Shared Reading Quality and Brain Activation during Story Listening in Preschool-Age Children

Abstract

Objective: To explore the relationship between maternal shared reading quality (verbal interactivity and engagement) and brain function during story listening in at-risk, preschool-age children, in the context of behavioral evidence and American Academy of Pediatrics, recommendations.

Study design: In this cross-sectional study, 22 healthy, 4-year-old girls from low socioeconomic status households completed functional magnetic resonance imaging using an established story listening task, followed by videotaped observation of uncoached mother-daughter reading of the same, age-appropriate picture book. Shared reading quality was independently scored applying dialogic reading and other evidence-based criteria reflecting interactivity and engagement, and applied as a predictor of neural activation during the functional magnetic resonance imaging task, controlling for income and maternal education.

Results: Shared reading quality scores were generally low and negatively correlated with maternal distraction by smartphones (P < .05). Scores were positively correlated with activation in left-sided brain areas supporting expressive and complex language, social-emotional integration, and working memory (P <.05, false discovery rate corrected).

Conclusions: Maternal shared reading quality is positively correlated with brain activation supporting complex language, executive function, and social-emotional processing in at-risk, preschool-age children. These findings represent novel neural biomarkers of how this modifiable aspect of home reading environment may influence foundational emergent literacy skills, reinforce behavioral evidence and American Academy of Pediatrics, recommendations, and underscore the potential of dialogic reading interventions to promote healthy brain development, especially in at-risk households.

Keywords: dialogic reading; early brain development; emergent literacy; functional MRI; home reading environment; language networks; parent-child engagement; shared reading; social-emotional processing; story listening.

Figure 1. Observed maternal reading quality scores

Histogram and density curve for observed maternal reading quality scores, including mean (dashed line) and standard deviation (SD). Mothers who did not read despite encouragement received a score of 0. Points were awarded for CROWD prompts, PEER expansions, opening/closing questions, spontaneous book sharing, proximity, child page turning and use of child-adjusted language.

Figure 2. Group mean activation map for the story listening task

Group mean BOLD fMRI activation map for our story listening task (stories>tones) in 4-year-old girls (n=22). All voxels significant at P < .05 (FDR corrected), slice thickness 5 mm for contiguous slices. Slices range from z=−28 to z=74 in MNI coordinate space. Color scale from t=1.25 (cooler) to 4 (hotter). Radiological orientation, left=right, right=left.

Figure 3. Regression map for the story listening task (stories>tones activation) applying maternal reading quality score as a predictor variable

Regression map for the story listening task (stories>tones; n=22), applying maternal reading quality score as the predictor variable. Total cluster size 1374 voxels (P < .05, FDR corrected), with center of gravity at (x=−41, y=12, z=−17; left temporal pole) in MNI coordinate space and z-score local maxima 3.11–4.24. Shown as 5 mm axial slices from z=−28 to z=74 in MNI coordinate space. Color scale t=1.25 (cooler) to 4 (hotter). Radiological orientation, left=right, right=left.

Figure 4. Tri-planar view of neural activation (stories>tones) for the story listening task applying maternal reading quality score as a predictor variable

Orthogonal tri-planar view (origin x=−44, y=18, z=−12, MNI coordinate space; left inferior frontal gyrus) of BOLD activation for the story listening task (stories>tones; n=22), applying maternal reading quality score as the predictor variable. Total cluster size 1374 voxels (P < .05, FDR corrected). Color scale t=1.25 (cooler) to 4 (hotter). Radiological orientation, left=right, right=left, sagittal plane viewed from the right.

Figure 5. Three-dimensional rendering of neural activation (stories>tones) for the story listening task applying maternal reading quality score as a predictor variable

Three-dimensional rendering of BOLD activation for the story listening task (stories>tones; n=22), applying maternal reading quality score as the predictor variable. Major areas of activation (p < 0.05, FDR corrected) include: A) inferior frontal gyrus (BA 44, 45; Broca’s Area), B) frontal pole (BA 10), C) anterior insula, and D) temporal pole (BA 38). Cutout is in the left hemisphere, with anterior=left, posterior=right. Color scale t=1.25 (cooler) to 4 (hotter).