Despite mounting evidence that suggests dyslexia has biological roots, many studies show its prevalence differs from one country to the next. The number of dyslexic 10 year-olds in Italy, for example, was recently found to be half that in the U.S. So Eraldo Paulesu of the University of Milan Bicocca and colleagues devised a clever experiment to test whether different languages¿or different neurological problems¿were to blame. In today's issue of Science, they report that dyslexia in fact appears to have a common neurological cause across borders, but that complexities in certain languages can make the problem worse.
The researchers tested dyslexics who spoke English, French and Italian. Unlike Italian, the first two languages have what is called irregular orthography: the same combinations of letters don't always sound the same. (Consider the pronunciation of mint and pint, cough and bough, or clove and love.) The researchers took positron emission tomography (PET) scans of the subjects' brain activity while they took both reading tests and word sound tests. They discovered that whereas the Italian subjects did better on reading tests, they did as poorly as the English and French dyslexics on the word sound tests. All three groups showed the same reduced activation of the left temporal lobe while reading.
The results reinforce the theory that dyslexia arises from some sort of deficit in processing language sounds. "This research proves the existence of a universal neurological basis for dyslexia," says senior author Uta Firth from the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London. "It also highlights the impact that the complexity of orthography can have on reading proficiency of dyslexics and therefore on the severity of the disease and the ease of diagnosis. This means that in the Italian population there may be hidden cases of dyslexia. On the other hand, otherwise mild cases of dyslexia may appear far worse in irregular orthographies like that of English or French."
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Add Comment"The results reinforce the theory that dyslexia arises from some sort of deficit in processing language sounds. "
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI am a huge Scientific American fan, but when it comes to this article I feel obligated to argue this statement. I am a college student with dyslexia, however, i do not agree that dyslexic students have problems with sound. I for one play the guitar, i have never had a lesson in my life. I simply play by ear and also by watching. It takes me about 10min to learn a new song. Also I scored in the top 10 percentile for recognizing words and sounds when i was tested.
I really would like to see more information on dyslexia and the studies that suggest the cause of it. But I do think that sound recognition is the part of the problem.
How many different types of dyslexia are there, and how do they measure the depth of the condition.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI am 68 and when I was a child my mother insisted that I would learn to play the piano. After two years I was still in the first book. I could never make both hands play at the same time. Strange that I type at 55 words a minute with no problem. I can not carry a tune in a bucket. I am poor at all things that require coordination. Can not spell!
I am very strong at working puzzles, finding my way around, and anything to do with maps. I am an introvert, and can go happily for weeks without human contact.
What is and is not known about dyslexics - the people?
This article talks about language sounds, not musical sounds. The 2 things are very different. The right hemisphere if the brain does not process language sounds. In the US in particular, children are taught to recognise words by sight not by phonics and this could be why the Us has higher Dyslexia rates than other countries.
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