Research project READINGBRAIN

The reading brain : Understanding how neural representations for words emerge and how they are shaped by teaching

The project investigates how written words are learnt, recognized, and represented in the brain of children and adults, using behavioral and EEG methods.

The project at a glance

  • Start date:
    01 Sep 2022
  • Duration in months:
    36
  • Funding:
    FNR
  • Principal Investigator(s):
    Aliette LOCHY

About

Reading is a complex cognitive and cultural ability, which needs to be acquired via instruction. It involves orthographic, phonologic, and semantic representations of words. After learning to decode letters into sounds, the child must develop automatic and fast word recognition, i.e. words are recognized “at a glance”, and considered to be stored and retrieved from an orthographic lexicon. Little is known on what characterizes the emergence of such lexical representations at the neural level in typical and dyslexic children or adults, in natural settings or when they learn new words. Here, using a highly sensitive paradigm that combines frequency-tagging and EEG recordings (Fast Periodic Visual Stimulation, FPVS), as well as behavioral tests, we aim at understanding how words are represented in the brain. We will tackle this question from different angles, all contributing to understand lexical representations in a dynamic learning perspective. We will (1) assess the developmental emergence of automatic neural responses to words in typical and dyslexic 10-years old children, (2) study how words are processed when they vary in the regularity of the letters-to-sounds mappings, and (3) study how new words are learnt in children and in adults. It will allow us to disentangle the influence of meaning and vocabulary when learning new written forms, as well as to evaluate what is the best method to teach irregular words. The project will increase knowledge both at the fundamental level of the neural basis for reading and its disorders, and at the applied level of educational practices.

Organisation and Partners

  • Cognitive Science and Assessment Institute
  • Department of Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences
  • Faculty of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences (FHSE)
  • Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium

Project team

Keywords

  • Reading
  • Learning
  • Brain
  • Words
  • Dyslexia

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