Neuroscientist Sarah Laszlo is on a mission to understand what is going on in children’s brains while they read.
With a five-year, $400,763 grant from the National Science Foundation’s Early Career Development Program, Laszlo will conduct a five-year brain activity study of 150 children with and without dyslexia. The study will be conducted on children from kindergarten through fourth grade which will allow Laszlo to assess how the brain transitions from early reading stages to more mature reading processes.
Laszlo will use EEG scans as a non-invasive way to measure the electrical signals sent between the children’s brain cells. The study participants will wear a cap outfitted with special sensors while playing a computerized reading game that will collect readings 500 times per second for 45 minutes—that’s a massive amount of data!
Through her study, Laszlo hopes to identify the brain signatures of people with dyslexia in order to gain a clear idea of how to craft successful intervention.
Read more about this study at Newswise.