Transcript Neuroscience Advances in Reading Research (the brain

Neuroscience Advances in
Reading Research
(& the brain-education divide)
Gal Ben-Yehudah, PhD
Learning, Research and Development Center
University of Pittsburgh
October 31, 2007, Mofet Institute, Tel-Aviv
What to expect …
 Part 1: Brain-education divide
What is neuroscience?
 questions
 Part 2: Typical reading
 questions
 Part 3: Atypical reading
 questions
Historical perspective
 Early 1990’s - functional imaging becomes a
tool in cognitive research
 Mid 1990’s - “Early Head Start” campaign
 ‘Brain-based’ - curricula, interventions, toys
Education and the brain
 A bridge too far!
(Bruer, Educational Researcher, 1997)
 Neuroscientists should use caution when
speculating on the educational implications of
brain research (Bruer, Nature Neuroscience, 2002)
 Clear guidelines for neuroscience use in
evidence-based (early) educational practice
(Hirsh-Pasek & Bruer, Science, 2007)
Santiago Declaration, March 2007
 “…Neuroscientific research, at this stage in its
development, does not offer scientific guidelines
for policy, practice, or parenting.”
 “Current brain research offers a promissory note,
however, for the future. Developmental models
and our understanding of learning will be aided by
studies that reveal the effects of experience on
brain systems working in concert…”
 www.jsmf.org/declaration
What is Neuroscience?
 Cell
 Computational
 System
» Cognitive Neuroscience
Location of brain activity
 Methods based on blood flow (metabolism):
 PET (positron emission tomography)
 fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging)
sagital
coronal
axial
Time course of brain activity
 Method based on electrical activity (at scalp)
 ERP (event related potentials)
Prior exposure to neuroscience
research related to education
Poll:
Have you heard a report, read a newspaper
story, or been exposed in another way to
neuroscience research in your field?
Part 1: Questions
 Brain-education divide
 Cognitive neuroscience methods
Part 2: Neuroscience contributions
to reading research
Typical Development
Familiarity with research on reading
Poll:
Are you familiar with research in the area
of reading and/or reading disabilities?
Representation of knowledge that
supports reading
 Types of knowledge:
 Sound system - phonology
 Written form - orthography
 Meaning - semantic
 Mapping print to sound
 “Phonological recoding” (Share, 1995)
 Decoding
Broad generalizations
 Sensory systems
 Auditory
 Visual
 Somatosensory
 ‘Classic’ language regions
 Wernicke
 Broca
 Motor system
 Articulatory planning and
execution
Somatomotor sensory
premotor
Where
& How
WernickeÕs
area
BrocaÕs area
auditory
visual
t
n
jec
Ob gnitio
o
rec
s
ntic
a
m
/se
Orthography in the brain
 A Visual word form area?
Cohen et al., Brain, 2002
Phonology in the brain
 Input phonology
 Acoustic/phonetic code
 Output phonology
 Articulatory code
 Association process
 Auditory-motor interface
Hickok & Poeppel, Cognition, 2004
Mapping orthography to phonology
 Mapping principles
 Graphic units + language levels (Perfetti, 2003)
 Cross language differences lead to different
representations and “ways” to read.
 Alphabetic
 Nonalphabetic
C A T => /k/ /æ/ /t/
=> /huo/3
Reading in alphabetic vs.
nonalphabetic writing systems
 Extensive overlap in the reading network
 Unique to Chinese reading
 Bilateral occipito-temporal regions
 Left middle frontal region
Chinese > Alphabetic
Tan et al. (2005)
Alphabetic > Chinese
Brain activity reflects cross-language
differences in mapping principles
 Network for reading
 Reading different items
 Nonwords > Words
 English readers
 Nonwords > Words
 Italian > English readers
Paulesu et al., 2000
What about Hebrew?
 A cost for reading single
words with missing
vowels (Frost, 1995)
 No cost when words are
in a sentence or text.
Hebrew without vowels
Hebrew with vowels
 Morphology is one level
of ‘grain-size’ in Hebrew
Frost, Developmental Science, Commentary 2006
Developmental changes
 Implicit reading task
 Correlated brain activity
and reading skill
LH
Turkeltaub et al., Nature Neuroscience, 2003
RH
Part 2: Questions




Orthography
Phonology
Mapping print-to-sound
Similar and different patterns of brain activity
across writing systems
Part 3: Neuroscience contributions
to reading research
Atypical Development
Developmental dyslexia
 Reading difficulty, despite average
intelligence and educational opportunity
 Phonological processing deficit
Eden & Moats, Nature Neuroscience, Review 2002
Abnormal pattern of brain activity in
dyslexic children
 Children 10-13 yrs
 Nonword rhyme
judgment (LEAT, JETE)
Shaywitz et al., Biological Psychiatry, 2002
Dyslexia: biological unity across
alphabetic languages
 Dyslexic adults
 Italian, French, English
NI > DYS
Paulesu et al., Science, 2001
Dyslexic children: Phonological
intervention changes brain activity
 Children (8 yrs)
 105 hr of a costumed
phonological intervention
 1-year post intervention

brain activity shows a
more normal profile
Pre-intervention
1-yr post intervention
Shaywitz et al., Biological Psychiatry, 2004
Dyslexic adults: Phonological
intervention changes brain activity
 Adults
 112 hr of Lindamood-Bell intervention
 Post intervention
 Increased activity in LH regions seen in typical readers
 Compensatory activity in RH perisylvian regions
Eden et al., Neuron, 2004
What have we learned?
 Cognitive neuroscience
 Representation of knowledge that supports
typical and atypical reading
 A universal reading network, with important
language-specific modifications
 Brain plasticity in children and adults that have
persistent reading difficulties
Some final thoughts
 The importance of integrating information
across disciplines.
 Educational observations are a basis for future
neuroscience research.
 Neuroscience enables us to understand the
biological basis of cognition.
Part 3: Questions
 Developmental dyslexia
 Abnormal brain activity
 Effects of remediation on brain activity
 General questions
 Revisit brain-education divide
From neuroscience to educational
practice – a reasonable leap?
Poll:
After listening to this talk, what do you think:
today, can neuroscience make a practical
contribution to educational practice?
Thank You
 Web sites for further information on the braineducation debate:
 Learning sciences and brain research:
http://www.teach-the-brain.org
 Brain and Learning:
http://www.brainandlearning.eu
 International Mind, Brain, and Education Society:
http://www.imbes.org