skills;
• How neural systems that support multimodal integration differ in normal and dyslexic readers;
• From an educational and clinical perspective, research into the potential of multisensory training to ameliorate reading acquisition.
