Validating a Neurocognitive Remediation Model for Visual-Attentional Pathway in Chinese Developmental Dyslexia

Developmental dyslexia is a common and serious specific learning disability affecting up to one in eight children in Hong Kong, with profound consequences for academic success and personal well-being. For children learning to read the visually complex Chinese script, the challenge is particularly intense. A key research challenge is a long-standing "chicken-and-egg" debate: are weaknesses in the brain's fast-processing visual system (Magnocellular-Dorsal deficits) a cause of reading difficulties, or merely a consequence of limited reading practice? This uncertainty has constrained theoretical progress, creating a major barrier to developing effective, evidence-based support for struggling readers beyond traditional linguistic-based methods. This project is designed to resolve this debate by directly testing if training a core visual-attentional skill can causally improve reading. The ap