Event-Related Brain Potentials during a Semantic Priming Task in Children with Learning Disabilities Not Otherwise Specified

Learning disabilities (LDs) are the most common psychiatric disorders in children. LDs are classified either as “Specific” or “Learning Disorder Not Otherwise Specified”. An important hypothesis suggests a failure in general domain process (i.e., attention) that explains global academic deficiencies. The aim of this study was to evaluate event-related potential (ERP) patterns of LD Not Otherwise Specified children with respect to a control group. Forty-one children (8−10.6 years old) participated and performed a semantic judgment priming task while ERPs were recorded. Twenty-one LD children had significantly lower scores in all academic skills (reading, writing and arithmetic) than twenty controls. Different ERP patterns were observed for each group. Control group showed smaller amplitudes of an anterior P200 for unrelated than related word pairs. This P200 effect was followed by a significant early N400a effect (greater amplitudes for unrelated than related word pairs; 350–550 ms) with a right topographical distribution. By contrast, LD Not Otherwise Specified group did not show a P200 effect or a significant N400a effect. This evidence suggests that LD Not Otherwise Specified children might be deficient in reading, writing and arithmetic domains because of their sluggish shifting of attention to process the incoming information.