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Neuroscience Advances in Reading Research
Gal Ben-Yehudah, PhDLearning, Research and Development Center
University of Pittsburgh
October 31, 2007, Mofet Institute, Tel-Aviv
(& the brain-education divide)
What to expect …
Part 1: Brain-education divide
What is neuroscience? questions
Part 2: Typical reading questions
Part 3: Atypical reading questions
Historical perspective
Early 1990’s - functional imaging becomes a tool in cognitive research
Mid 1990’s - “Early Head Start” campaign
‘Brain-based’ - curricula, interventions, toys
Education and the brain
A bridge too far! (Bruer, Educational Researcher, 1997)
Neuroscientists should use caution when speculating on the educational implications of brain research (Bruer, Nature Neuroscience, 2002)
Clear guidelines for neuroscience use in evidence-based (early) educational practice (Hirsh-Pasek & Bruer, Science, 2007)
Santiago Declaration, March 2007 “…Neuroscientific research, at this stage in its
development, does not offer scientific guidelines for policy, practice, or parenting.”
“Current brain research offers a promissory note, however, for the future. Developmental models and our understanding of learning will be aided by studies that reveal the effects of experience on brain systems working in concert…”
www.jsmf.org/declaration
What is Neuroscience? Cell
System
Computational
» Cognitive Neuroscience
Location of brain activity
Methods based on blood flow (metabolism): PET (positron emission tomography) fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging)
axial
sagital
coronal
Time course of brain activity
Method based on electrical activity (at scalp) ERP (event related potentials)
Prior exposure to neuroscience research related to education
Poll:
Have you heard a report, read a newspaper
story, or been exposed in another way to
neuroscience research in your field?
Part 1: Questions
Brain-education divide
Cognitive neuroscience methods
Part 2: Neuroscience contributions to reading research
Typical Development
Familiarity with research on reading
Poll:
Are you familiar with research in the area
of reading and/or reading disabilities?
Representation of knowledge that supports reading
Types of knowledge: Sound system - phonology Written form - orthography Meaning - semantic
Mapping print to sound “Phonological recoding” (Share, 1995) Decoding
Broad generalizations
Sensory systems Auditory Visual Somatosensory
‘Classic’ language regions Wernicke Broca
Motor system Articulatory planning and
execution
motorSomato-sensory
Where& How
auditory
WernickeÕsarea
Objectrecognition/semantics
BrocaÕs area
premotor
visual
Orthography in the brain
A Visual word form area?
Cohen et al., Brain, 2002
Phonology in the brain
Input phonology Acoustic/phonetic code
Output phonology Articulatory code
Association process Auditory-motor interface
Hickok & Poeppel, Cognition, 2004
Mapping orthography to phonology
Mapping principles Graphic units + language levels (Perfetti, 2003)
Cross language differences lead to different representations and “ways” to read.
Alphabetic C A T => /k/ /æ/ /t/
Nonalphabetic => /huo/3
Extensive overlap in the reading network Unique to Chinese reading
Bilateral occipito-temporal regions Left middle frontal region
Chinese > Alphabetic Alphabetic > Chinese
Tan et al. (2005)
Reading in alphabetic vs. nonalphabetic writing systems
Brain activity reflects cross-language differences in mapping principles
Network for reading
Reading different items Nonwords > Words
English readers Nonwords > Words
Italian > English readers
Paulesu et al., 2000
What about Hebrew?
A cost for reading single words with missing vowels (Frost, 1995)
No cost when words are in a sentence or text.
Morphology is one level of ‘grain-size’ in Hebrew
Hebrew without vowels
Hebrew with vowels
Frost, Developmental Science, Commentary 2006
Developmental changes
Implicit reading task Correlated brain activity and
reading skill
LH RH
Turkeltaub et al., Nature Neuroscience, 2003
Part 2: Questions
Orthography Phonology Mapping print-to-sound Similar and different patterns of brain activity
across writing systems
Part 3: Neuroscience contributions to reading research
Atypical Development
Developmental dyslexia
Reading difficulty, despite average intelligence and educational opportunity
Phonological processing deficit
Eden & Moats, Nature Neuroscience, Review 2002
Abnormal pattern of brain activity in dyslexic children
Children 10-13 yrs Nonword rhyme
judgment (LEAT, JETE)
Shaywitz et al., Biological Psychiatry, 2002
Dyslexia: biological unity across alphabetic languages
Dyslexic adults Italian, French, English
NI > DYS
Paulesu et al., Science, 2001
Dyslexic children: Phonological intervention changes brain activity
Children (8 yrs) 105 hr of a costumed
phonological intervention 1-year post intervention
brain activity shows a more normal profile
Shaywitz et al., Biological Psychiatry, 2004
Pre-intervention
1-yr post intervention
Dyslexic adults: Phonological intervention changes brain activity Adults 112 hr of Lindamood-Bell intervention Post intervention
Increased activity in LH regions seen in typical readers Compensatory activity in RH perisylvian regions
Eden et al., Neuron, 2004
What have we learned?
Cognitive neuroscience Representation of knowledge that supports
typical and atypical reading A universal reading network, with important
language-specific modifications Brain plasticity in children and adults that have
persistent reading difficulties
Some final thoughts
The importance of integrating information across disciplines.
Educational observations are a basis for future neuroscience research.
Neuroscience enables us to understand the biological basis of cognition.
Part 3: Questions
Developmental dyslexia Abnormal brain activity Effects of remediation on brain activity
General questions Revisit brain-education divide
From neuroscience to educational practice – a reasonable leap?
Poll:
After listening to this talk, what do you think:
today, can neuroscience make a practical
contribution to educational practice?
Thank You
Web sites for further information on the brain-education debate: Learning sciences and brain research:
http://www.teach-the-brain.org Brain and Learning:
http://www.brainandlearning.eu International Mind, Brain, and Education Society:
http://www.imbes.org