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Altered temporal profile of visual–auditory multisensory interactions in dyslexia

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Abstract

Recent studies have demonstrated that dyslexia is associated with deficits in the temporal encoding of sensory information. While most previous studies have focused on information processing within a single sensory modality, it is clear that the deficits seen in dyslexia span multiple sensory systems. Surprisingly, although the development of linguistic proficiency involves the rapid and accurate integration of auditory and visual cues, the capacity of dyslexic individuals to integrate information between the different senses has not been systematically examined. To test this, we studied the effects of task-irrelevant auditory information on the performance of a visual temporal-order-judgment (TOJ) task. Dyslexic subjects’ performance differed significantly from that of control subjects, specifically in that they integrated the auditory and visual information over longer temporal intervals. Such a result suggests an extended temporal “window” for binding visual and auditory cues in dyslexic individuals. The potential deleterious effects of this finding for rapid multisensory processes such as reading are discussed.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Debbie Hill for her assistance in arranging subjects, and Dr. Paul Laurienti for his helpful discussion. Funding for this study was provided in part by NIH DC 00057, HD21887, and MH63861.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Wake Forest University Health Sciences, Winston-Salem, NC, 27157, USA

    W. David Hairston & Mark T. Wallace

  2. Department of Radiology, Wake Forest University Health Sciences, Winston-Salem, NC, 27157, USA

    Jonathan H. Burdette

  3. Department of Neurology, Section of Neuropsychology, Wake Forest University Health Sciences, Winston-Salem, NC, USA

    D. Lynn Flowers & Frank B. Wood

Authors
  1. W. David Hairston
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  2. Jonathan H. Burdette
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  3. D. Lynn Flowers
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  4. Frank B. Wood
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  5. Mark T. Wallace
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Correspondence to W. David Hairston.

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Hairston, W.D., Burdette, J.H., Flowers, D.L. et al. Altered temporal profile of visual–auditory multisensory interactions in dyslexia. Exp Brain Res 166, 474–480 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-005-2387-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-005-2387-6

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