Impact of learning to read in a mixed approach on neural tuning to words in beginning readers

in Frontiers in Psychology (2020), 10

The impact of learning to read in a mixed approach using both the global and phonics teaching methods on the emergence of left hemisphere neural specialization for word recognition is yet unknown in ... [more ▼]

The impact of learning to read in a mixed approach using both the global and phonics teaching methods on the emergence of left hemisphere neural specialization for word recognition is yet unknown in children. Taking advantage of a natural school context with such a mixed approach, we tested 42 first graders behaviorally and with Fast Periodic Visual Stimulation using electroencephalographic recordings (FPVS-EEG) to measure selective neural responses to letter strings. Letter strings were inserted periodically (1/5) in pseudofonts in 40 s sequences displayed at 6 Hz and were either words globally taught at school, that could therefore be processed by visual whole-word form recognition (global method), or control words/pseudowords eliciting graphemephoneme (GP) mappings (phonics method). Results show that selective responses (F/5, 1.2 Hz) were left lateralized for control stimuli that triggered GP mappings but bilateral for globally taught words. It implies that neural mechanisms recruited during visual word processing are influenced by the nature of the mapping between written and spoken word forms. GP mappings induce left hemisphere discrimination responses, and visual recognition of whole-word forms induce bilateral responses, probably because the right hemisphere is relatively more involved in holistic visual object recognition. Splitting the group as a function of the mastery of GP mappings into “good” and “poor” readers strongly suggests that good readers actually processed all stimuli (including global words) predominantly with their left hemisphere, while poor readers showed bilateral responses for global words. These results show that in a mixed approach of teaching to read, global method instruction may induce neural processes that differ from those specialized for reading in the left hemisphere. Furthermore, given their difficulties in automatizing GP mappings, poor readers are especially prone to rely on this alternative visual strategy. A preprint of this paper has been released on Biorxiv (van de Walle de Ghelcke et al., 2018). [less ▲]

Impact of teaching methods for reading on neural tuning to words in young poor readers

Poster (2019, September)

The impact of teaching methods on the left hemispheric (LH) specialization for reading in children remains unknown. We tested 42 first graders (mean age: 6.08 years) from schools using both a phonic and a ... [more ▼]

The impact of teaching methods on the left hemispheric (LH) specialization for reading in children remains unknown. We tested 42 first graders (mean age: 6.08 years) from schools using both a phonic and a global method in parallel, behaviorally and with Fast Periodic Visual Stimulation using electroencephalography. 40-sec strings of pseudofonts were displayed at 6Hz, in which were periodically displayed (1.2Hz) either words taught at school with whole-word form rote-learning (global method) or control pseudowords eliciting grapheme-phoneme mappings (phonic method). Control pseudowords elicited LH responses whatever the reading ability. For global words, a difference emerged as a function of group: in good and average readers, responses were stronger in the LH, while in poor readers, global words elicited an atypical bilateral neural pattern due to reduced response amplitude in the LH. These results suggest that difficulties in automatizing GP mappings induce reliance on an alternative visual strategy when available. [less ▲]

Weaker neural responses to lexicality and word frequency in dyslexic adults: an EEG study with Fast Periodic Visual Stimulation.

Scientific Conference (2019, September)

Dyslexia, a persistent reading disorder, is characterized by different brain activation patterns when reading. Here, we used a Fast Periodic Visual Stimulation paradigm during EEG recordings to assess the ... [more ▼]

Dyslexia, a persistent reading disorder, is characterized by different brain activation patterns when reading. Here, we used a Fast Periodic Visual Stimulation paradigm during EEG recordings to assess the sensitivity of dyslexics to fine-grained psycholinguistic variations of letter strings: lexicality, lexical frequency, and orthographic regularity. Dyslexic and non-dyslexic students watched 60-seconds streams of stimuli presented at 10Hz, in which deviant items are inserted periodically (1/8, at 1.25Hz). Results show discrimination responses at 1.25Hz over left posterior occipito-temporal regions, reduced in dyslexics. Group differences were significant for discrimination of word lexicality and frequency, but not for word regularity. These results show that FPVS response amplitude distinguishes normal from pathological population. Since explicit reading is prohibited by the fast rate, results suggest differences of automatic and implicit word processing in dyslexics. The lack of group difference for regular/irregular words is interpreted post-hoc as reflecting the life-long drill of dyslexics to irregular words. [less ▲]

Lateralization for faces in prereaders depends on the perceptual processing level: An EEG Fast Periodic Visual Stimulation study

Poster (2019, January)

The developmental origin of human adults’ right hemispheric lateralization to face stimuli is unclear, in particular because young infants’ right hemispheric advantage in face perception is no longer ... [more ▼]

The developmental origin of human adults’ right hemispheric lateralization to face stimuli is unclear, in particular because young infants’ right hemispheric advantage in face perception is no longer present in preschool children, before written language acquisition. Here we used fast periodic visual stimulation (FPVS) with scalp electrophysiology to test 52 preschool children (5 years old) at two levels of face processing (i.e., faces vs. objects, or discrimination between individual faces). While the contrast between faces and nonface objects elicits strictly bilateral occipital responses in children, discrimination of faces on the basis of identity in the same children is associated with a strong right hemispheric lateralization over the occipito-temporal cortex. Inversion of the face stimuli does not modulate right lateralization but significantly decreases the discrimination response. Furthermore, there is no relationship between right hemispheric lateralization in individual face discrimination and preschool levels of letter recognition. These observations suggest that right lateralization for face perception is essentially driven by the necessity to process faces at the level of identity. Overall, they also challenge the view that the adult right hemispheric lateralization for face perception emerges late and slowly during childhood due to increased competition with left lateralized posterior network for reading. [less ▲]

Spatial Skills First: The Importance of Mental Rotation for Arithmetic Skill Acquisition

in Journal of Numerical Cognition (2019)

The relation between visuospatial abilities and verbal number skills in preschool: Adding spatial language to the equation

Poster (2018, September)

MaGrid: A Language-Neutral Early Mathematical Training and Learning Application

in International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (2018), 13(08), 4-18

Given that the use of educational technologies is increasingly popular in kindergarten and among young students, these technologies have been shown to be able to solve the difficulties (existing in school ... [more ▼]

Given that the use of educational technologies is increasingly popular in kindergarten and among young students, these technologies have been shown to be able to solve the difficulties (existing in school) that are either not possible to be solved in traditional schooling or cost a lot of time and resources. In this paper, we present a pedagogical training and learning application called MaGrid (Math on Grid), which has been developed to foster early mathematical skills in pre-schoolers. MaGrid is a tablet-based application, which provides a wide range of training tasks targeting fundamental mathematical concepts for the preschool level. The language-neutral property of MaGrid is an innovative aspect that makes MaGrid different from existing mathematical training applications. This property may reduce the barrier of language from mathematical education for second language learners encountered in multilingual school settings. MaGrid allows individual learning in an interactive way and provides real-time feedback. Moreover, MaGrid is capable of recording students’ activities while working on the training tasks, which can help teachers and parents keep track of a student’s progress in different tasks and observe potential training-related improvements over time. Finally, we describe a series of experiments carried out using the MaGrid application during special training and assessment sessions in several preschools in Luxembourg. [less ▲]

Taking Language out of the Equation: The Assessment of Basic Math Competence Without Language

in Frontiers in Psychology (2018)

While numerical skills are fundamental in modern societies, some estimated 5–7% of children suffer from mathematical learning difficulties (MLD) that need to be assessed early to ensure successful ... [more ▼]

While numerical skills are fundamental in modern societies, some estimated 5–7% of children suffer from mathematical learning difficulties (MLD) that need to be assessed early to ensure successful remediation. Universally employable diagnostic tools are yet lacking, as current test batteries for basic mathematics assessment are based on verbal instructions. However, prior research has shown that performance in mathematics assessment is often dependent on the testee’s proficiency in the language of instruction which might lead to unfair bias in test scores. Furthermore, language-dependent assessment tools produce results that are not easily comparable across countries. Here we present results of a study that aims to develop tasks allowing to test for basic math competence without relying on verbal instructions or task content. We implemented video and animation-based task instructions on touchscreen devices that require no verbal explanation. We administered these experimental tasks to two samples of children attending the first grade of primary school. One group completed the tasks with verbal instructions while another group received video instructions showing a person successfully completing the task.We assessed task comprehension and usability aspects both directly and indirectly. Our results suggest that the non-verbal instructions were generally well understood as the absence of explicit verbal instructions did not influence task performance. Thus we found that it is possible to assess basic math competence without verbal instructions. It also appeared that in some cases a single word in a verbal instruction can lead to the failure of a task that is successfully completed with non-verbal instruction. However, special care must be taken during task design because on rare occasions non-verbal video instructions fail to convey task instructions as clearly as spoken language and thus the latter do not provide a panacea to non-verbal assessment. Nevertheless, our findings provide an encouraging proof of concept for the further development of non-verbal assessment tools for basic math competence. [less ▲]

Overcoming language barriers in early mathematics instruction with “MaGrid” - a language-neutral training tool for multilingual school settings

Poster (2018, April 08)

Mathematical knowledge at the onset of formal schooling paves the way for children’s achievement in formal mathematics (e.g. Duncan et al., 2007; Watts et al., 2014). Hence, it is crucial to equip ... [more ▼]

Mathematical knowledge at the onset of formal schooling paves the way for children’s achievement in formal mathematics (e.g. Duncan et al., 2007; Watts et al., 2014). Hence, it is crucial to equip children with sound basic mathematical competencies by deploying effective teaching interventions during preschool years. However, multilingual school settings, such as Luxembourg (65% of the pupils are second language learners) pose a special challenge for instruction. Non-native pre-schoolers perform lower on early mathematics tests than their age-matched peers (Bonifacci et al., 2016; Kleemans et al., 2011). This gap is most likely due to missing out on learning opportunities, as a result of lower proficiency in the language of instruction. To provide equal access to early mathematics education for all children, we developed a language-neutral early mathematics training tool, the “MaGrid”-app. This innovative training tool has been evaluated, so far, in two studies in multilingual Luxembourg. In a first study, children from five classrooms (N = 68) used the tool to train visuo-spatial abilities, an important predictor of mathematical abilities (see e.g. Mix et al., 2016), over ten weeks (2x20min/week). At post-test, significant gains in the visuo-spatial domain were observed, compared to children from “teaching-as-usual” classrooms (N = 57). In a second study, we elaborated a comprehensive language-neutral early mathematics intervention, with “MaGrid” at its core. Findings from both training studies will be presented in detail and the importance of domain-specific versus domain-general precursors, as well as practical implications, will be discussed. [less ▲]

Developmental changes in the effect of active left and right head rotation on random number generation

in Frontiers in Psychology (2018)