Marsicano-Bertoni-2021
Authors: Gianluca Marsicano , Sara Bertoni, Sandro Franceschini , Giovanna Puccio , Simone Gori , Luca Ronconi , Andrea Facoetti.
Publication: (Center for Open Science). 2021
- Developmental dyslexia (DD) is associated with an altered functionality of right-lateralized magnocellular-dorsal (MD) pathway, which would impact the processing of low spatial/high temporal frequencies stimuli such as global configurations and motion. Action video-games (AVG) training have been shown to improve reading skills in children with DD. However, it is not clear if AVG training can effectively translate into better MD functionality at the neurophysiological level. In a sample of children with DD we used electroencephalography (EEG) to study at the neural level the effects of AVG training, as compared to a non-AVG training. EEG signal was recorded before (T1) and after (T2) the training sessions, both at rest and during a coherent dot motion (CDM) task. At T1 and T2 we also measured reading skills and the efficiency of global perception in a Navon Task. We found that after AVG training children with DD exhibited: (i) at rest, a reduced amplitude of upper alpha oscillations (10-12 Hz) in parieto-occipital electrodes and an increase functional connectivity between frontal and posterior electrodes in the same frequencies; (ii) a reduction in the latency of the right-lateralized ERP N2 component, and an increase in the mean amplitude of the parietal P2 elicited by CDM stimuli. Alpha amplitude decrements were associated with an increase in phonological decoding speed and with a more efficient global perception in the Navon task. Similarly, N2 latency changes were associated with improved global perception. These psychophysiological findings support an effect of AVG on MD pathway in DD.
