Participants Tasks Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) Neuroimaging Speech and Print Processing Task Analysis Hemodynamic responses were preprocessed and analyzed using Statistical Parametric Mapping (NIRS-SPM, Ver. 4)5.

Children N=17

Ages 3.5-6.5y

Pre-Literacy N = 6

Ages 3.5-4.5y (M=4.2)

Emergent Literacy N = 11

Ages 4.5-6.5y (M=6.2)

What neurodevelopmental changes in language and reading networks support the young child’s transition from pre-literate to emergent reader? Pre-literate children are already proficient users of spoken language before they embark on the challenge of reading. A child’s phonological awareness at the onset of literacy is strongly predictive of later reading ability. 1,2 The Left Inferior Frontal Gyrus (LIFG) and the left Superior Temporal Gyrus (STG), are crucially involved in relating phonological information to printed text, phonological decoding and segmentation during reading, and semantic word retrieval.3,4 Spoken language processing in the brain’s language and reading networks changes as children transition from pre-literacy to emergent literacy

1 Wagner & Torgesen (1987). Psyc Bulletin, 101, 192-212. 2 Ziegler & Goswami (2005). Psyc Bulletin, 131, 3-29. 3 Pugh, et al. (2013). Brain Lang. 125, 173-83. 4 Jasinska & Petitto (2013). Dev Neuropsyc, 6, 87-101. 5 Ye, et al. (2009). Neuroimage, 44, 428-44

Patterns of neural activation that support spoken language processing change over development as a child learns to read Pre-literate children showed greater activation in the STG for spoken nonwords vs words Emergent readers showed greater activation in the LIFG for spoken nonwords vs words Emergent readers also showed greater activation in the bilateral IFG for reading versus spoken language

New Findings At the onset of reading, the neural processing of print and speech differ in ways that reveal how the developing brain allocates neural resources towards written language and begins to learn to read

Translational Impact

New insights into the brain-basis of emergent typical reading can be used to understand children who are struggling to learn to read

1Haskins Laboratories 2University of Connecticut, 3Yale University – Child Study Center

Neural Representations of Spoken and Written Language During Emergent Literacy Kaja Jasińska1, Brian Parbhu1, Kathleen Shaw2, Nicole Landi1,2,3, Heather Bortfeld1,2, Ken Pugh1,2,3

*CORRESPONDING AUTHOR kaja.jasinska@yale.edu www.haskins.yale.edu/staff/jasinska/

Younger Bilinguals - Younger Monolinguals = in STG

Spoken Language Processing in Pre-Literacy versus Emergent Literacy

Inferior Frontal (IFG) Word meaning

morphology, syntax

Superior Temporal (STG)

Phonology

Temporoparietal Letter to sound correspondence

Occipitotemporal Visual word form

Older Emergent Literacy Group

Younger Pre-Literacy Group

p = .05

Speech Nonwords>Words Left Hemisphere

Hitachi ETG 4000

Speech Nonwords>Words Left Hemisphere

Spoken Language versus Reading in Emergent Literacy

time (s)-2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

activ

ity

-0.2

-0.15

-0.1

-0.05

0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

Printed(Word(

HbO(

HbR(

p=0.07(

Print>Speech(Right(Hemisphere(

S;mulus(Offset(

Print>Speech(Le@(Hemisphere(

p=0.05(

Modality

Lexicality Auditory Words Print Words

Auditory Nonwords Print Nonwords

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

HYPOTHESIS

METHODS

RESULTS CONCLUSION

REFERENCES

Funding: NIH R01 HD 048830 (K. Pugh, PI)

R03HD053409 (N. Landi, PI)