The link between literacy difficulties and brain alterations has been described in depth. Resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI) has been successfully applied to the study of intrinsic functional connectivity (iFc) both in dyslexia and typically developing children. Most related studies have focused on the stages from late childhood into adulthood using a seed to voxel approach. Our study analyzes iFc in an early childhood sample using the multivariate pattern analysis. This facilitates a hypothesis-free analysis and the possible identification of abnormal functional connectivity patterns at a whole brain level. Thirty-four children with literacy difficulties (LD) (7.1 ± 0.69 yr.) and 30 typically developing children (TD) (7.43 ± 0.52 yr.) were selected. Functional brain connectivity was measured using an rs-fMRI acquisition. The LD group showed a higher iFc between the right middle frontal gyrus (rMFG) and the default mode network (DMN) regions, and a lower iFc between the rMFG and both the bilateral insular cortex and the supramarginal gyrus. These results are interpreted as a DMN on/off routine malfunction in the LD group, which suggests an alteration of the task control network regulating DMN activity. In the LD group, the posterior cingulate cortex also showed a lower iFc with both the middle temporal poles and the fusiform gyrus. This could be interpreted as a failure in the integration of information between brain regions that facilitate reading. Our results show that children with literacy difficulties have an altered functional connectivity in their reading and attentional networks at the beginning of the literacy acquisition. Future studies should evaluate whether or not these alterations could indicate a risk of developing dyslexia.

识字困难和大脑改变之间的联系已被深入描述。静息态 fMRI (rs-fMRI) 已成功应用于阅读障碍和典型发育儿童的内在功能连接 (iFc) 研究。大多数相关研究都使用种子到体素方法关注从儿童晚期到成年的阶段。我们的研究使用多变量模式分析来分析早期儿童样本中的 iFc。这有助于无假设分析和可能在整个大脑水平识别异常功能连接模式。选择了 34 名识字困难儿童 (LD) (7.1 ± 0.69 岁) 和 30 名正常发育儿童 (TD) (7.43 ± 0.52 岁)。使用 rs-fMRI 采集测量功能性大脑连接。LD 组显示右侧额中回 (rMFG) 和默认模式网络 (DMN) 区域之间的 iFc 较高，而 rMFG 与双侧岛叶皮层和缘上回之间的 iFc 较低。这些结果被解释为 LD 组中的 DMN 开/关例行故障，这表明调节 DMN 活动的任务控制网络发生了改变。在 LD 组中，后扣带回皮层也显示出较低的 iFc，包括颞中极和梭状回。这可以解释为促进阅读的大脑区域之间的信息整合失败。我们的研究结果表明，在识字开始时，识字困难儿童的阅读和注意力网络的功能连接发生了改变。