1. Developmental Biology

A universal reading network and its modulation by writing system and reading ability in French and Chinese children

  1. Xiaoxia Feng  Is a corresponding author
  2. Irene Altarelli
  3. Karla Monzalvo
  4. Guosheng Ding
  5. Franck Ramus
  6. Hua Shu
  7. Stanislas Dehaene
  8. Xiangzhi Meng  Is a corresponding author
  9. Ghislaine Dehaene-Lambertz  Is a corresponding author
  1. INSERM-CEA Cognitive Neuroimage Unit, France
  2. Beijing Normal University, China
  3. Ecole Normale Supérieure, PSL Research University, France
  4. INSERM, France
  5. Peking University, China
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.54591
Share this article
Cite this article
  1. Xiaoxia Feng
  2. Irene Altarelli
  3. Karla Monzalvo
  4. Guosheng Ding
  5. Franck Ramus
  6. Hua Shu
  7. Stanislas Dehaene
  8. Xiangzhi Meng
  9. Ghislaine Dehaene-Lambertz
(2020)
A universal reading network and its modulation by writing system and reading ability in French and Chinese children
eLife 9:e54591.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.54591
  2. Download BibTeX
  3. Download .RIS

Abstract

Are the brain mechanisms of reading acquisition similar across writing systems? And do similar brain anomalies underlie reading difficulties in alphabetic and ideographic reading systems? In a cross-cultural paradigm, we measured the fMRI responses to words, faces and houses in 96 Chinese and French 10-year-old children, half of whom were struggling with reading. We observed a reading circuit which was strikingly similar across languages and consisting of the left fusiform gyrus, superior temporal gyrus/sulcus, precentral and middle frontal gyri. Activations in some of these areas were modulated either by language or by reading ability, but without interaction between those factors. In various regions previously associated with dyslexia, reading difficulty affected activation similarly in Chinese and French readers, including the middle frontal gyrus, a region previously described as specifically altered in Chinese. Our analyses reveal a large degree of cross-cultural invariance in the neural correlates of reading acquisition and reading impairment.

Data availability

The processed data to generate figures in this manuscript will be shared in the Open Science Framework (Identifier: DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/C4AXG).

The following data sets were generated

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Xiaoxia Feng

    Neurospin, INSERM-CEA Cognitive Neuroimage Unit, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
    For correspondence
    xiaoxia.feng@cea.fr
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-0414-4509

  2. Irene Altarelli

    Neurospin, INSERM-CEA Cognitive Neuroimage Unit, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  3. Karla Monzalvo

    Neurospin, INSERM-CEA Cognitive Neuroimage Unit, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  4. Guosheng Ding

    State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  5. Franck Ramus

    Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Psycholinguistique (ENS, CNRS, EHESS), Ecole Normale Supérieure, PSL Research University, Paris, France
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  6. Hua Shu

    State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  7. Stanislas Dehaene

    Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit, CEA DRF/JOLIOT, INSERM, Université Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, NeuroSpin center, INSERM, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  8. Xiangzhi Meng

    School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
    For correspondence
    mengxzh@pku.edu.cn
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  9. Ghislaine Dehaene-Lambertz

    Neurospin, INSERM-CEA Cognitive Neuroimage Unit, GIF/YVETTE, France
    For correspondence
    ghislaine.deahene@cea.fr
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China (81171016,81371206,31971039)

  • Xiangzhi Meng

Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR-06-NEURO-019-01,ANR-11-BSV4-014-01,ANR-17-EURE-0017 and ANR-10-IDEX-0001-02 PSL)

  • Franck Ramus

Fondation Bettencourt Schueller

  • Stanislas Dehaene

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Ethics

Human subjects: The study was approved by Institutional Review Boards at Beijing Normal University in China and local ethics committee (CPP Ile de France VII, N˚ 11-008) in Kremlin-Bicêtre, France (#20130331). Written consent and consent to publish was obtained from all children and their parents.

Reviewing Editor

  1. Andrea E Martin, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Netherlands

Publication history

  1. Received: December 19, 2019
  2. Accepted: October 26, 2020
  3. Accepted Manuscript published: October 29, 2020 (version 1)
  4. Version of Record published: November 16, 2020 (version 2)

Copyright

© 2020, Feng et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

Metrics

  • 1,995
    Page views
  • 343
    Downloads
  • 12
    Citations

Article citation count generated by polling the highest count across the following sources: Crossref, PubMed Central, Scopus.

Download links

A two-part list of links to download the article, or parts of the article, in various formats.

Downloads (link to download the article as PDF)

Open citations (links to open the citations from this article in various online reference manager services)

Cite this article (links to download the citations from this article in formats compatible with various reference manager tools)

  1. Xiaoxia Feng
  2. Irene Altarelli
  3. Karla Monzalvo
  4. Guosheng Ding
  5. Franck Ramus
  6. Hua Shu
  7. Stanislas Dehaene
  8. Xiangzhi Meng
  9. Ghislaine Dehaene-Lambertz
(2020)
A universal reading network and its modulation by writing system and reading ability in French and Chinese children
eLife 9:e54591.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.54591

Categories and tags

Research organism

Further reading

    1. Developmental Biology

    Species-specific sensitivity to TGFβ signaling and changes to the Mmp13 promoter underlie avian jaw development and evolution

    Spenser S Smith et al.
    Research Article Updated

    Precise developmental control of jaw length is critical for survival, but underlying molecular mechanisms remain poorly understood. The jaw skeleton arises from neural crest mesenchyme (NCM), and we previously demonstrated that these progenitor cells express more bone-resorbing enzymes including Matrix metalloproteinase 13 (Mmp13) when they generate shorter jaws in quail embryos versus longer jaws in duck. Moreover, if we inhibit bone resorption or Mmp13, we can increase jaw length. In the current study, we uncover mechanisms establishing species-specific levels of Mmp13 and bone resorption. Quail show greater activation of and sensitivity to transforming growth factor beta (TGFβ) signaling than duck; where intracellular mediators like SMADs and targets like Runt-related transcription factor 2 (Runx2), which bind Mmp13, become elevated. Inhibiting TGFβ signaling decreases bone resorption, and overexpressing Mmp13 in NCM shortens the duck lower jaw. To elucidate the basis for this differential regulation, we examine the Mmp13 promoter. We discover a SMAD-binding element and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) near a RUNX2-binding element that distinguish quail from duck. Altering the SMAD site and switching the SNPs abolish TGFβ sensitivity in the quail Mmp13 promoter but make the duck promoter responsive. Thus, differential regulation of TGFβ signaling and Mmp13 promoter structure underlie avian jaw development and evolution.

    1. Developmental Biology

    Gut Development: A squash and a squeeze

    Danelle Devenport
    Insight

    Advanced imaging techniques reveal details of the interactions between the two layers of the embryonic midgut that influence its ultimate shape.

    1. Developmental Biology
    2. Evolutionary Biology

    Gene expression phylogenies and ancestral transcriptome reconstruction resolves major transitions in the origins of pregnancy

    Katelyn Mika et al.
    Research Advance

    Structural and physiological changes in the female reproductive system underlie the origins of pregnancy in multiple vertebrate lineages. In mammals, the glandular portion of the lower reproductive tract has transformed into a structure specialized for supporting fetal development. These specializations range from relatively simple maternal nutrient provisioning in egg-laying monotremes to an elaborate suite of traits that support intimate maternal-fetal interactions in Eutherians. Among these traits are the maternal decidua and fetal component of the placenta, but there is considerable uncertainty about how these structures evolved. Previously we showed that changes in uterine gene expression contributes to several evolutionary innovations during the origins of pregnancy (Marinic, Mika, and Lynch 2021). Here we reconstruct the evolution of entire transcriptomes ('ancestral transcriptome reconstruction') and show that maternal gene expression profiles are correlated with degree of placental invasion. These results indicate that an epitheliochorial-like placenta evolved early in the mammalian stem-lineage and that the ancestor of Eutherians had a hemochorial placenta, and suggest maternal control of placental invasiveness. These data resolve major transitions in the evolution of pregnancy and indicate that ancestral transcriptome reconstruction can be used to study the function of ancestral cell, tissue, and organ systems.