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Brain Structure and Function
Published in: Brain Structure and Function 1/2015

01-01-2015 | Original Article

Investigating the ventral-lexical, dorsal-sublexical model of basic reading processes using diffusion tensor imaging

Authors: Jacqueline Cummine, Wenjun Dai, Ron Borowsky, Layla Gould, Claire Rollans, Carol Boliek

Published in: Brain Structure and Function | Issue 1/2015

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Abstract

Recent results from diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies provide evidence of a ventral-lexical stream and a dorsal-sublexical stream associated with reading processing. We investigated the relationship between behavioural reading speed for stimuli thought to rely on either the ventral-lexical, dorsal-sublexical, or both streams and white matter via fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) using DTI tractography. Participants (N = 32) overtly named exception words (e.g., ‘one’, ventral-lexical), regular words (e.g., ‘won’, both streams), nonwords (‘wum’, dorsal-sublexical) and pseudohomophones (‘wun’, dorsal-sublexical) in a behavioural lab. Each participant then underwent a brain scan that included a 30-directional DTI sequence. Tractography was used to extract FA and MD values from four tracts of interest: inferior longitudinal fasciculus, uncinate fasciculus, arcuate fasciculus, and inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus. Median reaction times (RTs) for reading exception words and regular words both showed a significant correlation with the FA of the uncinate fasciculus thought to underlie the ventral processing stream, such that response time decreased as FA increased. In addition, RT for exception and regular words showed a relationship with MD of the uncinate fasciculus, such that response time increased as MD increased. Multiple regression analyses revealed that exception word RT accounted for unique variability in FA of the uncinate over and above regular words. There were no robust relationships found between pseudohomophones, or nonwords, and tracts thought to underlie the dorsal processing stream. These results support the notion that word recognition, in general, and exception word reading in particular, rely on ventral-lexical brain regions.
Footnotes
1
Handedness was assessed by asking the participant about their hand preference. The pattern of results with and without the left-handed participants included did not change substantially (e.g., the exception words RT—uncinate FA correlation with left-handed participants was −0.428 and without was −0.418; similarly, the regular word RT—uncinate FA correlation with left-handed participants was −0.358 and without was −0.349).
 
2
Accuracy for each word type was greater than 90 %, thus precluding any analysis with this measure given near ceiling performance and the limited variability [exception words: 94.7 % (standard deviation, SD = 3.0 %, regular words: 98.5 % (SD = 1.5 %); nonwords: 97.5 % (SD = 3.1 %), pseudohomophones 91.2 % (SD = 5.2 %))].
 
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Metadata
Title
Investigating the ventral-lexical, dorsal-sublexical model of basic reading processes using diffusion tensor imaging
Authors
Jacqueline Cummine
Wenjun Dai
Ron Borowsky
Layla Gould
Claire Rollans
Carol Boliek
Publication date
01-01-2015
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
Brain Structure and Function / Issue 1/2015
Print ISSN: 1863-2653
Electronic ISSN: 1863-2661
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-013-0666-8

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