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| Processing of speech in Chinese students with different reading abilities：an fMRI study |
| CHAN Yueung，WONG Muifong，FOK Taifai，FUNG Kwokpui，AU Agnes，KWAN Tingfai，TO Choyee |
| 1. The Chinese University of Hong Kong，Hong Kong，China；2. The University of Michigan，Ann Arbor，MI 48109，USA |
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Abstract While imaging studies with English-speaking children showed that reading achievement of children is associated with their brain profiles during speech perception tasks，little is known about the neurocognitive processing of normal Chinese students with different reading proficiencies. To study the neurocognitive processing on Chinese and the input of reading level on the process，seventeen six year old students with Chinese as their first language were recruited for the research study. These students were further assessed by a reading test to distinguish their Chinese reading ability. Those scored 2/3 deviation below the cultural mean score were classified as low-proficiency readers. Those scored between 2/3 below or above the mean score were classified as intermediate-proficiency readers. Those scored 2/3 standard deviation above the mean score were regarded as high-proficiency readers. During the experiment，12 pairs of Chinese syllables evenly distributed in three stimuli blocks were presented to the students acoustically and they had to judge whether each pair of syllables was the same in rhyme or not. Throughout the whole process the students’brain activation profiles were assessed by fMRI examination using the BOLD（blood oxygen level dependent）contrast method in a 1.5T MRI system. Result analysis was focused on the possible neurocognitive discrepancies between students of varying reading proficiency on phonological sensitivity.
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2013, Vol. 1 
