Our aim is to understand how the brain processes visual words and written text. We want to make use of this knowledge to improve early identification of dyslexia and to develop and evaluate dyslexia intervention programs.

Person-in-charge:

Prof. Urs Maurer

Members:

Shuting Huo (postdoc)

Hezul Ng (PhD student)

Xin Huang (PhD student)

Bingbing Song (PhD student)

Yaqi Yang (PhD student)

Jie Ma (PhD student)

Lucas Chan (research assistant)

• Neural facilitation through fast magnocellular visual projections in reading Chinese
• Influence of cultural experience on neural mechanisms underlying visual processing of faces, objects, and characters
• Long-term evaluation of two types of dyslexia interventions at behavioural and neural levels
• Cognitive subtypes and intergenerational transmission of dyslexia in Chinese families

Wang, J., Wu, K. C., Mo, J., Wong, W. L., Siu, T. S. C., McBride, C., Chung, K. K. H., Wong, P. C. M., Maurer, U. (2021). Remediation of a Phonological Representation Deficit in Chinese Dyslexic Children: A Comparison between Metalinguistic Training and Working Memory Training. Developmental Science, 24(3), e13065.

Huo, S., Wu, K. C., Mo, J., Wang, J., Maurer, U. (2021). Children with Chinese Dyslexia Acquiring English Literacy: Interaction between Cognitive Subtypes of Dyslexia and Orthographies. Journal of Learning Difficulties.

Wong, W. L., & Maurer, U. (2021). The Effects of Input and Output Modalities on Language Switching between Chinese and English. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition.

Brem, S., Maurer, U., Kronbichler, M., Schurz, M., Richlan, F., Blau, V., Reithler, J., Van der Mark, S., Schulz, E., Bucher, K., Moll, K., Landerl, K., Martin, E., Goebel, R., Schulte-Körne, G., Blomert, L., Wimmer, H., & Brandeis, D. (2020). Visual word form processing deficits driven by severity of reading impairments in children with developmental dyslexia. Scientific Reports, 10(1), 1-14.

Wang, F., Maurer, U. (2020). Interaction of top-down category-level expectation and bottom-up sensory input in early stages of visual-orthographic processing. Neuropsychologia, 137, 107299.

Maurer, U., Bucher, K., Brem, S., Benz R., Kranz, F., Schulz, E., van der Mark, S., Steinhausen, H.-C., Brandeis, D. (2009). Neurophysiology in preschool improves behavioral prediction of reading ability throughout primary school. Biological Psychiatry, 66, 341-348.

Maurer, U., Brem, S., Bucher, K., Kranz, F., Benz, R., Halder, P., Steinhausen, H.-C., & Brandeis, D. (2007). Impaired tuning of a fast occipito-temporal response to print in dyslexic children learning to read. Brain, 130, 3200-3210.