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

Overview

Authors: Mahmoud Keshavarzi¹, Brian CJ Moore², Usha Goswami¹

ORCID iDs: Mahmoud Keshavarzi

Centre for Neuroscience in Education, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
Cambridge Hearing Group, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Institutions: University of Cambridge (United Kingdom)

Journal: Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.), volume 4, article IMAG.a.1329

Dates: received 13 September 2025; accepted 13 July 2026; published online 5 August 2026

Type: Research article · Language: English

License: CC BY

Identifiers: DOI 10.1162/imag.a.1329 · PMID 42569375 · PMCID PMC13449930 · OpenAlex W4414183600

Open access: diamond, a free copy (OpenAlex)

Preprint: doi:10.1101/2025.09.14.675562

Status: code on request

Categories: EEG (modality), human (organism), other condition (population), cognitive (subfield)

Methods: Spectral & time-frequency, Connectivity, Statistics, Smoothing, state filtering, decompositions, Physiology & signal measures, Machine learning

Keywords: developmental dyslexia, rhythmic audiovisual speech, EEG, neural phase entrainment, low-frequency bands, high-frequency bands

Topic: Multisensory perception and integration (Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, Psychology), according to OpenAlex

Funding: Yidan Prize Foundation

Citations: cited by 1 paper (Europe PMC); 59 references in the paper

Abstract

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) and employing a rhythmic audiovisual speech paradigm previously used with dyslexic 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. 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. These findings indicate that temporal sampling deficits appear to persist into adulthood and show a multi-timescale pattern, with altered low-frequency processing and atypical higher-frequency entrainment. The data also generate developmental hypotheses about possible compensation or reorganisation mechanisms that could be examined in future longitudinal research.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Code

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Data

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Data and Code Availability

De-identified participant data and analysis code are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request, subject to institutional and ethical constraints.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Versions

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Version 1, 27 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, pages, dates, 3 authors, 6 keywords, 1 funder, 57 references.

Cite

This paper

Keshavarzi, M., Moore, B. C., & Goswami, U. (2026). Atypical low-frequency and high-frequency neural entrainment to rhythmic audiovisual speech in adults with dyslexia. Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.), 4, IMAG.a.1329. https://doi.org/10.1162/imag.a.1329

BibTeX

@article{keshavarzi2026atypical, author = {Keshavarzi, Mahmoud and Moore, Brian CJ and Goswami, Usha}, title = {{Atypical low-frequency and high-frequency neural entrainment to rhythmic audiovisual speech in adults with dyslexia}}, journal = {Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.)}, year = {2026}, month = aug, volume = {4}, pages = {IMAG.a.1329}, publisher = {MIT Press}, issn = {2837-6056}, doi = {10.1162/imag.a.1329}, url = {https://doi.org/10.1162/imag.a.1329}, pmid = {42569375}, pmcid = {PMC13449930} }

RIS

TY - JOUR AU - Keshavarzi, Mahmoud AU - Moore, Brian CJ AU - Goswami, Usha TI - Atypical low-frequency and high-frequency neural entrainment to rhythmic audiovisual speech in adults with dyslexia T2 - Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) J2 - Imaging Neurosci (Camb) PY - 2026 DA - 2026/08/05 VL - 4 SP - IMAG.a.1329 SN - 2837-6056 PB - MIT Press DO - 10.1162/imag.a.1329 UR - https://doi.org/10.1162/imag.a.1329 LA - en ER -

CSL-JSON

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