Longer Fixation Times During Reading Are Correlated With Decreased Connectivity in Cognitive-Control Brain Regions During Rest in Children

Abstract

Dyslexia, or reading difficulty (RD), is characterized by slow, inaccurate reading and accompanied by deficit in executive functions (EF) and altered functional connectivity (FC) in the related networks (i.e., cingulo-opercular). Individuals with RD also present with altered oculomotor gaze patterns that include longer fixation times. The researchers examined the relationship between fixation times and FC of neural circuits related to EF during rest in children with RD and typical readers. Nineteen children participated in a 10-min resting-state scan. FC analysis was performed with the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), related to cognitive control, chosen as a seed. Fixation time during word reading was used as a covariate of interest. Results demonstrated that FC between the ACC and the left inferior frontal cortex pars triangularis and left inferior prefrontal cortex during rest were negatively correlated with fixation times during word reading. These exploratory results support the critical role for the cingulo-opercular network, which is related to cognitive control, in the reading process, and likely also in reading impairment.

Fig. 1.

Correlation coefficient matrices for decreased functional connectivity in children with reading difficulty (RD). (a) The anterior cingulate cortex (BA24) (in green) is negatively correlated with the left inferior frontal gyrus (BA45, in blue), presented in sagittal axis. Connectivity strength is reflected in the line thickness. (b) Anterior cingulate cortex (black circle) and regions related to cognitive control (left inferior frontal gyrus) (blue circle) and longer fixation time during reading in children with RDs (n = 10), p < .005, uncorrected. Figures are presented in an axial display. (c) Effect size of the functional connectivity analysis (effect size is noted in the y-axis).

Fig. 2.

Correlation coefficient matrices for decreased functional connectivity in typical readers. (a) The anterior cingulate cortex (BA24) (in green) is negatively correlated with the left superior temporal gyrus (BA 22) and left posterior entorhinal cortex (BA 28), both in blue, presented in sagittal axis. Connectivity strength is reflected in the line thickness. (b) Anterior cingulate cortex (black circle) and regions related to language processing (left superior temporal gyrus) and cognitive control (left posterior entorhinal cortex) (blue circles) and longer fixation time during reading in typical readers (n = 9), p < .005, uncorrected. Figures are presented in an axial display. (c) Effect size of the functional connectivity analysis (effect size is noted in the y-axis).

Fig. 3.

Correlation coefficient matrices for decreased functional connectivity in both groups. (a) The anterior cingulate cortex (BA24) (in green) and the left inferior frontal gyrus (BA45) and the inferior prefrontal cortex (BA 47), both in blue, presented in sagittal axis. Connectivity strength is reflected in the line thickness. (b) Anterior cingulate cortex (black circle) and regions related to cognitive control (left inferior frontal gyrus and inferior prefrontal cortex) (blue circles) and longer fixation time during reading in the entire study sample (n = 19), p < .005, uncorrected. Figures are presented in an axial display. (c) Effect size of the functional connectivity analysis (effect size is noted in the y-axis).