Developmental Dyslexia With and Without Language Impairment: ERPs Reveal Qualitative Differences in Morphosyntactic Processing

This study aimed to characterize neuropsychological and linguistic skills in children with Developmental Dyslexia (DD) with and without Language Impairment (LI). Behavioral tests of short-term memory, phonemic awareness, and morphosyntactic processing and electrophysiological responses to agreement violations were administered to 32 DD children (16 with additional LI) and 16 controls. Behavioral data revealed quantitative differences among groups: DD+LI children showed the worst performance, followed by DD-only children and controls. Event-related potential results confirmed atypical morphosyntactic processing in the DD-only group, highlighting qualitative differences between groups. These results support multifactor models of learning disabilities, where different patterns of deficits characterize different subgroups.

本研究旨在阐明伴或不伴语言障碍（Language Impairment，LI）的发展性阅读障碍（Developmental Dyslexia，DD）儿童的神经心理与语言技能特征。本研究对32名发展性阅读障碍儿童（其中16名合并语言障碍）及16名对照儿童，施测了短时记忆、音位意识、形态句法加工的行为测试，以及针对句法一致性违反的脑电生理反应。行为数据分析结果显示各组间存在量化差异：伴语言障碍的发展性阅读障碍儿童表现最差，其次为单纯发展性阅读障碍儿童，对照组表现最优。事件相关电位（Event-related Potential，ERP）结果证实，单纯发展性阅读障碍组存在非典型的形态句法加工，凸显了各组间的质性差异。上述研究结果支持学习障碍的多因素模型，即不同的缺损模式对应不同的学习障碍亚群。