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From genes to behavior in developmental dyslexia

Nature Neuroscience volume 9, pages 1213–1217 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

All four genes thus far linked to developmental dyslexia participate in brain development, and abnormalities in brain development are increasingly reported in dyslexia. Comparable abnormalities induced in young rodent brains cause auditory and cognitive deficits, underscoring the potential relevance of these brain changes to dyslexia. Our perspective on dyslexia is that some of the brain changes cause phonological processing abnormalities as well as auditory processing abnormalities; the latter, we speculate, resolve in a proportion of individuals during development, but contribute early on to the phonological disorder in dyslexia. Thus, we propose a tentative pathway between a genetic effect, developmental brain changes, and perceptual and cognitive deficits associated with dyslexia.

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Figure 1: Protein domains and possible functions.
Figure 2: Human and animal neocortical malformations.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by US National Institutes of Health grant HD20806 and by the The Dyslexia Foundation, and by grants from the Ville de Paris and the European Commission NEURODYS Project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, Division of Behavioral Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, 330 Brookline Avenue, Boston, 02215, Massachusetts, USA

    Albert M Galaburda & Glenn D Rosen

  2. Department of Physiology and Neurobiology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 06269, Connecticut, USA

    Joseph LoTurco

  3. Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Psycholinguistique, École Normale Supérieure, 46 rue d'Ulm, Paris, Cedex 05, 75230, France

    Franck Ramus

  4. Department of Psychology, Behavioral Neurosciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 06269, Connecticut, USA

    R Holly Fitch

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Galaburda, A., LoTurco, J., Ramus, F. et al. From genes to behavior in developmental dyslexia. Nat Neurosci 9, 1213–1217 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1772

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