TY - JOUR
T1 - Neuronal response specificity as a marker of reading proficiency
T2 - Two-fold nature of the N170 revealed after massive repetition
AU - Korinth, Sebastian P.
AU - Sommer, Werner
AU - Breznitz, Zvia
PY - 2013/1/23
Y1 - 2013/1/23
N2 - Reading demands precise and efficient letter and word processing. This event-related potentials (ERP) study utilized massive repetition of visually presented single letters to trigger neuronal adaptation. Our aim was to explore whether the adaptation pattern of the N170 ERP component, serving as an indicator of neuronal response specificity, would differ for two reader groups. Forty German students, divided at the median into slow and fast readers, accomplished a visual oddball paradigm. ERPs of standard stimuli were computed separately for the first, second, and third part of the experiment. ERP waveforms and independent component analyses showed two subcomponents within the N170 time window. For both reader groups, the ERP amplitudes decreased over the time course of the experiment; however, only faster readers showed a subcomponent-specific adaptation response, restricted to the earlier N170 part. Results may reflect different degrees of neuronal response specificity in slow and fast readers, which might serve as a promising indicator for interindividual differences in visual recognition tasks such as reading.
AB - Reading demands precise and efficient letter and word processing. This event-related potentials (ERP) study utilized massive repetition of visually presented single letters to trigger neuronal adaptation. Our aim was to explore whether the adaptation pattern of the N170 ERP component, serving as an indicator of neuronal response specificity, would differ for two reader groups. Forty German students, divided at the median into slow and fast readers, accomplished a visual oddball paradigm. ERPs of standard stimuli were computed separately for the first, second, and third part of the experiment. ERP waveforms and independent component analyses showed two subcomponents within the N170 time window. For both reader groups, the ERP amplitudes decreased over the time course of the experiment; however, only faster readers showed a subcomponent-specific adaptation response, restricted to the earlier N170 part. Results may reflect different degrees of neuronal response specificity in slow and fast readers, which might serve as a promising indicator for interindividual differences in visual recognition tasks such as reading.
KW - Adaptation
KW - Event-related potential
KW - Habituation
KW - Individual differences
KW - N1
KW - N170
KW - Neural response specificity
KW - Oddball
KW - Reading speed
KW - Repetition
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84872084984
U2 - 10.1097/WNR.0b013e32835d20b1
DO - 10.1097/WNR.0b013e32835d20b1
M3 - Article
C2 - 23262470
AN - SCOPUS:84872084984
SN - 0959-4965
VL - 24
SP - 96
EP - 100
JO - NeuroReport
JF - NeuroReport
IS - 2
ER -