Letter-speech sound integration in typical reading development during the first years of formal education.

This study investigated the neural basis of letter and speech sound (LS) integration in 53 typical readers (35 girls, all White) during the first 2 years of reading education (ages 7-9). Changes in both sensory (multisensory vs unisensory) and linguistic (congruent vs incongruent) aspects of LS integration were examined. The left superior temporal cortex and bilateral inferior frontal cortex showed increasing activation for multisensory over unisensory LS over time, driven by reduced activation to speech sounds. No changes were noted in the congruency effect. However, at age nine, heightened activation to incongruent over congruent LS pairs were observed, correlating with individual differences in reading development. This suggests that the incongruency effect evolves at varying rates depending on reading skills.

Neural, behavioural and real-life correlates of social context sensitivity and social reward learning during interpersonal interactions in the schizophrenia spectrum.

OBJECTIVE: Recent findings suggest that diminished processing of positive contextual information about others during interactions may contribute to social impairment in the schizophrenia spectrum. This could be due to general social context processing deficits or specific biases against positive information. We studied the impact of positive and negative social contextual information during social interactions using functional neuroimaging and probed whether these neural mechanisms were associated with real-life social functioning in schizophrenia spectrum disorders. METHODS: Patients with a schizophrenia spectrum disorder (N = 23) and controls disorder (N = 25) played three multi-round trust games during functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning, with no, positive and negative information about the counterpart's trustworthiness, while all counterparts were programmed to behave trustworthy. The main outcome variable was the height of the shared amount in the trust game, i.e. investment, representing an indication of trust. The first investment in the game was considered to be basic trust, since no behavioural feedback was given yet. We performed region-of-interest analyses and examined the association with real-life social functioning using the experience sampling method. RESULTS: Social contextual information had no effect on patients' first investments, whereas controls made the lowest investment after negative and the highest investments after positive contextual information was provided. Over trials, patients decreased investments, suggesting reduced social reward learning, whereas controls increased investments in response to behavioural feedback in the negative context. Patients engaged the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex less than controls during context presentation and showed reduced activity within the caudate during repayments. In patients, lower investments were associated with more time spent alone and social exclusion and lower caudate activation was marginally significantly associated with higher perceived social exclusion. CONCLUSION: The failure to adapt trust to positive and negative social contexts suggests that patients have a general insensitivity to prior social information, indicating top-down processing impairments. In addition, patients show reduced sensitivity to social reward, i.e. bottom-up processing deficits. Moreover, lower trust and lower neural activation were related to lower real-life social functioning. Together, these findings indicate that improving trust and social interactions in schizophrenia spectrum needs a multi-faceted approach that targets both mechanisms.

Students' beliefs about the nature of intelligence (mindset).

Important adolescents' career-related decisions might be influenced by their beliefs about malleability of intelligence and learning (mindset). We combined quantitative and qualitative data to provide in-depth insights in the beliefs that 13-14-year-olds hold about learning and intelligence, the factors influencing these beliefs, and the consequences of these beliefs in relation to classroom behaviour and study choices. To establish students' mindsets quantitatively, we categorised theory of intelligence questionnaire (TOI; Dweck, 1999) averaged scores into three levels: entity, intermediate or incremental mindsets, to provide insight into the distribution of the different mindset types in our sample (N = 492). The results of this quantitative study show that more than half of the students believed intelligence is "fixed" (entity mindset), these data showed no effect of gender. To gain more in-depth insight in the views of these students, focus groups about mindset and its influences and consequences were held in a subsample (n = 176). The qualitative data provide more nuanced insights, for example they reveal subtle gender differences regarding effort beliefs and motivation. Integrated discussion of the quantitative and qualitative results demonstrates that this multi-method approach reflects the complexity of the concept mindset better than only the widely used TOI questionnaire.

The Teenage Brain: Public Perceptions of Neurocognitive Development during Adolescence.

Over the past decade, important insights have been obtained into the neurocognitive development during adolescence. To better understand how these neuroscientific insights impact the real world, we investigated how neuroscience has shaped public perceptions of the "teenage brain" and if these perceptions influence adolescent behavior. When asking to generate free associations with the word "teenage brain," adolescents ( n = 363, Mage = 14.47 years) and parents ( n = 164, Mage = 47.16 years) more often mention undesirable behaviors (e.g., "irresponsible") than desirable behaviors (e.g., "creative"). Despite these dominantly negative associations, priming adolescents with positively versus negatively framed statements about adolescent brain development did not influence their subsequent risk-taking, impulsivity, and performance on response-to-failure tasks. However, we did find a more nuanced effect, related to how much adolescents agreed with the negative versus positive priming statements: Adolescents' negative beliefs about adolescent brain development reinforced negative behaviors by increased risk-taking behaviors, and adolescents' positive beliefs reinforced positive behaviors by using positive strategies to cope with academic setbacks. The current findings underline the impact of views that build up over time and that these are not easily influenced by a one-time instance of information but rather reinforce the impact of new information. To prevent negative perceptions of the teenage brain from becoming self-fulfilling prophecies, it is important that communication about adolescent neurocognitive development is framed in a more balanced way. Neuroscientists need to be more aware of how their research impacts the real world, before we are fully ready for "real-world neuroscience."

Approaching the Ground Truth: Revealing the Functional Organization of Human Multisensory STC Using Ultra-High Field fMRI.

Integrating inputs across sensory systems is a property of the brain that is vitally important in everyday life. More than two decades of fMRI research have revealed crucial insights on multisensory processing, yet the multisensory operations at the neuronal level in humans have remained largely unknown. Understanding the fine-scale spatial organization of multisensory brain regions is fundamental to shed light on their neuronal operations. Monkey electrophysiology revealed that the bimodal superior temporal cortex (bSTC) is topographically organized according to the modality preference (visual, auditory, and bimodal) of its neurons. In line with invasive studies, a previous 3 Tesla fMRI study suggests that the human bSTC is also topographically organized according to modality preference (visual, auditory, and bimodal) when analyzed at 1.6 × 1.6 × 1.6 mm3 voxel resolution. However, it is still unclear whether this resolution is able to unveil an accurate spatial organization of the human bSTC. This issue was addressed in the present study by investigating the spatial organization of functional responses of the bSTC in 10 participants (from both sexes) at 1.5 × 1.5 × 1.5 mm3 and 1.1 × 1.1 × 1.1 mm3 using ultra-high field fMRI (at 7 Tesla). Relative to 1.5 × 1.5 × 1.5 mm3, the bSTC at 1.1 × 1.1 × 1.1 mm3 resolution was characterized by a larger selectivity for visual and auditory modalities, stronger integrative responses in bimodal voxels, and it was organized in more distinct functional clusters indicating a more precise separation of underlying neuronal clusters. Our findings indicate that increasing the spatial resolution may be necessary and sufficient to achieve a more accurate functional topography of human multisensory integration.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The bimodal superior temporal cortex (bSTC) is a brain region that plays a crucial role in the integration of visual and auditory inputs. The aim of the present study was to investigate the fine-scale spatial organization of the bSTC by using ultra-high magnetic field fMRI at 7 Tesla. Mapping the functional topography of bSTC at a resolution of 1.1 × 1.1 × 1.1 mm3 revealed more accurate representations than at lower resolutions. This result indicates that standard-resolution fMRI may lead to wrong conclusions about the functional organization of the bSTC, whereas high spatial resolution is essential to more accurately approach neuronal operations of human multisensory integration.

Low-Frequency Cortical Oscillations Entrain to Subthreshold Rhythmic Auditory Stimuli.

Many environmental stimuli contain temporal regularities, a feature that can help predict forthcoming input. Phase locking (entrainment) of ongoing low-frequency neuronal oscillations to rhythmic stimuli is proposed as a potential mechanism for enhancing neuronal responses and perceptual sensitivity, by aligning high-excitability phases to events within a stimulus stream. Previous experiments show that rhythmic structure has a behavioral benefit even when the rhythm itself is below perceptual detection thresholds (ten Oever et al., 2014). It is not known whether this "inaudible" rhythmic sound stream also induces entrainment. Here we tested this hypothesis using magnetoencephalography and electrocorticography in humans to record changes in neuronal activity as subthreshold rhythmic stimuli gradually became audible. We found that significant phase locking to the rhythmic sounds preceded participants' detection of them. Moreover, no significant auditory-evoked responses accompanied this prethreshold entrainment. These auditory-evoked responses, distinguished by robust, broad-band increases in intertrial coherence, only appeared after sounds were reported as audible. Taken together with the reduced perceptual thresholds observed for rhythmic sequences, these findings support the proposition that entrainment of low-frequency oscillations serves a mechanistic role in enhancing perceptual sensitivity for temporally predictive sounds. This framework has broad implications for understanding the neural mechanisms involved in generating temporal predictions and their relevance for perception, attention, and awareness.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The environment is full of rhythmically structured signals that the nervous system can exploit for information processing. Thus, it is important to understand how the brain processes such temporally structured, regular features of external stimuli. Here we report the alignment of slowly fluctuating oscillatory brain activity to external rhythmic structure before its behavioral detection. These results indicate that phase alignment is a general mechanism of the brain to process rhythmic structure and can occur without the perceptual detection of this temporal structure.

The COGs (context, object, and goals) in multisensory processing.

Our understanding of how perception operates in real-world environments has been substantially advanced by studying both multisensory processes and "top-down" control processes influencing sensory processing via activity from higher-order brain areas, such as attention, memory, and expectations. As the two topics have been traditionally studied separately, the mechanisms orchestrating real-world multisensory processing remain unclear. Past work has revealed that the observer's goals gate the influence of many multisensory processes on brain and behavioural responses, whereas some other multisensory processes might occur independently of these goals. Consequently, other forms of top-down control beyond goal dependence are necessary to explain the full range of multisensory effects currently reported at the brain and the cognitive level. These forms of control include sensitivity to stimulus context as well as the detection of matches (or lack thereof) between a multisensory stimulus and categorical attributes of naturalistic objects (e.g. tools, animals). In this review we discuss and integrate the existing findings that demonstrate the importance of such goal-, object- and context-based top-down control over multisensory processing. We then put forward a few principles emerging from this literature review with respect to the mechanisms underlying multisensory processing and discuss their possible broader implications.

Orthographic dependency in the neural correlates of reading: evidence from audiovisual integration in English readers.

Reading skills are indispensible in modern technological societies. In transparent alphabetic orthographies, such as Dutch, reading skills build on associations between letters and speech sounds (LS pairs). Previously, we showed that the superior temporal cortex (STC) of Dutch readers is sensitive to the congruency of LS pairs. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate whether a similar congruency sensitivity exists in STC of readers of the more opaque English orthography, where the relation among LS pairs is less reliable. Eighteen subjects passively perceived congruent and incongruent audiovisual pairs of different levels of transparency in English: letters and speech sounds (LS; irregular), letters and letter names (LN; fairly transparent), and numerals and number names (NN; transparent). In STC, we found congruency effects for NN and LN, but no effects in the predicted direction (congruent > incongruent) for LS pairs. These findings contrast with previous results obtained from Dutch readers. These data indicate that, through education, the STC becomes tuned to the congruency of transparent audiovisual pairs, but suggests a different neural processing of irregular mappings. The orthographic dependency of LS integration underscores cross-linguistic differences in the neural basis of reading and potentially has important implications for dyslexia interventions across languages.

Increased Stimulus Expectancy Triggers Low-frequency Phase Reset during Restricted Vigilance.

Temporal cues can be used to selectively attend to relevant information during abundant sensory stimulation. However, such cues differ vastly in the accuracy of their temporal estimates, ranging from very predictable to very unpredictable. When cues are strongly predictable, attention may facilitate selective processing by aligning relevant incoming information to high neuronal excitability phases of ongoing low-frequency oscillations. However, top-down effects on ongoing oscillations when temporal cues have some predictability, but also contain temporal uncertainties, are unknown. Here, we experimentally created such a situation of mixed predictability and uncertainty: A target could occur within a limited time window after cue but was always unpredictable in exact timing. Crucially to assess top-down effects in such a mixed situation, we manipulated target probability. High target likelihood, compared with low likelihood, enhanced delta oscillations more strongly as measured by evoked power and intertrial coherence. Moreover, delta phase modulated detection rates for probable targets. The delta frequency range corresponds with half-a-period to the target occurrence window and therefore suggests that low-frequency phase reset is engaged to produce a long window of high excitability when event timing is uncertain within a restricted temporal window.

Contextual control of audiovisual integration in low-level sensory cortices.

Potential sources of multisensory influences on low-level sensory cortices include direct projections from sensory cortices of different modalities, as well as more indirect feedback inputs from higher order multisensory cortical regions. These multiple architectures may be functionally complementary, but the exact roles and inter-relationships of the circuits are unknown. Using a fully balanced context manipulation, we tested the hypotheses that: (1) feedforward and lateral pathways subserve speed functions, such as detecting peripheral stimuli. Multisensory integration effects in this context are predicted in peripheral fields of low-level sensory cortices. (2) Slower feedback pathways underpin accuracy functions, such as object discrimination. Integration effects in this context are predicted in higher-order association cortices and central/foveal fields of low-level sensory cortex. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to compare the effects of central versus peripheral stimulation on audiovisual integration, while varying speed and accuracy requirements for behavioral responses. We found that interactions of task demands and stimulus eccentricity in low-level sensory cortices are more complex than would be predicted by a simple dichotomy such as our hypothesized peripheral/speed and foveal/accuracy functions. Additionally, our findings point to individual differences in integration that may be related to skills and strategy. Overall, our findings suggest that instead of using fixed, specialized pathways, the exact circuits and mechanisms that are used for low-level multisensory integration are much more flexible and contingent upon both individual and contextual factors than previously assumed.

Multiple number-naming associations: How the inversion property affects adults' two-digit number processing.

Some number-naming systems are less transparent than others. For example, in Dutch, 49 is named "negenenveertig," which translates to "nine and forty," i.e., the unit is named first, followed by the decade. This is known as the "inversion property," where the morpho-syntactic representation of the number name is incongruent with its written Arabic form. Number word inversion can hamper children's developing mathematical skills. But little is known about its effects on adults' numeracy, the underlying mechanism, and how a person's bilingual background influences its effects. In the present study, Dutch-English bilingual adults performed an audiovisual matching task, where they heard a number word and simultaneously saw two-digit Arabic symbols and had to determine whether these matched in quantity. We experimentally manipulated the morpho-syntactic structure of the number words to alter their phonological (dis)similarities and numerical congruency with the target Arabic two-digit number. Results showed that morpho-syntactic (in)congruency differentially influenced quantity match and non-match decisions. Although participants were faster when hearing traditional non-transparent Dutch number names, they made more accurate decisions when hearing artificial, but morpho-syntactically transparent number words. This pattern was partly influenced by the participants' bilingual background, i.e., their L2 proficiency in English, which involves more transparent number names. Our findings suggest that, within inversion number-naming systems, multiple associations are formed between two-digit Arabic symbols and number names, which can influence adults' numerical cognition.

Mindset profiles of secondary school students: Associations with academic achievement, motivation and school burnout symptoms.

BACKGROUND: According to Dweck's mindset theory, implicit beliefs (a.k.a. mindset) have an organizing function, bringing together mindset, achievement goals and effort beliefs in a broader meaning system. Two commonly described meaning systems are a growth-mindset meaning system with mastery goals and positive effort beliefs, and a fixed-mindset meaning system with performance goals and negative effort beliefs. AIMS: Because of assumed heterogeneity within these two meaning systems, we aim to (1) examine multiple-mindset profiles based on mindset, achievement goals and effort beliefs, by using a data-driven person-oriented approach, and (2) relate these different profiles to several outcome measures (academic achievement, motivation and school burnout symptoms). SAMPLE: Self-report questionnaire data were collected from 724 students (11.0-14.7 y.o.; 46.7% girl; 53.3% boy; Mage = 12.8 y.o.). METHODS: Latent profile analysis was conducted using mindset, achievement goals and effort beliefs. RESULTS: Four profiles were revealed: one fixed-mindset profile and three growth-mindset profiles, which differed in their performance goal levels (low, moderate and high). Growth-mindset students with low- or moderate-performance goals had more advantageous outcomes, for example, higher math grades and lower school burnout symptoms, compared to growth-mindset students with high-performance goals. Fixed-mindset students had the least advantageous outcomes, for example, lower grades, less intrinsic motivation and more school burnout symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Our study emphasizes the importance of taking a holistic approach when examining mindset meaning systems, revealing the importance of the level of performance goals and including multiple academic outcomes.

Getting closer to social interactions using electroencephalography in developmental cognitive neuroscience.

The field of developmental cognitive neuroscience is advancing rapidly, with large-scale, population-wide, longitudinal studies emerging as a key means of unraveling the complexity of the developing brain and cognitive processes in children. While numerous neuroscientific techniques like functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), magnetoencephalography (MEG), and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) have proved advantageous in such investigations, this perspective proposes a renewed focus on electroencephalography (EEG), leveraging underexplored possibilities of EEG. In addition to its temporal precision, low costs, and ease of application, EEG distinguishes itself with its ability to capture neural activity linked to social interactions in increasingly ecologically valid settings. Specifically, EEG can be measured during social interactions in the lab, hyperscanning can be used to study brain activity in two (or more) people simultaneously, and mobile EEG can be used to measure brain activity in real-life settings. This perspective paper summarizes research in these three areas, making a persuasive argument for the renewed inclusion of EEG into the toolkit of developmental cognitive and social neuroscientists.

Growing Up Together in Society (GUTS): A team science effort to predict societal trajectories in adolescence and young adulthood.

Our society faces a great diversity of opportunities for youth. The 10-year Growing Up Together in Society (GUTS) program has the long-term goal to understand which combination of measures best predict societal trajectories, such as school success, mental health, well-being, and developing a sense of belonging in society. Our leading hypothesis is that self-regulation is key to how adolescents successfully navigate the demands of contemporary society. We aim to test these questions using socio-economic, questionnaire (including experience sampling methods), behavioral, brain (fMRI, sMRI, EEG), hormonal, and genetic measures in four large cohorts including adolescents and young adults. Two cohorts are designed as test and replication cohorts to test the developmental trajectory of self-regulation, including adolescents of different socioeconomic status thereby bridging individual, family, and societal perspectives. The third cohort consists of an entire social network to examine how neural and self-regulatory development influences and is influenced by whom adolescents and young adults choose to interact with. The fourth cohort includes youth with early signs of antisocial and delinquent behavior to understand patterns of societal development in individuals at the extreme ends of self-regulation and societal participation, and examines pathways into and out of delinquency. We will complement the newly collected cohorts with data from existing large-scale population-based and case-control cohorts. The study is embedded in a transdisciplinary approach that engages stakeholders throughout the design stage, with a strong focus on citizen science and youth participation in study design, data collection, and interpretation of results, to ensure optimal translation to youth in society.

Testing the Reciprocal Effect between Value of Education, Time Investment, and Academic Achievement in a Large Non-Western Sample.

Many theories of motivation suggest that motivation and academic achievement reinforce each other over time, yet few longitudinal studies have examined behavioral pathways that may mediate interplay from motivation to achievement. Moreover, empirical studies so far have mostly focused on Western countries. In this study, we first examined whether students' value of education, as a measure of motivation, is reciprocally related to achievement (class rank and self-rated performance) in a sample of junior high schoolers in an East-Asian country (N = 3445, Korean Youth Panel Study). We tested this reciprocity using different statistical models. Second, we investigated whether the relation between motivation and achievement was mediated by time invested in learning. Reciprocal effects between value of education and academic achievement were found in classic cross-lagged panel models, but only unilateral effects (from achievement to value of education) were found when we used random-intercept and random-curve cross-lagged panel models. Adding the time investment variable, the reciprocal effect between value of education, time investment, and academic achievement was found with the random intercept model. In conclusion, the reciprocity between of motivation and achievement are more elusive than previous research suggested; further studies should be dedicated to scrutinizing its existence with various statistical models.

Mindset and perceived parental support of autonomy safeguard adolescents' autonomous motivation during COVID-19 home-based learning.

During school closures throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, less support from peers and teachers may have required more autonomous motivation from adolescents. Little is known about factors that could shield against these negative effects. Driven by two influential motivational theories, we examined how mindset, feelings of school burnout and the three basic psychological needs of the self-determination theory, could predict changes in autonomous motivation when controlling for pre-pandemic levels of motivation. The results from a sample of Dutch adolescents (Mage = 14.63 years) and their parents (Mage = 48.65 years) showed that endorsing a growth mindset was positively associated with autonomous motivation during the school closures, while feelings of school burnout were negatively associated with autonomous motivation. Additionally, perceived parental autonomy support (i.e. a measure of the basic psychological need of autonomy) related to more autonomous motivation during home-based learning. Our findings highlight the personal and family factors that influence how adolescents respond to home-based learning and suggest ways to keep adolescents motivated and diminish possible negative consequences during future home-based learning situations.

Trajectories of early adolescents' perceptions of school motivation and effort during the pandemic in Perú: A four time point longitudinal observational study.

In this longitudinal, observational study, following 883 adolescents (aged 11-15 years, grades 6th - 8th) we tracked changes in perceived school motivation and effort across four time points during the two years of remote education in Perú as a consequence of COVID-19 (retrospective reports before the pandemic, May 2020, July 2021, and November 2021). Compared to before the pandemic, levels of perceived school motivation and effort dropped sharply in May 2020 and continued to decrease across 2 years. Perceived school motivation was positively associated with perceived school effort at almost all time points. Furthermore, students with lower levels of perceived school motivation had a steeper decline in perceived school effort. In a subsample of 380 students in 8th grade, perceived school effort in July 2021 predicted objective math performance in November 2021. Our findings suggest that COVID-19 has further compounded decreases in subjective and objective indices of school engagement and performance that are typically observed in early adolescence. Our results from a large sample of low- to middle-class Peruvian adolescents highlight the experiences of youth in a country that had particularly long school closures, and that is under-represented in the literature.

Growth mindset and school burnout symptoms in young adolescents: the role of vagal activity as potential mediator.

Experiencing school burnout symptoms can have negative consequences for learning. A growth mindset, the belief that human qualities such as intelligence are malleable, has previously been correlated with fewer school burnout symptoms in late adolescents. This might be because adolescents with a stronger growth mindset show more adaptive self-regulation strategies and thereby increasing resilience against academic setbacks. Here we confirmed in a sample of 426 Dutch young adolescents (11-14 years old; 48% female) that this relationship between growth mindset and school burnout symptoms holds after controlling for other potential predictors of school burnout symptoms such as academic achievement, school track, gender, and socio-economic status. Our second aim was to increase our understanding of the mechanism underlying the relation between mindset and school burnout, by measuring physiological resilience (vagal activity, a measure of parasympathetic activity, also known as heart rate variability or HRV) in a subsample (n = 50). We did not find any relation between vagal activity and growth mindset or school burnout symptoms, nor could we establish a mediating effect of vagal activity in their relation. In conclusion, we found evidence for a potential protective effect of a growth mindset on school burnout symptoms in young adolescents, but not for physiological resilience (vagal activity) as an underlying mechanism. The protective effect of growth mindset as confirmed in our younger sample can be leveraged in interventions to prevent increasing school burnout symptoms.

Explore your brain: A randomized controlled trial into the effectiveness of a growth mindset intervention with psychosocial and psychophysiological components.

BACKGROUND: Although past research demonstrated growth mindset interventions to improve school outcomes, effects were small. This may be due to the theoretical nature of psychosocial techniques (e.g., reading about brain plasticity), which may not be optimally convincing for students. AIMS: To address this issue and improve effectiveness, we developed a growth mindset intervention, which combined psychosocial and psychophysiological components. The latter adds a convincing experience of influencing one's own brain activity, using mobile electroencephalography (EEG) neurofeedback, emphasizing the controllable and malleable nature of one's brain. SAMPLE: In this randomized controlled trial (RCT), twenty high-school classes (N = 439) were randomized to either the active control condition (no mindset messaging) or our newly developed growth mindset intervention condition (4 × 50 min). METHODS: School outcomes (pre, post, 1-year follow-up) were analysed with Linear Mixed Models (LMM: variable-oriented) and Latent Transition Analysis (LTA: person-oriented). RESULTS: LMM: students in the growth mindset intervention reported increased growth mindset directly after the intervention (post, d = .38) and at 1-year follow-up (d = .25) and demonstrated a protective effect against deterioration of math grades at 1-year follow-up (d = .36), compared to controls. LTA: we identified three mindset profiles (Fixed, Growth competitive, Growth non-competitive), with more frequent transitions from fixed to one of the growth mindset profiles at 1-year follow-up for students in the growth mindset intervention compared to controls (OR 2.58-2.68). CONCLUSIONS: Compared to previous studies, we found relatively large effects of our intervention on growth mindset and math grades, which may be attributable to synergetic effects of psychosocial and psychophysiological (neurofeedback) components. The person-oriented approach demonstrated more holistic effects, involving multiple motivational constructs.

Deviant processing of letters and speech sounds as proximate cause of reading failure: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study of dyslexic children.

Learning to associate auditory information of speech sounds with visual information of letters is a first and critical step for becoming a skilled reader in alphabetic languages. Nevertheless, it remains largely unknown which brain areas subserve the learning and automation of such associations. Here, we employ functional magnetic resonance imaging to study letter-speech sound integration in children with and without developmental dyslexia. The results demonstrate that dyslexic children show reduced neural integration of letters and speech sounds in the planum temporale/Heschl sulcus and the superior temporal sulcus. While cortical responses to speech sounds in fluent readers were modulated by letter-speech sound congruency with strong suppression effects for incongruent letters, no such modulation was observed in the dyslexic readers. Whole-brain analyses of unisensory visual and auditory group differences additionally revealed reduced unisensory responses to letters in the fusiform gyrus in dyslexic children, as well as reduced activity for processing speech sounds in the anterior superior temporal gyrus, planum temporale/Heschl sulcus and superior temporal sulcus. Importantly, the neural integration of letters and speech sounds in the planum temporale/Heschl sulcus and the neural response to letters in the fusiform gyrus explained almost 40% of the variance in individual reading performance. These findings indicate that an interrelated network of visual, auditory and heteromodal brain areas contributes to the skilled use of letter-speech sound associations necessary for learning to read. By extending similar findings in adults, the data furthermore argue against the notion that reduced neural integration of letters and speech sounds in dyslexia reflect the consequence of a lifetime of reading struggle. Instead, they support the view that letter-speech sound integration is an emergent property of learning to read that develops inadequately in dyslexic readers, presumably as a result of a deviant interactive specialization of neural systems for processing auditory and visual linguistic inputs.