Toward an ERP-driven diagnostic approach for reading impairments.

This preliminary study attempted to use Event Related Brain Potentials (ERPs) to identify different causes for slow reading performance. At least two unique brain activity patterns were found for below average readers. Based on visual inspection of the N170 ERP component elicited by words in a lexical decision task, participants were either classified as N170-normal or N170-absent. Although both groups showed very dissimilar brain activity patterns, they did not differ in any reading or cognitive measures. Differences in brain activity were discussed as indicators for disturbances at specific stages of word processing, which should lead to individually adjusted intervention approaches.