0000000000008894
AUTHOR
Jean-françois Démonet
An investigation of prototypical and atypical within-category vowels and non-speech analogues on cortical auditory evoked related potentials (AERPs) in 9 year old children
The present study examined cortical auditory evoked related potentials (AERPs) for the P1-N250 and MMN components in children 9 years of age. The first goal was to investigate whether AERPs respond differentially to vowels and complex tones, and the second goal was to explore how prototypical language formant structures might be reflected in these early auditory processing stages. Stimuli were two synthetic within-category vowels (/y/), one of which was preferred by adult German listeners ("prototypical-vowel"), and analogous complex tones. P1 strongly distinguished vowels from tones, revealing larger amplitudes for the more difficult to discriminate but phonetically richer vowel stimuli. P…
ERP correlates of the processing of speech sound prototipicality in Hungarian dyslexic and normal readers
Language-specific effects on auditory brain responses in children with dyslexia in four European countries
Predictors of developmental dyslexia in European orthographies with varying complexity
Background: The relationship between phoneme awareness, rapid automatized naming (RAN), verbal short-term/working memory (ST/WM) and diagnostic category is investigated in control and dyslexic children, and the extent to which this depends on orthographic complexity. Methods: General cognitive, phonological and literacy skills were tested in 1,138 control and 1,114 dyslexic children speaking six different languages spanning a large range of orthographic complexity (Finnish, Hungarian, German, Dutch, French, English). Results: Phoneme deletion and RAN were strong concurrent predictors of developmental dyslexia, while verbal ST/WM and general verbal abilities played a comparatively minor role…
Separating mismatch negativity (MMN) response from auditory obligatory brain responses in school-aged children
Mismatch negativity (MMN) overlaps with other auditory event-related potential (ERP) components. We examined the ERPs of 50 9- to 11-year-old children for vowels /i/, /y/ and equivalent complex tones. The goal was to separate MMN from obligatory ERP components using principal component analysis and equal probability control condition. In addition to the contrast of the deviant minus standard response, we employed the contrast of the deviant minus control response, to see whether the obligatory processing contributes to MMN in children. When looking for differences in speech deviant minus standard contrast, MMN starts around 112 ms. However, when both contrasts are examined, MMN emerges for …
Cognitive mechanisms underlying reading and spelling development in five European orthographies
This paper addresses the question whether the cognitive underpinnings of reading and spelling are universal or language/orthography-specific. We analyzed concurrent predictions of phonological processing (awareness and memory) and rapid automatized naming (RAN) for literacy development in a
Children with dyslexia reveal abnormal native language representations: Evidence from a study of mismatch negativity
Although a deficit perceiving phonemes, as indexed by the mismatch negativity (MMN), is apparent in developmental dyslexia (DD), studies have not yet addressed whether this deficit might be a result of deficient native language speech representations. The present study examines how a native-vowel prototype and an atypical vowel are discriminated by 9-year-old children with (n 5 14) and without (n 5 12) DD. MMN was elicited in all conditions in both groups. The control group revealed enhanced MMN to the native-vowel prototype in comparison to the atypical vowel. Children with DD did not show enhanced MMN amplitude to the native-vowel prototype, suggesting impaired tuning to native language s…
Cross-linguistic study of brain responses to vowel differences in children with dyslexia in four European countries
Developmental dyslexia: re-evaluation of the corpus callosum in male adults.
Using a new method based upon the measurement of four angles, we analyzed the corpus callosum of 23 adult male dyslexics and 25 age-matched controls on MRI sagittal scans. Two out of the four angles measured showed significant differences between the groups that are consistent with previous findings concerning the size of the corpus callosum in dyslexics. In particular, posterior regions are concerned, displaying a lowered corpus callosum in dyslexics. These findings are discussed in relation to cortical parietal asymmetries and possible hormonal events, referring to the testosterone hypothesis, that could occur in utero or in the perinatal period in the dyslexic population.