Turri-DiDona-2023

Authors: Turri, Chiara, Giuseppe Di Dona, Alessia Santoni, Denisa Adina Zamfira, Laura Franchin, David Melcher, and Luca Ronconi.
Article: Periodic and Aperiodic EEG Features as Potential Markers of Developmental Dyslexia.
Publication: Biomedicines (MDPI). 11, no. 6: 1607 2023 | DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines11061607
Abstract
Developmental Dyslexia (DD) is a neurobiological condition affecting the ability to read fluently and/or accurately. Analyzing resting-state electroencephalographic (EEG) activity in DD may provide a deeper characterization of the underlying pathophysiology and possible biomarkers. So far, studies investigating resting-state activity in DD provided limited evidence and did not consider the aperiodic component of the power spectrum. In the present study, adults with (n = 26) and without DD (n = 31) underwent a reading skills assessment and resting-state EEG to investigate potential alterations in aperiodic activity, their impact on the periodic counterpart and reading performance. In parieto-occipital channels, DD participants showed a significantly different aperiodic activity as indexed by a flatter and lower power spectrum. These aperiodic measures were significantly related to text reading time, suggesting a link with individual differences in reading difficulties. In the beta band, the DD group showed significantly decreased aperiodic-adjusted power compared to typical readers, which was significantly correlated to word reading accuracy. Overall, here we provide evidence showing alterations of the endogenous aperiodic activity in DD participants consistently with the increased neural noise hypothesis. In addition, we confirm alterations of endogenous beta rhythms, which are discussed in terms of their potential link with magnocellular-dorsal stream deficit.
Citation:
Turri, Chiara, Giuseppe Di Dona, Alessia Santoni, Denisa Adina Zamfira, Laura Franchin, David Melcher, and Luca Ronconi. 2023. “Periodic and Aperiodic EEG Features as Potential Markers of Developmental Dyslexia” Biomedicines 11, no. 6: 1607. https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines11061607