TY - JOUR
T1 - Selective deficits of vibrotactile sensitivity in dyslexic readers
AU - Stoodley, Catherine J.
AU - Talcott, Joel B.
AU - Carter, Eleanor L.
AU - Witton, Caroline
AU - Stein, John F.
PY - 2000/12/1
Y1 - 2000/12/1
N2 - Developmental dyslexia is a disability of literacy skill that has also been associated with sensory processing deficits, primarily for the detection of dynamic auditory and visual stimuli. Here we examined whether analogous deficits extend into the domain of somatosensory perception. Detection thresholds for each of three frequencies of vibration were obtained for 11 readers with a prior history of dyslexia and 14 similarly aged adult controls. The poor readers were significantly less sensitive to vibration at 3 Hz (P<0.01) but not at either 30 or 100 Hz. Detection of each of these three vibration rates is mediated primarily by a separate somatosensory fiber tract; deficits selective to 3 Hz therefore suggest an impairment within the slow-adapting I (SAI) fiber system beginning with Merkel-cell mechanoreceptors in the glabrous skin. Such evidence is compatible with the hypothesis of a generalized, multisensory deficit of temporal processing functions in dyslexia.
AB - Developmental dyslexia is a disability of literacy skill that has also been associated with sensory processing deficits, primarily for the detection of dynamic auditory and visual stimuli. Here we examined whether analogous deficits extend into the domain of somatosensory perception. Detection thresholds for each of three frequencies of vibration were obtained for 11 readers with a prior history of dyslexia and 14 similarly aged adult controls. The poor readers were significantly less sensitive to vibration at 3 Hz (P<0.01) but not at either 30 or 100 Hz. Detection of each of these three vibration rates is mediated primarily by a separate somatosensory fiber tract; deficits selective to 3 Hz therefore suggest an impairment within the slow-adapting I (SAI) fiber system beginning with Merkel-cell mechanoreceptors in the glabrous skin. Such evidence is compatible with the hypothesis of a generalized, multisensory deficit of temporal processing functions in dyslexia.
KW - Developmental dyslexia
KW - Temporal processing
KW - Vibration detection
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0034569941&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304394000015743?via%3Dihub
U2 - 10.1016/S0304-3940(00)01574-3
DO - 10.1016/S0304-3940(00)01574-3
M3 - Article
C2 - 11078925
AN - SCOPUS:0034569941
SN - 0304-3940
VL - 295
SP - 13
EP - 16
JO - Neuroscience Letters
JF - Neuroscience Letters
IS - 1-2
ER -