# Neural Mechanisms Underlying Compensation in Dyslexia

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT STORRS · 2020 · $711,067

## Abstract

Decoding-based reading disorder (RD; or dyslexia) is a highly prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder that
often persists into adulthood. Poor literacy in adulthood has negative impact on socioeconomic and
educational outcomes, which in turn affect the outcomes of subsequent generations. Despite significant
consequences, research on RD adults is severely lagging. There is also increasing interest in understanding
compensatory mechanisms in RD, which are thought to develop into adulthood. Compensation in RD allows
for less efficient but functional reading abilities, and is thought to be supported by alternative linguistic,
cognitive and sensory processing strategies and their underlying neural pathways. This is in contrast to the
more typical `reading network' found in the left posterior brain system. Neurocognitive mechanisms of
compensation are however, far from understood. This in part because the operational definitions of
compensation have been ambiguous, and because functional MRI approaches most often used in
compensation research are inherently correlational in nature. For example, it is currently unknown whether the
proposed compensatory processes are causally related to reading behaviors in compensated RD or whether
they are epiphenomena. The degree to which various alternative neural pathways are recruited and contribute
to individual differences in compensatory abilities is also unknown. This proposal addresses these scientific
gaps by building on our past work on the neurocognitive mechanisms of adult RD and compensation using an
experimental neuromodulation technique, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), coupled with multimodal
neuroimaging including MR Spectroscopy (MRS) of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glutamate, and
functional MRI. In this proposal, (1) We will identify neurocognitive profiles of compensated RD adults
compared to persistent RD adults with continued reading difficulties as well as typical readers with no RD
history. We also identify neurocognitive mechanisms and networks underlying individual differences in current
reading ability (regardless of past RD diagnosis) and past RD diagnosis (regardless of current reading ability).
(2) Using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) within an experimental, hypothesis testing paradigm, we will
discover the processes underlying short-term functional reorganization and its impact on reading in key neural
nodes thought to be critical for reading, RD and compensation. Through TMS-induced neuromodulation, we
systematically test hypotheses regarding causal processes thought to be involved in compensation. (3) In
order to address hypotheses regarding the neurochemical mechanisms underlying compensatory processes
and pathways, we will discover how regionally specific levels of GABA, important for modulation of cortical
excitability, predict responses to TMS-induced (meta)plasticity. Such work will not only advance theories of RD
and compensation, but ultimately may improve s...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9977786
- **Project number:** 5R01HD096261-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT STORRS
- **Principal Investigator:** FUMIKO HOEFT
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $711,067
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-09-15 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9977786

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9977786, Neural Mechanisms Underlying Compensation in Dyslexia (5R01HD096261-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9977786. Licensed CC0.

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