New Research: Dyslexia Gene and Auditory Processing [Premium]

New Research: Dyslexia Gene and Auditory Processing [Premium]

New research from the University of Texas – Dallas, connects dyslexia with impaired auditory processing. Dr. Michael Kilgard: “We now have evidence that strongly suggests that people with dyslexia don’t actually hear all of the sounds they need to hear,” said Kilgard, who is the Margaret Fonde Jonsson Professor in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences and the associate director of the Texas Biomedical Device Center. “If you have trouble hearing the sounds in your language, you will have trouble learning to read later,” he said. “Armed with this information about a genetic link, we may be able to determine who is at risk for reading problems before they have trouble — before they even start learning to read.” For those who try to keep up with […]

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Latest Research – Your Brain on Audiobooks [Premium]

Latest Research – Your Brain on Audiobooks [Premium]

 This is pretty cool research. When we listen to stories, we maybe transported to a different place and time, living in the heads of characters, and immersing ourselves in another world. What does that look like in our brains? We have a clearer answer now from brain researchers in the Netherlands, and besides seeing how different areas “light up” or don’t, it now appears that there are often strong individual preferences among individuals as to whether they are “mentalizers” or “sensory-motor” listeners. In this research paper, mentalizers were defined as those who preferentially active ‘Theory of Mind’ areas associated with thinking about other peoples’ thoughts and beliefs, whereas motor listeners were most reactive to action descriptions. From previous studies, researchers learned that if you read the work […]

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New Research: Brain Scans Predict Cognitive Performance [Premium]

New Research: Brain Scans Predict Cognitive Performance [Premium]

“This suggests that individual differences in many cognitive tasks are a stable trait marker.”   There’s a new Oxford research study circulating through scientific communities and around the world. From Science (Task-free MRI predicts individual differences in brain activity during task performance), Tavor and collegues applied machine-learning principles to test subjects in a “resting state” to see how they could predict their performances on various cognitive tasks. What was the result? They could predict subject’s responses in 46 out of 47 tasks (and maybe there’s a reason why the 47th one didn’t work…it involved more subcortical activity). Tasks included responses to mental math, sentence and story processing, but also higher order problem solving, social perception, and working memory. The data have a lot of ramifications in […]

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This is Your Brain on Words [Premium]

This is Your Brain on Words [Premium]

In breaking research from UC Berkeley, researchers have found a complicated filing system when it comes to how we process words that we hear. While listening to stories, individual words triggered tiny activation explosions all over the brain associated with word associations – “Words were grouped under various headings: visual, tactile, numeric, locational, abstract, temporal, professional, violent, communal, mental, emotional and social.” So a well-working human brain responding to stories functions more like a wall filled with stickie notes rather than a linear filing cabinet?  Which sounds more like the dyslexic way of wiring?  Check out the video explanation below. The finding certainly points out the fallacy of viewing language in simple right-brain-left brain terms, but it does support the complexity of language and the right-left […]

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This is Your Brain on Phonics – fMRI and Dyslexia [Premium Subscription]

This is Your Brain on Phonics – fMRI and Dyslexia [Premium Subscription]

One of the greatest neuromyths about dyslexia is that it’s just about reading. Kudos to the Gabrieli lab (and many others) who are unraveling the differences that exist between dyslexic and non-dyslexic children because the science can inform us about what we may need to do as teachers and tutors. In the following article, we’ll share recent brain research that shows that dyslexic children ‘hear’ or processing sounds differently. Instead of activating a left hemispheric area, they activate the right temporoparietal cortex, a part of the brain important for multisensory integration and imitation. ** To read more,  log into your Premium account or become a Premium Subscriber here or. Thank you for your support!

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The Wisdom of Pooh and Dyslexia

The Wisdom of Pooh and Dyslexia

“You are braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” – A.A. Milne Winnie the Pooh’s advice is smarter than we may think when it comes to encouraging young readers. What’s better than reading intervention and working memory training?  Reading intervention and working memory + education about intelligence. If students believe they are not intelligent or bad at school, that negative mindset is likely to sabotage even well-planned educational programs. Students who believe that they become more intelligent step-by-step by persistence and hard work, are significantly higher achieving in reading and working memory, but also math and science. Now researchers are discovering that some studies that didn’t discover significant improvements in working memory training may have been due to this […]

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How Harry Potter Taught Me to Read and Now I’m a Writer

How Harry Potter Taught Me to Read and Now I’m a Writer

“When I was 12 my older sister had recently discovered Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling. She started to read it to me once a day, however, the story was so gripping that once a day was just not enough for me. The exciting and alluring nature of Rowling’s writing drove me to pick up a book for the first time. I was amazed at how she was able to incorporate such complex themes and ideas into her books, but still write in a style that I could understand. It was challenging at first. I blundered my way through the pages, stumbling over words, often not understanding the meaning. But I was so desperate to find out what happened next that I forced myself to get […]

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The Truth About Multi-Tasking | Premium

The Truth About Multi-Tasking | Premium

Are you a good multi-tasker?  If you answered ‘yes’, scientists at Stanford might disagree with you. When students from Stanford participated in a multitasking experiment with color bars, those who multitasked with more media had more trouble ignoring irrelevant stimuli. Multi-Tasking Has Its Costs     From the report: “Heavy Media Multitaskers have greater difficulty filtering out irrelevant stimuli from their environment..and they are less effective in suppressing the activation of irrelevant task sets (task switching). Dyslexics as a group are more sensitive to visual and auditory distractions As a group, dyslexic people are more likely to be sensitive to distractions (both visual and auditory) which is why some students request and receive small group testing accommodations for high stakes tests.  To learn more about trouble […]

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