Pattern of hemispheric activity in adults in work reading tasks and phonological awareness measures with a new methodology of measurement of differential electrodermal activity (edad)

Abstract

Although reading is well studied from cognitive models, less is known about its neurofunctional correlate and lateralization. Hemispheric participation in oral language and in some written language processes, preferably located in the left hemisphere, is documented, but it is not yet known whether there is a differentiated activation pattern in tasks such as word reading and phonological awareness. To analyze these variables from this perspective, a new technological instrumentation and analysis methodology is presented to record electrodermal activity (EDA) and differential electrodermal activity (EDA-D) as an indicator of hemispheric asymmetry. The instrument measures the differential value of the EDA variable and has been used in other applications, allowing to know the preferential hemispheric activation before tasks. The differential hemispheric activation by means of EDA was recorded in word reading and phonological awareness tasks in 30 participants (15 women and 15 men). Each participant’s basal hemispheric activation was also recorded; later, four reading tasks were presented in powerpoint format: words in Basque, Swedish words; pseudo- words and familiar words, and two phonological awareness tasks. Results show differentiated patterns in and between some tasks

Keywords

• asimetría hemisférica
• actividad electrodermal
• lectura
• conciencia fonológica