A dimensional perspective on the home environment and neurocognitive systems in children's reading development

Abstract

Learning to read is an important milestone in children’s development. Factors in the home environment is been linked to the behavioral and neural correlates of reading, but further work is needed to unpack the underlying mechanisms. The home literacy environment (HLE) plays a role in children’s reading and language development, while parental socioeconomic status (SES) has been linked to children’s reading outcomes and executive functions. Because these factors capture different variables in the home environment, they likely influence children’s reading development in unique ways. The HLE and parental SES were found to commonly associate with children’s word recognition and reading outcomes through the underlying (right) occipital-temporal cortex. Uniquely from parental SES, the HLE was associated with children’s oral language abilities and the underlying temporal-parietal regions, which were in turn related to reading outcomes. Uniquely from the HLE, parental SES was related to children’s executive functions and the underlying prefrontal and superior parietal areas, which were ultimately associated with reading outcomes.