Role of Sex in Shaping Brain Network Organization During Reading in Developmental Dyslexia
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 15714751 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Tihomir Taskov (0009-0009-8432-2659, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences), Juliana Dushanova (0000-0002-0253-6568, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 207-207 |
| Publication date | 2025-02-10 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Children (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2227-9067 • E-ISSN: 2227-9067 |
| Publisher | Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (PUBLISHER • CH) |
| DOI | 10.3390/children12020207 |
| PMID | 40003309 |
| OpenAlex | W4407297080 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 58 |
Background/Methods: The influence of sex on brain organization was investigated in functional reading networks in 8-year-old children, in those typically developing and those with developmental dyslexia (DD), utilizing the minimum spanning tree model. Results: The word reading task revealed subtle sex differences in brain connectivity and highlighted even small individual variations in functional connectivity characteristics, particularly among boys with DD. In girls, significantly stronger connections and core hubs were identified within and between motor, parietal, and visual networks in posterior brain regions in both hemispheres, particularly in the θ (dyslexics) and δ (normolexics) frequency bands. In contrast, boys showed a more diffuse connectivity pattern, predominantly in the left hemisphere, encompassing anterior heteromodal and sensorimotor networks. Girls exhibited greater network complexity (bigger leaf fraction, kappa, and tree hierarchy), particularly in the θ and δ frequency bands, while boys with DD showed increased network efficiency, except for in the γ2 band (smaller diameter and bigger leaf fraction). Therefore, gender-specific differences in brain network organization may affect reading development and dyslexia. While sex may influence brain network development, its impact on the sensorimotor and frontoparietal networks of 8-year-old children is relatively limited. Significant sex differences were observed in only a small subset of children, primarily in higher (β2-γ2) frequency bands. Conclusions: Interindividual variations were evident only in boys with DD, impacting both sensorimotor and association networks. Different rates of cortical network maturation between sexes with DD during childhood may contribute to variations associated with disruptions in brain network development, even within fundamental networks like the sensorimotor network
Association (psychology · Audiology · Cognitive psychology · Developmental dyslexia · Developmental psychology · Dyslexia · Lateralization of brain function · Reading (process · Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder · EEG and Brain-Computer Interfaces · Functional Brain Connectivity Studies · Medicine · Neuroscience · Psychology
The unique role of the visual word form area in reading
Phonological recoding and self-teaching
Nonparametric statistical testing of EEG- and MEG-data
Complex network measures of brain connectivity
Ending the Reading Wars
Complex brain networks
Illiterate to literate
Predictors of developmental dyslexia in European orthographies with varying complexity
A Classification of Hand Preference by Association Analysis
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |