Atypical low-frequency and high-frequency neural entrainment to rhythmic audiovisual speech in adults with dyslexia

Developmental dyslexia has been linked to atypical neural processing of the temporal dynamics of speech, but there has been disagreement concerning whether faster or slower dynamics are impaired. According to the Temporal Sampling (TS) theory, dyslexia arises from impaired entrainment of low-frequency neural oscillations – particularly in the delta (1–4 Hz) and theta (4–8 Hz) bands – to the rhythmic modulations of speech. This hypothesis was tested for adults with and without dyslexia using electroencephalography (EEG) during a rhythmic audiovisual speech paradigm, previously delivered to children. Participants viewed a “talking head” repeating the syllable “ba” at a 2-Hz rate. Measures were neural phase entrainment and band power in the delta, theta, beta (15–25 Hz), and low gamma (25–40 Hz) bands, and broadband event-related potentials (ERPs), focusing on the N1 and P2 components. Phase-amplitude coupling (PAC) and phase-phase coupling (PPC) were also assessed for delta-theta, delta-beta, theta-beta, delta-gamma, and theta-gamma interactions. Both groups exhibited significant delta- and theta-band phase entrainment; however, the two groups differed significantly in the preferred phase for the theta band. While the control group showed consistent beta- and low gamma-band phase entrainment, this was not observed for the dyslexic group. There was significantly greater delta-band power for the dyslexic group across the whole brain and in the right temporal region. Additionally, the P2 ERP component differed significantly between groups. The data are interpreted with respect to TS theory.