Project by: Farin Weinger (10th Grade)
Project Advisor: Daniel Li
Student(s)’s Advisor(s): Jessica Tan

Description of the Project: This is a research project into the neuroscience of Dyslexia. Dyslexia is a learning disorder that involves difficulty in reading due to a difference in neurobiology. The goal for my project is to create a better understanding of Dyslexia for me by understanding what makes the symptoms of Dyslexia happen.

Final Product (e.g., documents, images, video, audio, poster, display, etc.):

 

Final Reflection on Learning:

This project has been interesting because it gave me a chance to research a disorder that a lot of people that I know have. There have been a lot of misconceptions that have been cleared up due to this project. I may be able to connect more with my dyslexic peers due to this project. I also enjoyed being able to further connect my knowledge of neuroscience to other more nuanced topics.

Update on Progress from Weeks 1-3 (include any photos or video if relevant):

To be honest, I have been a bit slow to get started due to other work. However, I have created a game plan for the next couple weeks on what to research. I will be trying to gain a basic understanding of how an MRI and function MRI works (most of the studies into dyslexia is based off of MRI studies). I will also be looking into structures, genes, and neurotransmitters that may be affected by dyslexia/cause dyslexia.

What I have learned so far is a basic idea of what parts of the brain affect dyslexia. It seems that changes in the parietal lobe (associated with word analysis and decoding) and in the Occipital lobe (associated with the ability of automatically access whole and words and read fluently) are related to dyslexia. Specifically, that there is less activity in those areas in people with dyslexia than those without. People with dyslexia also tend to have less white/grey matter in the Parietal area (white matter is related to nerve communication and gray matter helps process information). Something that is interesting is that the neurobiology of people with dyslexia is similar throughout all different languages.

In the upcoming weeks, I will report again with more information from my research.

Update on Progress from Weeks 4-6 (include any photos or video if relevant):

These past weeks have been productive when it comes to learning more. I have finished my research on the remaining structures connected to reading (Left Temporoparietal Area and Left Frontal Lobe). They don’t have as much relevance, but it was interesting nonetheless. I will be working on learning about neurotransmitters and genes that are related to dyslexia. I have to admit it has been a busy couple of weeks, so I haven’t been as productive as I would have liked. I hope to remedy this soon though.

This has been fun, and I am excited to complete my research in the upcoming weeks. 🙂

Update on Progress from Weeks 7-9 (include any photos or video if relevant):

The past few weeks have been quite busy for me and I haven’t been as productive as I would have liked. However, I think that it was fun wrapping up my research and formatting it for the poster. One of my favorite parts of honors project is always the poster because I think it is very satisfying to wrap up a long project with a nice little bow (not literally). Overall, I think I did well and was able to keep up the same quality of work despite getting wrapped up with work in school. I’m excited to see what people think!