Early neural processes underlying fluent reading: the functional role of rapid activation in the inferior frontal cortex.

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K22263
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: :Education and related fields
• Research Institution: National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities
• Principal Investigator: Uno Tomoki 国立障害者リハビリテーションセンター(研究所), 研究所 脳機能系障害研究部, 流動研究員 (40881785)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-09-11 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 視覚単語認知 / 経頭蓋磁気刺激 / 読みの流暢性 / 言語 / 音読

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Although reading written words quickly is an essential ability for daily life, people with developmental dyslexia are likely to have residual difficulties in fluent reading. It is necessary to clarify the neuropsychological mechanism underlying fast reading for educational support for them, however, this is still elusive to date. This study aimed to elucidate the functional and causal role of rapid activity in the left inferior frontal cortex in fluent reading. The present outcomes provide the first evidence showing that early activation in the left inferior frontal cortex specifically mediates the rapid motor production of speech sounds in reading and that it is not necessarily the functioning “downstream” of other reading-related brain regions.

Free Research Field

特別支援教育

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究の知見は、左下前頭皮質で生じる高速な発話処理が、従来のモデルで提案されてきたような読み処理過程の「機能的下流」では必ずしもないことを初めて示したことに学術的意義がある。さらにこうした高速な神経処理過程の機能不全は，文字を読むことの遅さ（流暢性の障害）の直接的な要因となり得ることから，本研究から得られた知見は，将来的には読字障害の原因機序解明の一助となることが期待される。