Neural Evidence of Early Sensitivity to Text in Pre-reading Toddlers

Abstract Learning to read leads to widespread changes in brain organization, but it is not yet known when text first becomes a privileged stimulus. To test whether specialized neural responses to text appear prior to reading instruction, 31 monolingual toddlers in Israel (2.1-3.6 years) not yet enrolled in school were presented with displays of real, native text and visually matched non-text symbols. Using functional near-infrared spectroscopy, we found different patterns of activity in response to text vs. non-text across multiple cortical regions. Most notably, text elicited more activity in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, a region associated with language processing. These results challenge the view that the reading network emerges in response to gains in reading proficiency and instead suggest that through implicit sensitivity to regularities in their input, toddlers may be able to discover that text is a meaningful stimulus and begin to develop associations between language and text. Research Highlights Toddlers show different neural responses to real text vs. non-text symbols. Unfamiliar symbols evoke a novelty response in multiple cortical regions. Text elicits more activity in a left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, a region associated with processing language. Before they know how to read, toddlers may recognize text as a frequent, familiar stimulus that is linked to language. Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.