Print-Speech Convergence Predicts Future Reading Outcomes in Early Readers
作者用功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）追踪初学阅读的儿童，发现大脑中处理印刷文字和口语的区域（阅读网络）的激活重叠程度（即印刷-语音共激活）能预测两年后的阅读成绩，且这种预测能力超过了单独看印刷或语音激活的效果。即使控制了初始阅读水平，共激活仍能解释后续阅读表现的差异。具体而言，左侧额下回（IFG）的共激活越强，阅读成绩越好；而右侧IFG的共激活越强，成绩反而越差。这表明印刷和语音信息的整合是儿童建立高效阅读回路的关键。
Becoming a skilled reader requires building a functional neurocircuitry for printed-language processing that integrates with spoken-language-processing networks. In this longitudinal study, functional MRI (fMRI) was used to examine convergent activation for printed and spoken language (print-speech coactivation) in selected regions implicated in printed-language processing (the reading network). We found that print-speech coactivation across the left-hemisphere reading network in beginning readers predicted reading achievement 2 years later beyond the effects of brain activity for either modality alone; moreover, coactivation effects accounted for variance in later reading after controlling for initial reading performance. Within the reading network, effects of coactivation were significant in bilateral inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and left inferior parietal cortex and fusiform gyrus. The contribution of left and right IFG differed, with more coactivation in left IFG predicting better achievement but more coactivation in right IFG predicting poorer achievement. Findings point to the centrality of print-speech convergence in building an efficient reading circuitry in children.