Visual motion and decision-making in dyslexia: reduced accumulation of sensory evidence and related neural dynamics

Manning, C. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6862-2525, Hassall, C. D., Hunt, L. T., Norcia, A. M., Wagenmakers, E.-J., Snowling, M. J., Scerif, G. and Evans, N. J. (2022) Visual motion and decision-making in dyslexia: reduced accumulation of sensory evidence and related neural dynamics. Journal of Neuroscience, 42 (1). pp. 121-134. ISSN 1529-2401 doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1232-21.2021

Abstract/Summary

Children with and without dyslexia differ in their behavioural responses to visual information, particularly when required to pool dynamic signals over space and time. Importantly, multiple processes contribute to behavioural responses. Here we investigated which processing stages are affected in children with dyslexia when performing visual motion processing tasks, by combining two methods that are sensitive to the dynamic processes leading to responses. We used a diffusion model which decomposes response time and accuracy into distinct cognitive constructs, and high-density EEG. 50 children with dyslexia (24 male) and 50 typically developing children (28 male) aged 6 to 14 years judged the direction of motion as quickly and accurately as possible in two global motion tasks (motion coherence and direction integration), which varied in their requirements for noise exclusion. Following our pre-registered analyses, we fitted hierarchical Bayesian diffusion models to the data, blinded to group membership. Unblinding revealed reduced evidence accumulation in children with dyslexia compared to typical children for both tasks. Additionally, we identified a response-locked EEG component which was maximal over centro-parietal electrodes which indicated a neural correlate of reduced drift-rate in dyslexia in the motion coherence task, thereby linking brain and behaviour. We suggest that children with dyslexia tend to be slower to extract sensory evidence from global motion displays, regardless of whether noise exclusion is required, thus furthering our understanding of atypical perceptual decision-making processes in dyslexia.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/100522
Identification Number/DOI	10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1232-21.2021
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Interdisciplinary Research Centres (IDRCs) > Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics (CINN) Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Department of Psychology Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Development Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Neuroscience Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Perception and Action
Publisher	The Society for Neuroscience
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