Presentation
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The Functional Connectivity Underpinning Reading and Writing Abilities in Chinese-English Bilingual Children
Poster D121 in Poster Session D, Wednesday, October 25, 4:45 - 6:30 pm CEST, Espace Vieux-Port
Zilin Bai1, Lihuan Zhang1,2, Yue Gao1, Xiangzhi Meng3, Li Liu1; 1Beijing Normal University, 2Jiangsu University, 3Peking University
Abstract: The universality and specificity of the neural basis underlying literacy skills in the first (L1) and second (L2) language, as well as the assimilation-accommodation hypothesis for L2 processing remains a hot question in the field of neurolinguistics. Previous studies have shown that L1 and L2 shared similar resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) in Chinese-English adults’ reading abilities. However, whether early bilingual children may recruit different neural mechanisms for L1 and L2 reading remains unclear. In addition, reading and writing are both developed based on written language, while RSFC neural mechanism for young Chinese-English bilingual children’s writing skills is also unknown. Sixty-three Chinese-English bilingual children from primary schools, who started learning to read both Chinese and English at approximately 6 years old were recruited for fMRI scanning and behavioral assessment. A battery of tests was administered to measure the participants’ reading and writing abilities in Chinese and English, as well as reading and writing-related cognitive abilities (phonological awareness, visual-motor integration, and visual-spatial skills) and non-verbal intelligence. RSFC analysis was performed based on twelve regions of interest, from meta-analyses which focused on children’s reading networks regardless of the language types and Chinese typical reading networks. Our conjunction analysis found that both Chinese and English reading skills were positively correlated with RSFC among the phonological processing regions (e.g., L.STG to L.IFGop, L.Putamen), between phonological and visual regions (e.g., L.Insula-L.Calcarine). Furthermore, some common RSFCs for L1 and L2 reading were positively correlated with visual-motor integration and phonological awareness. Our contrast analysis found that Chinese reading was uniquely supported by RSFC of R.IOG-L.SMG, which was positively correlated with visual-spatial processing and visual-motor integration. However, no unique RSFC for English reading was found. With regards to writing, the common RSFCs supported Chinese and English writing were between phonological and visual regions (e.g., L.Insula-R.Lingual), between central and peripheral processes of handwriting and visual regions (e.g., L.medial FrG-L.Calcarine), orthographic representation regions (L.FG-R.MFG). Our contrast analysis found that Chinese writing was uniquely supported by RSFC of phonological processing and motor execution involved in handwriting (e.g., L.STG-L.IPL). In contrast, English writing was uniquely supported by RSFC of L.IOG-R.MTG, which was positively correlated with English phonological awareness. Taken together, our results suggest that universal neural mechanisms existed for reading and writing across languages in Chinese-English bilingual children at the critical phase of literacy skills development. Furthermore, children could form unique neural recruits only for Chinese reading but not English reading, which may indicate assimilation or less proficiency in L2 reading. Whereas writing across different writing systems both recruits unique neural resources, which may indicate accommodation. Additionally, it highlights the vital role of meta-linguistic and general cognitive skills supporting reading- and writing-correlated RSFC across language. Key words: Chinese-English bilingual children, RSFC, reading skill, writing skill, cognitive skills
Topic Areas: Reading, Writing and Spelling