Shared topic distributions of reading experience predict shared neural activity in DMN regions during narrative reading, but only among high-exposure readers¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · associational r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2025 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? For high-exposure readers, dissimilarity of reading experience represented as 9-topic distributions was positively related to neural dissimilarity in bilateral precuneus and PCC, MFG, and left IPL during narrative reading. → Song 2025 q2 i? No significant IS-RSA effects were found for the low-exposure group during narrative reading, nor for any group during expository reading under 9-, 5-, or 4-topic representations. → Song 2025 (2)

Evidence¶

Song 2025¶

Song, M., Li, L., He, D. & Cai, Q. (2025). Reading experience reveals shared and idiosyncratic neural patterns during text comprehension. npj Science of Learning. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-025-00390-7

q2 · i? · associational · r2

IS-RSA on fMRI data from the high-exposure group (N = 20 by median split), correlating a KL-divergence-based behavioral RDM of topic distributions with a neural RDM after regressing out exposure quantity and education; FDR correction over 153 ROIs. Effects emerged only in narrative reading.

"Specifically, the dissimilarity of reading experience represented as the 9 topic distributions was positively related to neural dissimilarity in the bilateral precuneus and PCC, middle frontal gyrus (MFG), as well as the left IPL."

Song 2025 (2)¶

Song, M., Li, L., He, D. & Cai, Q. (2025). Reading experience reveals shared and idiosyncratic neural patterns during text comprehension. npj Science of Learning. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-025-00390-7

q2 · i? · associational · r2

IS-RSA on the low-exposure group (N = 19 by median split) during narrative reading found no ROI surviving FDR correction; the article also reports no significant effects during expository reading for any topic representation. Equivalence was not tested.

"No significant results were found for the low-exposure group, suggesting that the distributed reading profiles have little influence on narrative processing for low-exposure readers."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Home Learning Environment — moderator: an instructional effect differs with it

Related Claims¶

• Participants comprehended expository texts better than narrative texts, and comprehension performance did not correlate with print exposure — related
• Greater print exposure is associated with enhanced neural alignment between readers in semantic regions during narrative reading — related
• Higher print exposure is associated with more idiosyncratic neural patterns during expository reading, primarily in frontoparietal control network regions — related