Characteristics of semantic and orthographic processing in school-age children with different reading abilities: an event-related potential study
10.3760/cma.j.cn371468-20250609-00264
- VernacularTitle:不同阅读能力学龄儿童语义及正字法加工特征的事件相关电位研究
- Author:
Yunmeng XU
1
;
Qinfen ZHANG
1
Author Information
1. 南通大学附属常州儿童医院儿童健康研究中心，常州 213003
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
Developmental dyslexia;
School-age children;
Event-related potential;
Semantics;
Orthography
- From:
Chinese Journal of Behavioral Medicine and Brain Science
2025;34(11):983-989
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Objective:To investigate the characteristics of semantic and orthographic processing in school-age children with different reading abilities using event-related potential (ERP).Methods:Children aged 7-11 years old were recruited from the Learning Difficulties Clinic of Changzhou Children's Hospital Affiliated to Nantong University and local elementary schools from September 2022 to December 2024. All the participants were divided into three groups: developmental dyslexia (DD) group ( n=28), DD-risk group ( n=21), and normal control (NC) group ( n=30). All subjects completed ERP tasks including Chinese character semantic priming and pseudo-character judgment tasks. The P200 and N400 amplitudes as well as behavioral indicators were recorded. Data were analyzed using repeated-measures ANOVA by SPSS 27.0 software. Results:(1) P200 amplitude comparison: a significant interaction effect of task condition × electrode location × group was observed ( F(4, 152)=3.243, P=0.014, ηp2=0.079). Specifically, during the pseudo-character judgment task, the amplitude in the left frontal-central brain region was significantly higher than that in the right frontal-central brain region in the NC group ( P=0.003). In the semantic-related and semantic-unrelated tasks, the amplitudes of the DD group and DD-risk group were significantly higher than those of the NC group (all P<0.05). In the left frontal-central brain region, no significant difference in amplitude was found among the three groups in the pseudo-character task. In the right frontal-central brain region, the amplitude of the DD group and DD-risk group were still significantly higher than that of the NC group in the pseudo-character task (both P<0.05). (2) N400 amplitude comparison: the interaction effect of task condition × electrode location × group( F(4, 152)=2.237, P=0.068, ηp2=0.056), task condition × group( F(4, 152)=0.778, P=0.541, ηp2=0.020), electrode location × group( F(2, 76)=2.178, P=0.120, ηp2=0.054), task condition × electrode location( F(2, 152)=2.751, P=0.067, ηp2=0.035)were not significant.The main effect of group was significant ( F(2, 76)=10.346, P<0.001, ηp2=0.214). The amplitudes in the DD group and DD-risk group were significantly lower than that in the NC group ( P<0.05). The main effect of task condition was also significant ( F(2, 152)=53.710, P<0.01, ηp2=0.414). The amplitudes followed the order: pseudo-character judgment > semantically unrelated > semantically related (all P<0.05). The main effect of electrode location was significant ( F(1, 76)=4.511, P=0.037, ηp2=0.056). The amplitudes in the left frontal-central brain region((-2.54±0.33)μV) were significantly higher than those in the right frontal-central brain region((-1.94±0.30)μV) across all three groups( P<0.05). (3) Accuracy comparison: a significant interaction effect of task condition × group was observed ( F(4, 152)=10.260, P<0.01, ηp2=0.213). Specifically, for semantically related and unrelated tasks, accuracies in the DD group and DD-risk group were significantly lower than those in the NC group (all P<0.05), with no significant difference between the DD group and DD-risk group ( P>0.05). During the pseudo-character judgment task, no significant difference in accuracy was found among the three groups ( P>0.05). (4)Reaction time comparison: the interaction effect of task condition × group was not significant( F(2, 76)=2.896, P=0.063, ηp2=0.083). The main effect of group was significant ( F(2, 76)=11.181, P<0.01, ηp2=0.259). The reaction time in the DD-risk group was significantly longer than those in the DD group and NC group (both P<0.05). Conclusion:Chinese children with DD exhibit deficits in both semantic and orthographic processing: enhanced P200 amplitudes (reflecting insufficient attentional allocation and/or inefficient orthographic processing), preserved yet diminished N400 effects (indicating impaired semantic integration while automatic semantic priming remains intact). Children at risk for DD show similar neural profiles, suggesting that semantic and orthographic processing abnormalities may represent stable neurobiological markers of reading disorder development.
