Brain stimulation reduces dyslexia deficits


Dyslexia is a frequent disorder of reading acquisition that affects up to 10% of the population, and is characterised by lifelong difficulties with written material. Although several possible causes have been proposed for dyslexia, the predominant one is a phonological deficit, a difficulty in processing language sounds. The phonological deficit in dyslexia is associated with changes in rhythmic or repetitive patterns of neural activity in a sound-processing region of the brain, the left auditory cortex. Neuroscientists from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) have demonstrated, in a study published in Plos Biology, a causal relationship between brain oscillations at a specific frequency (30 Hz) and the ability to process phonemes that is essential for reading. Using a non-invasive electrical stimulation technique capable of synchronizing neural activity at the stimulation frequency, phonological deficits and reading accuracy could be improved in adults with dyslexia.