Event-Related Potential Components and the Lexical Decision Task in Greek-Speaking Children With and Without Reading Difficulties.

The present study examined neurocognitive differences in visual word processing between children with reading difficulties (RD) and chronological-age-matched controls (CA) using event-related potentials (ERPs) during a lexical decision task. Participants were Grade 3 and Grade 6 children (ages 7.6-12.1 years) who were required to discriminate real words from orthographically similar pseudowords. ERP analyses focused on the N200 and N400 components, which are thought to reflect early stages of visual word processing and later processes involved in lexical access and stimulus evaluation. The results showed that the Grade 3 RD group exhibited significantly higher Ν200 amplitudes than their CA controls, suggesting less efficient early processing of the presented stimuli. However, no differences in the N200 were observed between the Grade 6 groups. Children with RD in both grades exhibited reduced N400 amplitudes compared to their counterparts, suggesting differences in the neural processes supporting word recognition. These findings contribute to a clearer understanding of the temporal dynamics of written word processing in children with RD in transparent orthographies and highlight the value of ERP measures for examining neurocognitive mechanisms underlying reading development.