Project description

Reading is one of the most important academic skills we learn, allowing us to give a sense to written words. In adults, a part of the brain we call the “Visual Word Form Area” lies in our left occipital lobe (at the very back of the brain) and is associated with reading. However, it remains unclear whether specialization occurs in these areas typically associated with reading in the brains of young children (readers and pre-readers). The goal of this study is to explore whether young children acquire specialization of these brain areas associated with reading. We predict that there will be a correlation between knowledge of letters and the magnitude of an electrophysiological response in left visual areas in pre-reading children in Quebec. We anticipate that this lateralization will be more present in older children having attained a fluid reading level. Lastly, we anticipate that activation of the posterior Visual Word Form Area will be greater in pre-reading children compared to reading children. This knowledge will then be applied to same-age autistic children.