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Identifying Distinct Activation Patterns of Visual and Auditory Language Processing Across Reading Abilities

Poster Session C - Sunday, March 8, 2026, 5:00 – 7:00 pm PDT, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballroom

Addison Cavender¹ (), Sarah Hughes-Berheim¹, Catie Chang¹, Dario Englot^1,2, Laurie Cutting¹; ¹Vanderbilt University, ²Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Introduction. The Simple View of Reading posits that successful reading comprehension depends on both visual word decoding and oral language comprehension. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies consistently identify a left-lateralized reading network, which often shows disrupted activation and connectivity in individuals with reading disabilities (RD). In addition to decoding difficulties, people with RD often exhibit deficits in oral language comprehension. Understanding how the brain distinguishes visual reading from auditory listening tasks in children with varying reading ability may reveal neural markers of these deficits. While many studies have examined differences in brain activation during visual and auditory tasks, few have used multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) to test whether distributed activity patterns, rather than overall activation strength, can differentiate these modalities in children with varying reading abilities. We used MVPA to identify voxel-wise patterns distinguishing visual and auditory language processing. Methods. Nine children (mean age=9.6 years, 33% female) with varying reading ability completed two visual reading and two auditory listening tasks during an fMRI. Trial-wise beta estimates were used to train classifiers to distinguish modalities using a whole-brain searchlight approach. Group-level significance was assessed using permutation-based cluster correction (t>2.3,p<0.05,family-wise-error). Results. Classification accuracy was significantly above chance in the left inferior parietal cortex (MNI: -60,-23,21) and occipital cortex (MNI: -6,-88,-3), indicating modality-specific patterns across visual and higher-level semantic regions. Conclusions. These findings highlight distinct neural representations for visual and auditory language processing across developing readers and identify candidate regions of interest for future analyses linking modality-specific brain patterns to reading ability.

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