Abstract Objectives Brain imaging techniques have broadened our understanding of structural and functional properties of neuronal networks in children with developmental disabilities. The present work examines current models of neuronal response properties implicated in dyslexia and reading difficulties. Methods This review analyzes the use of functional techniques (fMRI and EEG) employed in the assessment of neuronal markers associated with reading ability. Results Neuro-imaging studies have provided evidence of neuronal networks involved in the emergence of reading fluency. Using this information, it is now possible to employ physiological assessments in the screening of reading ability before behavioral evaluations can be conducted. Conclusions Analyses of neuro-imaging studies show that abnormal neuronal activation in specific brain areas can be used to help identify reading impairments in children. These neuronal assessments permit earlier identification of dyslexia than those requiring behavioral assessments. 

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The Use of Neuronal Response Signals as Early Biomarkers of Dyslexia

To date, it is still unclear how word structure might impact lexical processing in the brain for languages with an impoverished system of grammatical morphology such as Chinese. In this study, concurrent electroencephalogram (EEG) and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) recordings were performed to inspect the temporal and spatial brain activities that are related to Chinese word structure (compound vs. derivation vs. non-morphological) effects. A masked priming paradigm was utilized on three lexical conditions (compound constitute priming, derivation constitute priming, and non-morphological priming) to tap Chinese native speakers' structural sensitivity to differing word structures. The compound vs. derivation structure effect was revealed by the behavioral data as well as the temporal and spatial brain activation patterns. In the masked priming task, Chinese derivations exhibited significantly enhanced brain activation in the frontal cortex and involved broader brain networks as compared with lexicalized compounds. The results were interpreted by the differing connection patterns between constitute morphemes within a given word structure from a spreading activation perspective. More importantly, we demonstrated that the Chinese word structure effect showed a distinct brain activation pattern from that of the dual-route mechanism in alphabetic languages. Therefore, this work paved a new avenue for comprehensively understanding the underlying cognitive neural mechanisms associated with Chinese derivations and coordinate compounds. 

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Word Structure Tunes Electrophysiological and Hemodynamic Responses in the Frontal Cortex

Morphological decomposition in Chinese compound word recognition: Electrophysiological evidence

Abstract. Significance Performance during risky decision making is one of the essential cognitive functions that is impaired in several psychiatric disorders including addiction. However, the cognitive mechanism and neural correlates underlying risky decision making in chronic pain patients are unclear. To our knowledge, this study is among the first to construct computational models to detect the underlying cognitive process of chronic pain patients during risky decision making. Aim This study aimed at inspecting the significantly abnormal risky decision-making patterns of chronic pain patients and its neuro-cognitive correlates. Approach In this case-control study, 19 chronic pain patients and 32 healthy controls (HCs) were included to measure the risky decision making in a balloon analogue risk task (BART). Optical neuroimaging using functional near-infrared spectroscopy, together with computational modeling, was carried out to systematically characterize the specific impairments based on BART. Results Computational modeling findings on behavioral performance demonstrated that the chronic pain patient group exhibited significant deficits in learning during BART (p  <  0.001), tending to make decisions more randomly without deliberation (p  <  0.01). In addition, significant brain deactivation alternation in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) during the task was detected for the patient group compared with that from the control group (p  <  0.005). Conclusions Long-term aberrant pain responses significantly disrupted the PFC function and behavioral performance in chronic pain patients. The joint behavioral modeling and neuroimaging techniques open a new avenue for fully understanding the cognitive impairment and brain dysfunction of risky decision making associated with chronic pain.

Behavioral modeling and neuroimaging of impaired risky decision making in patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain

Introduction A hallmark of the human language faculty is processing complex hierarchical syntactic structures across languages. However, for Mandarin Chinese, a language typically dependent on semantic combinations and free of morphosyntactic information, the relationship between syntactic and semantic processing during Chinese complex sentence reading is unclear. From the neuropsychological perspective of bilingual studies, whether second language (L2) learners can develop a consistent pattern of target language (i.e., L2) comprehension regarding the interplay of syntactic and semantic processing, especially when their first language (L1) and L2 are typologically distinct, remains to be determined. In this study, Chinese complex sentences with center-embedded relative clauses were generated. By utilizing the high-time-resolution technique of event-related potentials (ERPs), this study aimed to investigate the processing relationships between syntactic and semantic information during Chinese complex sentence reading in both Chinese L1 speakers and highly proficient L2 learners from South Korea. Methods Normal, semantically violated (SEM), and double-violated (containing both semantic and syntactic violations, SEM + SYN) conditions were set with regard to the nonadjacent dependencies of the Chinese complex sentence, and participants were required to judge whether the sentences they read were acceptable. Results The ERP results showed that sentences with “SEM + SYN” did not elicit early left anterior negativity (ELAN), a component assumed to signal initial syntactic processing, but evoked larger components in the N400 and P600 windows than those of the “SEM” condition, thus exhibiting a biphasic waveform pattern consistent for both groups and in line with previous studies using simpler Chinese syntactic structures. The only difference between the L1 and L2 groups was that L2 learners presented later latencies of the corresponding ERP components. Discussion Taken together, these results do not support the temporal and functional priorities of syntactic processing as identified in morphologically rich languages (e.g., German) and converge on the notion that even for Chinese complex sentence reading, syntactic and semantic processing are highly interactive. This is consistent across L1 speakers and high-proficiency L2 learners with typologically different language backgrounds.

Mandarin Chinese L1 and L2 complex sentence reading reveals a consistent electrophysiological pattern of highly interactive syntactic and semantic processing: An ERP study

Chantat Leong

Papers

How the brain encodes morphological constraints during Chinese word reading: An EEG-fNIRS study