Abnormalities in both stimulus-induced and baseline MEG alpha oscillations in the auditory cortex of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

The neurobiology of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is hypothetically related to the imbalance between neural excitation (E) and inhibition (I). Different studies have revealed that alpha-band (8-12 Hz) activity in magneto- and electroencephalography (MEG and EEG) may reflect E and I processes and, thus, can be of particular interest in ASD research. Previous findings indicated alterations in event-related and baseline alpha activity in different cortical systems in individuals with ASD, and these abnormalities were associated with core and co-occurring conditions of ASD. However, the knowledge on auditory alpha oscillations in this population is limited. This MEG study investigated stimulus-induced (Event-Related Desynchronization, ERD) and baseline alpha-band activity (both periodic and aperiodic) in the auditory cortex and also the relationships between these neural activities and behavioral measures of children with ASD. Ninety amplitude-modulated tones were presented to two groups of children: 20 children with ASD (5 girls, Mage = 10.03, SD = 1.7) and 20 typically developing controls (9 girls, Mage = 9.11, SD = 1.3). Children with ASD had a bilateral reduction of alpha-band ERD, reduced baseline aperiodic-adjusted alpha power, and flattened aperiodic exponent in comparison to TD children. Moreover, lower raw baseline alpha power and aperiodic offset in the language-dominant left auditory cortex were associated with better language skills of children with ASD measured in formal assessment. The findings highlighted the alterations of E / I balance metrics in response to basic auditory stimuli in children with ASD and also provided evidence for the contribution of low-level processing to language difficulties in ASD.

Testing the Continuum/Spectrum Model in Russian-Speaking Children With and Without Developmental Language Disorder.

PURPOSE: Previously, Lancaster and Camarata (2019) showed that the continuum/spectrum model of the developmental language disorder (DLD) best explained the high heterogeneity of symptoms in children with DLD. We hypothesize that the continuum/spectrum approach can include not only children with DLD but also typically developing (TD) children with different timelines and patterns of language acquisition. This model can explain individual language profiles and deficits in children. METHOD: We assessed language abilities in a group of Russian-speaking children with DLD aged 4-7 years (n = 53) and their age- and gender-matched peers without speech and language diagnoses (n = 53, TD). We evaluated the children's performance at four language levels in production and comprehension domains, using 11 subtests of the standardized language assessment for Russian: Russian Child Language Assessment Battery (RuCLAB). Using the k-means cluster method and RuCLAB scores, we obtained two clusters of children and analyzed their language performance in individual subtests. RESULTS: The analysis revealed that the two clusters of children both included DLD and TD participants: Group 1, with higher test scores (TD = 45, DLD = 24 children), and Group 2, with lower scores (TD = 8, DLD = 29). Children from Group 1 mostly had lower scores at one of the language levels, whereas those from Group 2 struggled at several language levels. Furthermore, children with DLD from both groups tended to be more sensitive to linguistic features such as word length, noun case, and sentence reversibility compared to TD children. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of two mixed groups shows that children with diagnosed DLD could perform on par with TD children, whereas some younger TD children could perform similarly to children with DLD. Our findings support the continuum/spectrum model: Linguistic skills in preschool children are a continuum, varying from high to poor skills at all language levels in comprehension and production. To describe a child's language profile, the tasks assessing all language levels should be used. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.25521400.

Identifying dyslexia in school pupils from eye movement and demographic data using artificial intelligence.

This paper represents our research results in the pursuit of the following objectives: (i) to introduce a novel multi-sources data set to tackle the shortcomings of the previous data sets, (ii) to propose a robust artificial intelligence-based solution to identify dyslexia in primary school pupils, (iii) to investigate our psycholinguistic knowledge by studying the importance of the features in identifying dyslexia by our best AI model. In order to achieve the first objective, we collected and annotated a new set of eye-movement-during-reading data. Furthermore, we collected demographic data, including the measure of non-verbal intelligence, to form our three data sources. Our data set is the largest eye-movement data set globally. Unlike the previously introduced binary-class data sets, it contains (A) three class labels and (B) reading speed. Concerning the second objective, we formulated the task of dyslexia prediction as regression and classification problems and scrutinized the performance of 12 classifications and eight regressions approaches. We exploited the Bayesian optimization method to fine-tune the hyperparameters of the models: and reported the average and the standard deviation of our evaluation metrics in a stratified ten-fold cross-validation. Our studies showed that multi-layer perceptron, random forest, gradient boosting, and k-nearest neighbor form the group having the most acceptable results. Moreover, we showed that although separately using each data source did not lead to accurate results, their combination led to a reliable solution. We also determined the importance of the features of our best classifier: our findings showed that the IQ, gender, and age are the top three important features; we also showed that fixation along the y-axis is more important than other fixation data. Dyslexia detection, eye fixation, eye movement, demographic, classification, regression, artificial intelligence.

Eye movement corpora in Adyghe and Russian: an eye-tracking study of sentence reading in bilinguals.

The present study expands the eye-tracking-while reading research toward less studied languages of different typological classes (polysynthetic Adyghe vs. synthetic Russian) that use a Cyrillic script. In the corpus reading data from the two languages, we confirmed the widely studied effects of word frequency and word length on eye movements in Adyghe-Russian bilingual individuals for both languages. We also confirmed morphological effects in Adyghe reading (part-of-speech class and the number of lexical affixes) that were previously shown in some morphologically-rich languages. Importantly, we demonstrated that bilinguals' reading in Adyghe does differ quantitatively (the effect of language on reading times) and qualitatively (different effects of landing and previous/upcoming words on the eye movements within a current word) from their reading in Russian.

Event-Related Desynchronization of MEG Alpha-Band Oscillations during Simultaneous Presentation of Audio and Visual Stimuli in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Alpha-band (8-12 Hz) event-related desynchronization (ERD) or a decrease in alpha power in electro- and magnetoencephalography (EEG and MEG) reflects the involvement of a neural tissue in information processing. It is known that most children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have difficulties in information processing, and, thus, investigation of alpha oscillations is of particular interest in this population. Previous studies have demonstrated alterations in this neural activity in individuals with ASD; however, little is known about alpha ERD during simultaneous presentation of auditory and visual stimuli in children with and without ASD. As alpha oscillations are intimately related to attention, and attention deficit is one of the common co-occurring conditions of ASD, we predict that children with ASD can have altered alpha ERD in one of the sensory domains. In the present study, we used MEG to investigate alpha ERD in groups of 20 children with ASD and 20 age-matched typically developing controls. Simple amplitude-modulated tones were presented together with a fixation cross appearing on the screen. The results showed that children with ASD had a bilateral reduction in alpha-band ERD in the auditory but not visual cortex. Moreover, alterations in the auditory cortex were associated with a higher presence of autistic traits measured in behavioral assessment.

Disruptions in modular structure and network integration of language-related network predict language performance in temporal lobe epilepsy: Evidence from graph-based analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is a network disorder that alters the total organization of the language-related network. Task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) aimed at functional connectivity is a direct method to investigate how the network is reorganized. However, such studies are scarce and represented mostly by the resting-state analysis of the individual connections between regions. To fill this gap, we used a graph-based analysis, which allows us to cover the total language-related network changes, such as disruptions in an integration/segregation balance, during a language task in TLE. METHODS: We collected task-based fMRI data with sentence completion from 19 healthy controls and 28 people with left TLE. Using graph-based analysis, we estimated how the language-related network segregated into modules and tested whether they differed between groups. We evaluated the total network integration and the integration within modules. To assess intermodular integration, we considered the number and location of connector hubs-regions with high connectivity. RESULTS: The language-related network was differently segregated during language processing in the groups. While healthy controls showed a module consisting of left perisylvian regions, people with TLE exhibited a bilateral module formed by the anterior language-related areas and a module in the left temporal lobe, reflecting hyperconnectivity within the epileptic focus. As a consequence of this reorganization, there was a statistical tendency that the dominance of the intramodular integration over the total network integration was greater in TLE, which predicted language performance. The increase in the number of connector hubs in the right hemisphere, in turn, was compensatory in TLE. SIGNIFICANCE: Our study provides insights into the reorganization of the language-related network in TLE, revealing specific network changes in segregation and integration. It confirms reduced global connectivity and compensation across the healthy hemisphere, commonly observed in epilepsy. These findings advance the understanding of the network-based reorganizational processes underlying language processing in TLE.

Reduced grey matter volume of amygdala and hippocampus is associated with the severity of autistic symptoms and language abilities in school-aged children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: an exploratory study.

The core symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are impairments in social interaction/communication and the presence of stereotyped and repetitive behaviour. The amygdala and hippocampus are involved in core functions in the "social brain" and, thus, may be of particular interest in ASD. Previous studies demonstrated inconsistent results, revealing both increased and reduced volume of these brain structures in individuals with ASD. In this study, we investigated the grey and white matter volumes of amygdala and hippocampus in primary-school-aged children with and without ASD. Also, we assessed the relationships between the volume of brain structures and behavioural measures in children with ASD. A total of 36 children participated in the study: 18 children with ASD (13 boys, age range 8.01-14.01 years, mean age (Mage) = 10.02, standard deviation (SD) = 1.76) and 18 age- and sex-matched typically developing controls (13 boys, age range 7.06-12.03 years, Mage = 10.00, SD = 1.38). The whole-brain structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was applied to acquire T1 images for each child. The results showed a bilateral reduction in grey matter volume of amygdala and hippocampus in children with ASD, but no difference was found in white matter volume. Importantly, pathological reduction in grey matter volume of amygdala was associated with lower language skills and more severe autistic traits; also, a reduced grey matter volume of the left hippocampus was related to lower language skills in the ASD group.

Corpus callosum organization and its implication to core and co-occurring symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is characterized by social interaction and communication deficits, repetitive behavior and often by co-occurring conditions such as language and non-verbal IQ development delays. Previous studies reported that those behavioral abnormalities can be associated with corpus callosum organization. However, little is known about the specific differences in white matter structure of the corpus callosum parts in children with ASD and TD peers and their relationships to core and co-occurring symptoms of ASD. The aim of the study was to investigate the volumetric and microstructural characteristics of the corpus callosum parts crucially involved in social, language, and non-verbal IQ behavior in primary-school-aged children with ASD and to assess the relationships between these characteristics and behavioral measures. 38 children (19 with ASD and 19 typically developing (TD) controls) were scanned using diffusion-weighted MRI and assessed with behavioral tests. The tractography of the corpus callosum parts were performed using Quantitative Imaging Toolkit software; diffusivity and volumetric measurements were extracted for the analysis. In the ASD group, fractional anisotropy (FA) was decreased across the supplementary motor area and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and axial diffusivity (AD) was reduced across each of the corpus callosum parts in comparison to the TD group. Importantly, the AD decrease was related to worse language skills and more severe autistic traits in individuals with ASD. The microstructure of the corpus callosum parts differs between children with and without ASD. Abnormalities in white matter organization of the corpus callosum parts are associated with core and co-occurring symptoms of ASD.

Structural brain abnormalities and their association with language impairment in school-aged children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Language impairment is comorbid in most children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) but its neural basis is poorly understood. Using structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the present study provides the whole-brain comparison of both volume- and surface-based characteristics between groups of children with and without ASD and investigates the relationships between these characteristics in language-related areas and the language abilities of children with ASD measured with standardized tools. A total of 36 school-aged children participated in the study: 18 children with ASD and 18 age- and sex-matched typically developing controls. The results revealed that multiple regions differed between groups of children in gray matter volume, gray matter thickness, gyrification, and cortical complexity (fractal dimension). White matter volume and sulcus depth did not differ between groups of children in any region. Importantly, gray matter thickness and gyrification of language-related areas were related to language functioning in children with ASD. Thus, the results of the present study shed some light on the structural brain abnormalities associated with language impairment in ASD.

Switching attention deficits in post-stroke individuals with different aphasia types.

Background: Previous studies have shown that individuals with aphasia have impairments in switching attention compared to healthy controls. However, there is insufficient information about the characteristics of switching attention within one task and whether attention deficits vary depending on aphasia type and lesion location. We aimed to address these knowledge gaps by investigating characteristics of switching attention within one type of task in participants with different types of aphasia and distinct lesion sites. Method: Forty individuals with post-stroke aphasia (20 with non-fluent aphasia and frontal lobe damage, and 20 with fluent aphasia and temporal lobe damage) and 20 neurologically healthy age-matched individuals performed an attention switching task. They listened to sequences of high-pitched and low-pitched tones that were presented to them one by one, tallied them separately, and, at the end of each sequence, had to say how many high- and low-pitched tones they had heard. Results: Participants with aphasia performed significantly worse on the task compared to healthy controls, and the performance of two aphasia groups also differed. Specifically, individuals with both aphasia types made more errors than healthy individuals, and the participants with non-fluent aphasia responded more slowly than controls, while reaction times of the participants with fluent aphasia did not differ significantly from those of controls. Also, the two groups of participants with aphasia differed significantly in accuracy, with individuals in the non-fluent group making more errors. Conclusions: The data demonstrated that people with different types of aphasia have distinct impairments in switching attention. Since cognitive deficits impact language performance, this information is important for differentially addressing their language problems and selecting more specific and optimal rehabilitation programs that target different underlying mechanisms.

Phonological and orthographic parafoveal processing during silent reading in Russian children and adults.

Studies on German and English have shown that children and adults can rely on phonological and orthographic information from the parafovea during reading, but this reliance differs between ages and languages. In the current study, we investigated the development of phonological and orthographic parafoveal processing during silent reading in Russian-speaking 8-year-old children, 10-year-old children, and adults using the gaze-contingent boundary paradigm. The participants read sentences with embedded nouns that were presented in original, pseudohomophone, control for pseudohomophone, transposed-letter, and control for transposed-letter conditions in the parafoveal area to assess phonological and orthographic preview benefit effects. The results revealed that all groups of participants relied only on orthographic but not phonological parafoveal information. These findings indicate that 8-year-old children already preprocess parafoveal information similarly to adults.

Neuromagnetic 40 Hz Auditory Steady-State Response in the left auditory cortex is related to language comprehension in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Language impairment is comorbid in most children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), but its neural mechanisms are still poorly understood. Some studies hypothesize that the atypical low-level sensory perception in the auditory cortex accounts for the abnormal language development in these children. One of the potential non-invasive measures of such low-level perception can be the cortical gamma-band oscillations registered with magnetoencephalography (MEG), and 40 Hz Auditory Steady-State Response (40 Hz ASSR) is a reliable paradigm for eliciting auditory gamma response. Although there is research in children with and without ASD using 40 Hz ASSR, nothing is known about the relationship between this auditory response in children with ASD and their language abilities measured directly in formal assessment. In the present study, we used MEG and individual brain models to investigate 40 Hz ASSR in primary-school-aged children with and without ASD. It was also used to assess how the strength of the auditory response is related to language abilities of children with ASD, their non-verbal IQ, and social functioning. A total of 40 children were included in the study. The results demonstrated that 40 Hz ASSR was reduced in the right auditory cortex in children with ASD when comparing them to typically developing controls. Importantly, our study provides the first evidence of the association between 40 Hz ASSR in the language-dominant left auditory cortex and language comprehension in children with ASD. This link was domain-specific because the other brain-behavior correlations were non-significant.

Greater volumes of a callosal sub-region terminating in posterior language-related areas predict a stronger degree of language lateralization: A tractography study.

Language lateralization is the most intriguing trait of functional asymmetry for cognitive functions. Nowadays, ontogenetic determinants of this trait are largely unknown, but there are efforts to find its anatomical correlates. In particular, a white matter interhemispheric connection-the corpus callosum-has been proposed as such. In the present study, we aimed to find the association between the degree of language lateralization and metrics of the callosal sub-regions. We applied a sentence completion fMRI task to measure the degree of language lateralization in a group of healthy participants balanced for handedness. We obtained the volumes and microstructural properties of callosal sub-regions with two tractography techniques, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and constrained spherical deconvolution (CSD). The analysis of DTI-based metrics did not reveal any significant associations with language lateralization. In contrast, CSD-based analysis revealed that the volumes of a callosal sub-region terminating in the core posterior language-related areas predict a stronger degree of language lateralization. This finding supports the specific inhibitory model implemented through the callosal fibers projecting into the core posterior language-related areas in the degree of language lateralization, with no relevant contribution of other callosal sub-regions.

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation modulates action naming over the left but not right inferior frontal gyrus.

fMRI language mapping studies report right-hemispheric contribution to language in healthy individuals. However, it remains unclear whether these right-hemispheric patterns of activity are critical for language, which is highly relevant for clinical preoperative language mapping. The available findings are controversial. In this study, we first measured individual patterns of language lateralization with an fMRI language localizer in healthy participants with different handedness (N = 31). Then, the same participants received rTMS over the individual coordinates of peak fMRI-based activation in the left and right inferior frontal gyri. During rTMS, participants performed a picture naming task. It included both objects and actions to test whether naming of nouns and verbs would be equally modulated by rTMS. Stimulation of the left inferior frontal gyrus resulted in accuracy facilitation of verb production regardless of individual language lateralization. No modulation of object naming was found at any stimulation site in terms of accuracy nor reaction time. This study causally confirmed the critical contribution of the left, but not the right hemisphere to verb production regardless of the language lateralization patterns observed with fMRI. Also, the results stress that action rather than object naming is the task of choice for mapping language in the frontal lobe.

Epileptogenic high-frequency oscillations present larger amplitude both in mesial temporal and neocortical regions.

High-frequency oscillations (HFO) are a promising biomarker for the identification of epileptogenic tissue. While HFO rates have been shown to predict seizure outcome, it is not yet clear whether their morphological features might improve this prediction. We validated HFO rates against seizure outcome and delineated the distribution of HFO morphological features. We collected stereo-EEG recordings from 20 patients (231 electrodes; 1,943 contacts). We computed HFO rates (the co-occurrence of ripples and fast ripples) through a validated automated detector during non-rapid eye movement sleep. Applying machine learning, we delineated HFO morphological features within and outside epileptogenic tissue across mesial temporal lobe (MTL) and Neocortex. HFO rates predicted seizure outcome with 85% accuracy, 79% specificity, 100% sensitivity, 100% negative predictive value, and 67% positive predictive value. The analysis of HFO features showed larger amplitude in the epileptogenic tissue, similar morphology for epileptogenic HFO in MTL and Neocortex, and larger amplitude for physiological HFO in MTL. We confirmed HFO rates as a reliable biomarker for epilepsy surgery and characterized the potential clinical relevance of HFO morphological features. Our results support the prospective use of HFO in epilepsy surgery and contribute to the anatomical mapping of HFO morphology.

Cognitive Requirements of the Phonological Tests Affect Their Ability to Discriminate Children With and Without Developmental Dyslexia.

PURPOSE: The main purpose of this study was to investigate whether the performance on each of seven phonological processing (PP) tests from the Russian Test of Phonological Processing (RuToPP), with their varying levels of linguistic complexity and composite phonological indices, are significant predictors of developmental dyslexia (DD) and can reliably differentiate children with and without reading impairment. Additionally, we examined the general contribution of phonological skills to text reading fluency in children with various levels of reading performance. METHOD: A total of 173 Russian-speaking 7- to 11-year-old children participated in this study: 124 who were typically developing (TD) and 49 who had been diagnosed with DD. We assessed reading fluency with a standardized reading test and PP with the RuToPP. We investigated the potential of phonological skills to predict the presence or absence of a dyslexia diagnosis using multinomial logistic regression, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, and calculations of the sensitivity and specificity of each test and index. The contribution of phonological skills to reading fluency was also assessed in a mixed group of children. RESULTS: Six of seven RuToPP tests were significant predictors of dyslexia. However, while the RuToPP correctly identified 93%-99% of TD children, for children with dyslexia, it ranged from 4% to 47% depending on the test. In a mixed group of children with and without dyslexia, performance in the more complex phonological tests was a stronger predictor of reading fluency. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings are consistent with the literature on predictors of literacy skills and dyslexia while uniquely demonstrating the impact of the complexity level of the phonological tests on the classification outcome. PP is a significant and necessary predictor of reading skills, but it is not sufficient for diagnostic purposes. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.20779294.

The Aftercare Survey: Assessment and intervention practices after brain tumor surgery in Europe.

Background: People with gliomas need specialized neurosurgical, neuro-oncological, psycho-oncological, and neuropsychological care. The role of language and cognitive recovery and rehabilitation in patients' well-being and resumption of work is crucial, but there are no clear guidelines for the ideal timing and character of assessments and interventions. The goal of the present work was to describe representative (neuro)psychological practices implemented after brain surgery in Europe. Methods: An online survey was addressed to professionals working with individuals after brain surgery. We inquired about the assessments and interventions and the involvement of caregivers. Additionally, we asked about recommendations for an ideal assessment and intervention plan. Results: Thirty-eight European centers completed the survey. Thirty of them offered at least one postsurgical (neuro)psychological assessment, mainly for language and cognition, especially during the early recovery stage and at long term. Twenty-eight of the participating centers offered postsurgical therapies. Patients who stand the highest chances of being included in evaluation and therapy postsurgically are those who underwent awake brain surgery, harbored a low-grade glioma, or showed poor recovery. Nearly half of the respondents offer support programs to caregivers, and all teams recommend them. Treatments differed between those offered to individuals with low-grade glioma vs those with high-grade glioma. The figure of caregiver is not yet fully recognized in the recovery phase. Conclusion: We stress the need for more complete rehabilitation plans, including the emotional and health-related aspects of recovery. In respondents' opinions, assessment and rehabilitation plans should also be individually tailored and goal-directed (eg, professional reinsertion).

The age-related changes in 40 Hz Auditory Steady-State Response and sustained Event-Related Fields to the same amplitude-modulated tones in typically developing children: A magnetoencephalography study.

Recent studies have revealed that gamma-band oscillatory and transient evoked potentials may change with age during childhood. It is hypothesized that these changes can be associated with a maturation of GABAergic neurotransmission and, subsequently, the age-related changes of excitation-inhibition balance in the neural circuits. One of the reliable paradigms for investigating these effects in the auditory cortex is 40 Hz Auditory Steady-State Response (ASSR), where participants are presented with the periodic auditory stimuli. It is known that such stimuli evoke two types of responses in magnetoencephalography (MEG)-40 Hz steady-state gamma response (or 40 Hz ASSR) and auditory evoked response called sustained Event-Related Field (ERF). Although several studies have been conducted in children, focusing on the changes of 40 Hz ASSR with age, almost nothing is known about the age-related changes of the sustained ERF to the same periodic stimuli and their relationships with changes in the gamma strength. Using MEG, we investigated the association between 40 Hz steady-state gamma response and sustained ERF response to the same stimuli and also their age-related changes in the group of 30 typically developing 7-to-12-year-old children. The results revealed a tight relationship between 40 Hz ASSR and ERF, indicating that the age-related increase in strength of 40 Hz ASSR was associated with the age-related decrease of the amplitude of ERF. These effects were discussed in the light of the maturation of the GABAergic system and excitation-inhibition balance development, which may contribute to the changes in ASSR and ERF.

A New Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Localizer for Preoperative Language Mapping Using a Sentence Completion Task: Validity, Choice of Baseline Condition, and Test-Retest Reliability.

To avoid post-neurosurgical language deficits, intraoperative mapping of the language function in the brain can be complemented with preoperative mapping with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The validity of an fMRI "language localizer" paradigm crucially depends on the choice of an optimal language task and baseline condition. This study presents a new fMRI "language localizer" in Russian using overt sentence completion, a task that comprehensively engages the language function by involving both production and comprehension at the word and sentence level. The paradigm was validated in 18 neurologically healthy volunteers who participated in two scanning sessions, for estimating test-retest reliability. For the first time, two baseline conditions for the sentence completion task were compared. At the group level, the paradigm significantly activated both anterior and posterior language-related regions. Individual-level analysis showed that activation was elicited most consistently in the inferior frontal regions, followed by posterior temporal regions and the angular gyrus. Test-retest reliability of activation location, as measured by Dice coefficients, was moderate and thus comparable to previous studies. Test-retest reliability was higher in the frontal than temporo-parietal region and with the most liberal statistical thresholding compared to two more conservative thresholding methods. Lateralization indices were expectedly left-hemispheric, with greater lateralization in the frontal than temporo-parietal region, and showed moderate test-retest reliability. Finally, the pseudoword baseline elicited more extensive and more reliable activation, although the syllable baseline appears more feasible for future clinical use. Overall, the study demonstrated the validity and reliability of the sentence completion task for mapping the language function in the brain. The paradigm needs further validation in a clinical sample of neurosurgical patients. Additionally, the study contributes to general evidence on test-retest reliability of fMRI.

Global reading processes in children with high risk of dyslexia: a scanpath analysis.

The study presents the first systematic comparison of the global reading processes via scanpath analysis in Russian-speaking children with and without reading difficulties. First, we compared basic eye-movement characteristics in reading sentences in two groups of children in grades 1 to 5 (N = 72 in high risk of developmental dyslexia group and N = 72 in the control group). Next, using the scanpath method, we investigated which global reading processes these children adopt to read the entire sentence and how these processes differ between the groups. Finally, we were interested in the timeframe of the change in the global reading processes from the 1st to the 5th grades for both groups. We found that the main difference in word-level measures between groups was the reading speed reflected in fixation durations. However, the examination of the five identified global reading processes revealed qualitative similarities in reading patterns between groups. Children in the control group progressed quickly and by the 4th grade engaged in an adult-like fluent reading process. The high-risk group started with the beginner reading process, then similar to first graders in the control group, engaged mostly in the intermediate and upper-intermediate reading processes in 2nd to 4th grades. They reach the advanced process in the 5th grade, the same pattern preferred by the control group second graders. Overall, the scanpath analysis reveals that although there are quantitative differences in the word-level eye-tracking measures between groups, qualitatively children in the high-risk group read on par with typically developing peers but with a 3-year reading delay.