Schedule of Events | Symposia

Children’s reading fluency is predicted by cortical delay: Processing latencies estimated from steady-state visual evoked potentials

Poster Session E - Monday, March 31, 2025, 2:30 – 4:30 pm EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom

Fang Wang¹ (fangwang@stanford.edu), Quynh Trang Nguyen¹, Blair Kaneshiro¹, Anthony Norcia^2,3, Bruce McCandliss¹; ¹Graduate School of Education, Stanford University, ²Department of Psychology, Stanford University, ³Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute, Stanford

EEG studies using Event-Related Potential (ERP) paradigms often investigate the neural temporal dynamics of word recognition through latency measurements. However, these studies typically focus on group-level component peak latencies, leaving a gap in methods that reliably estimate individual differences in neural temporal precision and their relationship to reading fluency. In this study, we utilized the Steady-State Visual Evoked Potential (SSVEP) paradigm, where a sequence of stimuli are presented at a predefined frequency rate. This approach not only assesses latencies but also has the potential to provide reliable single-subject latency estimates. Visual word form stimuli (five-character strings) were presented at 3 Hz, and EEG-SSVEP data were collected from 68 middle school students aged 8 to 15 years. Processing latencies at both group and individual levels were estimated from spatially optimized EEG data, calculated as the change in phase as a function of frequency across multiple harmonics of the stimulation frequency. We discovered highly reliable latency estimates ranging 150~250 ms. Linear correlations revealed that students with higher reading proficiency exhibited shorter latencies, even after controlling for age. Additionally, older students demonstrated shorter latencies after accounting for reading ability. These findings suggest that the neural temporal dynamics of visual word processing may serve as a good predictor of reading abilities and potentially reading difficulties. The study provides a foundation for future translational and clinical applications, particularly in supporting children with developmental dyslexia.

Topic Area: LANGUAGE: Development & aging