Search Abstracts | Symposia | Slide Sessions | Poster Sessions
Scaffolding of Early Reading: Print Specialization and Speech Convergence in the Preliterate Brain (working title)
Poster Session D, Thursday, October 1, 4:30 - 6:30 pm, Wangari Maathai
This poster is part of the Sandbox Series.
Hanna Schneider1,2, Alexandra Schreiber1,2, Simon Rammersdorfer1, Narly Golestani3,4,5, Raphael Berthele6, Iliana I. Karipidis1,2, Silvia Brem1,2,7; 1Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy; University Hospital of Psychiatry, University of Zurich, Switzerland, 2Neuroscience Center Zurich, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, 3Faculty of Psychology and Education Science, Department of Psychology, University of Geneva, 4Faculty of Life Sciences, Department of Behavioural and Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, 5Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, 6Institute of Multilingualism, University of Fribourg, Switzerland, 7University Research Priority Program (URPP), Adaptive Brain Circuits in Development and Learning (AdaBD), University of Zurich
Early reading development relies on learning to map visual symbols onto speech sounds, requiring integration of orthographic and phonological representations (Blomert, 2011). This learning drives functional reorganization in the left ventral occipito-temporal cortex (lvOTC) (Brem et al., 2010; Dehaene & Cohen, 2011), where selective responses to letters and words gradually emerge, a process known as print specialization. Reading acquisition also promotes print–speech convergence, defined as overlapping neural responses to written and spoken language within shared cortical regions. This convergence is consistently observed in spoken-language areas, including the left posterior superior temporal (pSTG), middle temporal (MTG), and inferior frontal gyri (IFG), and is related to reading proficiency (Chyl et al., 2018; Preston et al., 2016; Wang et al., 2025). Recent evidence further shows that reading experience results in initially print-selective regions also becoming sensitive to speech input, with stronger print-speech convergence being associated with better reading skills (Dębska et al., 2026). At the start of reading comprehension, audiovisual language integration is likely modulated by environmental and cognitive factors. Home literacy environment (HLE) and shared-reading experiences have been linked to functional organization of the reading network (Horowitz-Kraus et al., 2026), while precursor reading skills (PRS) predict later reading success (Elbro et al., 1998). However, it remains unclear whether young children’s neural responses to print are facilitated by simultaneous speech, resembling naturalistic shared-reading situations in which written text is accompanied by spoken language. We will recruit ~100 typically developing kindergarten children before the start of formal reading instruction, varying in language background, HLE, and PRS. HLE will be assessed with a parent questionnaire, and PRS with behavioural tasks (e.g., letter knowledge, phonological awareness, and RAN). A novel, dynamic localizer fMRI-task will be implemented to probe print specialization and print–speech convergence across eight uni- and bimodal conditions along a continuum of print-likeness and audiovisual congruency: (1) written sentences with matching speech, (2) written sentences with mismatching speech, (3) false-font sentences with speech, (4) checkerboard strings with speech, (5) written sentences, (6) false-font sentences, (7) checkerboard strings, and (8) spoken sentences. Primary analyses will assess print specialization in visual and audiovisual conditions and its relation to HLE and PRS. Visual specialization will be indexed by written sentences versus false-font/checkerboard strings; audiovisual specialization by written sentences with speech versus false-font/checkerboard strings with speech. Print–speech convergence and audiovisual integration will be examined via matching vs. mismatching speech contrasts and overlapping responses across print and speech conditions within the developing reading network (lvOTC, pSTG, MTG, IFG). We hypothesize that children with stronger PRS and richer HLEs will show greater print specialization within lvOTC regions, both in unimodal visual conditions and, more strongly, in audiovisual conditions where speech may scaffold emerging print processing (Planton et al., 2019). We further expect that these children will exhibit stronger print–speech convergence within visual and spoken-language regions. Finally, sensitivity to audiovisual congruency is expected to emerge primarily in children with more advanced preliteracy skills, reflecting a more advanced integration of text and speech.
Topic Areas: Multisensory or Sensorimotor Integration, Reading