Abstract:
Objective: This study examined neural circuits involved in future reading (attention, EF, language processing, and visualization) when children listened to stories narrated by a parent versus a stranger. We aimed to assess how attention, EF, and sensory systems were engaged during parental story-listening, and their relation to joint reading quality and future reading readiness.
Methods: Twenty-six Hebrew-speaking children ages 5.0-7.11 and their parents participated. We evaluated pre-literacy skills, cognitive abilities, and home literacy environment. Parents completed questionnaires about their and their child's cognitive control and language skills. Functional MRI data captured brain activity while children listened to stories narrated by their parent and a stranger. We analyzed functional connectivity in networks associated with attention, EF, language, and visualization, correlating these with behavioral measures of pre-literacy skills and HLE.
Results: Narrative comprehension scores were unaffected based on storyteller. However, children showed increased functional connectivity in sensory and EF-attention networks when listening to a parent, correlating with better language skills. Number of books within the household correlated positively with FC of EF, attention, auditory, and visualization networks with the parent storyteller, while more hours read weekly correlated negatively with EF and auditory networks.
Conclusions: Greater exposure to books and quality time reading together with a parent foster engagement in EF and language processing, highlighting quality parental storytelling's role in developing future reading-related networks.
Bio:
Liana has a background in neuroscience studies and neuro and psychology research, as well as a nursing degree specializing in Neonatal (Pagia) care. She was excited to make Aliyah to Israel and be a part of cutting-edge research studying neurodevelopment and family-centered approaches to healthy brain and literacy development. Fun fact: Liana is also a potter (ceramics on the wheel (ovnaim)).
