News Release

Neurological differences support dyslexia subtypes

Peer-Reviewed Publication

BMC (BioMed Central)

Parts of the right hemisphere of the brains of people with dyslexia have been shown to differ from those of normal readers. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Neuroscience used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to compare the two groups, and were able to associate the neurological differences found with different language difficulties within the dyslexic group.

Cyril Pernet, from the University of Edinburgh, worked with a team of researchers to compare the brains of 38 people with dyslexia to a model 'typical brain' created by combining the scans of 39 normal readers. In all cases, differences could be seen in either the right cerebellar declive or the right lentiform nucleus. These were associated with varying performance in language tests.

It is increasingly accepted that dyslexia is not a unique entity, but might reflect different neuro-cognitive pathologies. Researchers have been looking for a way to distinguish between different types of dyslexia for several years, and this research is among the first to show a direct link between brain structure and symptom severity. According to Pernet, "These results provide evidence for the existence of various subtypes of dyslexia characterized by different brain phenotypes. In addition, behavioral analyses suggest that these brain phenotypes relate to different deficits of automatization of language-based processes such as grapheme/phoneme correspondence and/or rapid access to lexicon entries".

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Notes to Editors

1. Brain classification reveals the right cerebellum as the best biomarker of dyslexia
Cyril R Pernet, Jean Baptiste Poline, Jean Francois Demonet and Guillaume A Rousselet
BMC Neuroscience (in press)

During embargo, article available here: http://www.biomedcentral.com/imedia/4057042672487072_article.pdf?random=293436
After the embargo, article available at journal website: http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcneurosci/

Please name the journal in any story you write. If you are writing for the web, please link to the article. All articles are available free of charge, according to BioMed Central's open access policy.

Article citation and URL available on request at press@biomedcentral.com on the day of publication

2. BMC Neuroscience is an open access journal publishing original peer-reviewed research articles in all aspects of the nervous system, including molecular, cellular, developmental and animal model studies, as well as cognitive and behavioral research, and computational modeling. BMC Neuroscience (ISSN 1471-2202) is indexed/tracked/covered by PubMed, MEDLINE, BIOSIS, CAS, Scopus, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Thomson Reuters (ISI) and Google Scholar.

3. BioMed Central (http://www.biomedcentral.com/) is an STM (Science, Technology and Medicine) publisher which has pioneered the open access publishing model. All peer-reviewed research articles published by BioMed Central are made immediately and freely accessible online, and are licensed to allow redistribution and reuse. BioMed Central is part of Springer Science+Business Media, a leading global publisher in the STM sector.

4. The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336.


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