The behavioral and neurobiological relationships between executive function and reading: A review and preliminary findings

Abstract

Despite decades of prior research, the mechanisms for how skilled reading develops remain elusive. Numerous studies have identified word recognition and oral language ability as key components to explain later reading comprehension performance. However, these components alone do not fully explain differences in reading achievement. There is ongoing work exploring other candidate processes important for reading, such as the domain-general cognitive ability of executive function (EF). Here, we summarize our work on the behavioral and neurobiological connections between EF and reading and present preliminary neuroimaging findings from ongoing work. Together, these studies suggest 1) that EF plays a supportive and perhaps indirect role in reading achievement and 2) that EF-related brain regions interface with the reading and language networks. While further work is needed to dissect the specifics of how EF interacts with reading, these studies begin to reveal the complex role that EF plays in reading development.

Keywords: cognition; executive function; functional neuroimaging; learning disabilities; reading.

Figure 1.. Reading and language network activity for Reading > Fixation.

The GLM of letters, letter combinations, and words compared to the fixation baseline revealed activity in reading and language brain regions including left IFG, SMA, bilateral IPLs, and bilateral OTCs. Results are displayed at p-corrected < .05 (p-uncorrected < .001, k > 485).

Figure 2.. Increased left MFG and right dlPFC activity is associated with better behavioral EF performance.

a) The flanker covariate GLM analysis of Reading > Fixation revealed increased activity in the left MFG and right dlPFC. Results are displayed at p-corrected < .05 (p-uncorrected < .001, k > 225). b) & c) Correlations between flanker task performance and peak activations within the left MFG (Figure 2b; r₂₂ = 0.56) and right dlPFC (Figure 2c; r₂₂ = 0.46).

Figure 3.. Functional connectivity between right dlPFC and left ventral OTC.

Functional connectivity analysis from the flanker covariate analysis right dlPFC seed (left, in red) revealed positive connectivity between the left ventral OTC (right, in blue) for Reading > Fixation. Results are significant at the whole-brain level, cluster p-FDR corrected < .05 and voxel p-uncorrected < .005.

Figure 4.. Functional connectivity predicts growth in reading ability.

Functional connectivity between right dlPFC and left vOTC during in-scanner reading was significantly associated with children’s growth in PC ability from Visit 1 to Visit 2 (r₂₂ = .43).