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 neural sensitivity to text can 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 often associated with language processing. These results suggest that through implicit sensitivity to regularities in their input, toddlers may be able to discover that text is a meaningful stimulus and could begin to develop associations that will allow them to build connections 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.