Kerry, SJ;
Aguilar, OM;
Penny, W;
Crinion, JT;
Leff, AP;
Woodhead, ZVJ;
(2019)
How Does iReadMore Therapy Change the Reading Network of Patients with Central Alexia?
The Journal of Neuroscience
, 39
(29)
pp. 5719-5727.
10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1426-18.2019.
Preview |
Text
Crinion Crinion_How does iReadMore therapy change the reading network of patients with central alexia_AAM.pdf - Accepted Version Download (1MB) | Preview |
Abstract
Central alexia (CA) is an acquired reading disorder co-occurring with a generalised language deficit (aphasia). The roles of perilesional and ipsilesional tissue in recovery from post-stroke aphasia are unclear. We investigated the impact of reading training (using iReadMore, a therapy app) on the connections within and between the right and left hemisphere of the reading network of patients with CA. In patients with pure alexia, iReadMore increased feedback from left inferior frontal region (IFG) to the left occipital (OCC) region. We aimed to identify if iReadMore therapy was effective through a similar mechanism in CA patients. Participants with chronic post-stroke CA (n=23) completed 35 hours of iReadMore training over four weeks. Reading accuracy for trained and untrained words was assessed before and after therapy. The neural response to reading trained and untrained words in the left and right OCC, ventral occipitotemporal (vOT) and IFG was examined using event-related magnetoencephalography. The training-related modulation in effective connectivity between regions was modelled at the group level with Dynamic Causal Modelling. iReadMore training improved participants' reading accuracy by an average of 8.4% (range: -2.77 to 31.66) while accuracy for untrained words was stable. Training increased regional sensitivity in bilateral frontal and occipital regions, and strengthened feedforward connections within the left hemisphere. Our data suggests that iReadMore training in these patients modulates lower-order visual representations, as opposed to higher-order, more abstract ones, in order to improve word reading accuracy.
Archive Staff Only
 |
View Item |
