BRAIN-BASED INTERVENTION FOR READING COMPREHENSION DISORDER IN ADULTS
The ability to comprehend language is a fundamental tool in navigating the social world. To adequately comprehend written or spoken language, the brain must quickly and flexibly coordinate communication across brain networks; these interactions allow humans to build a coherent and adaptable internal representation of incoming information.
According to a 2020 Gallup poll sponsored through the US Department of Education, over 130 million US adults struggle with reading literacy, and over half of adults read below a 6th-grade level. Impaired reading ability is associated with academic truancy and dropout rates, unemployment, financial difficulties, and conduct disorder. Individuals with a reading disorder, such as dyslexia or poor comprehension, experience greater risks of decreased independence and quality of life.
How does the NELL produce reading comprehension interventions?
This study is establishing the efficacy of a novel, noninvasive stimulation protocol on reading behavior and brain metrics; then, determining how stimulation-induced effects interact with baseline reading comprehension ability; and lastly, identifying whether stimulation-induced effects are more clinically-beneficial than canonical behavioral interventions. Results may foundationally change how we treat low adult literacy, and have the potential for wider reaching impacts on non-invasive stimulation protocols for other clinical disorders.
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We are recruiting adults (ages 18-40) with both good and poor reading comprehension, who are native English speakers and right-handed. We are testing participants across 3 to 4 visits: a pre-intervention visit for baseline behavior/brain metrics; two stimulation visits with behavior/brain metrics, and a post-intervention visit to measure prolonged behavior/brain effects, with a potential for a third stimulation session to examine dose effects.
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Across visits, we use MRI/EEG analysis in order to track stimulation-induced brain changes at an unprecedented spatiotemporal resolution. Before stimulation, subjects receive a short reading comprehension intervention. Our stimulation method involves a novel technology called High-Definition transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (HD-tACS). Stimulation targets within-network reading and language network hubs (RLN-alone), within-network cognitive control network hubs (CCN-alone), cross-network hubs of cognitive control and reading/language network (CCN+RLN) or provides a placebo effect to these areas.​ Finally, we utilize neuropsychological measures of literacy, memory, and intelligence to establish reading abilities among participants.