Context Memo (Cover Letter)

To: Prof. Kimberly Freeman, COLWRIT 161 class, College Writing Program

From: Dylan Abernathy

Date: 16 October 2023

Subject: The Neurological and Psychological Effects of Timely Diagnosis, Attitude, and

Perception on Neurological Pathways Following a Dyslexia Diagnosis

My literature review discusses the neurological and psychological effects of timely

diagnosis, attitude, and perception on neurological pathways following a dyslexia diagnosis. This

entails discussing that the way in which people experience dyslexia extends beyond linguistic

proficiency, profoundly affecting the formation of neural circuits and cognitive processes.

Additionally this review aids to prove that wiring of dyslexics' brains can be affected by those

around them through attitude and an environmental perspective of the learning disability.

This literature review underscores the critical need for more in depth long term research on the

topic in order to promote a more urgent need for early diagnosis and a shift in societal attitudes

toward dyslexia to promote more adaptive and effective neurological pathways in individuals

with dyslexia. The findings offer a comprehensive perspective on the relationship between early

diagnosis, attitudes, and the neurological development of individuals with dyslexia.

This literature review is divided into thematic sections, allowing for in depth analysis and

source comparison. These sections include Coping Strategies, Attitudes and Workplace

Challenges, Early Diagnosis and Developmental Trajectories, Brain Connectivity and

Experience, Interaction of Attitudes and Neurological Patterns, Dyslexia in a Young Brain and

Analysis.

If I were to submit this review to a journal, I would submit it to the National Library of

Medicine. When deciding what journal to base review on I was stuck between either The

Dyslexia Review or Journal of Neuroscience. I was stuck because both journals seek out literary

review papers that promote research, with their differences lying in content and citation. As for

formatting, they both have Journals that break down the writing into descriptive sections and

give overviews of their source findings before presenting analysis. Both journals would serve

different purposes in promoting my paper, as more neurologists looking to focus on neurological

pathways and neural rewiring would most likely look into Journal of Neuroscience while if they

wanted to focus their studies on Dyslexia they would look into The Dyslexia Review. As this

review is a combination of both of these ideas I chose the National Library of Medicine as it

could be seen by both audiences. Due to this, I followed the citation style of AMA and broke

down sections in a manner most closely correlated with the National Library of Medicine. If it

was ever decided that the other two journals would be a better fit then all that would need to

change is source citation style.

In reading this review it might be helpful to know the following terms:

1. Gyrus: Fold on the outer layer of the brain in the cerebral cortex. 4

2. Fusiform gyri: Region under hippocampus and left of inferior frontal gyrus that affects

reading and language processing due to its effect on visual cues and word recognition. 4

3. MRI (fMRI): Acronym for magnetic resonance imaging, which is used to curate detailed

images of the body. The f in fMRI stands for “functional”. fMRI is a more specialized

type of imaging. In this paper, studies used magnetic fields and radio waves to analyze

brain activity.6

4. Neuro/Brain plasticity: A brain's ability to reorganize itself and form new neural

connections and pathways during life span. Neural functional connectivity is related to

this idea as it assesses how well the differing regions of the brain or functionalities are

connected.5

5. Phonological vs semantic processing: Both terms refer to functions of the brain.

Phonological processing is how the brain processes sound specificity of speech and sound

manipulation. In comparison semantic processing is connected as it relates to the way in

which the brain interprets the meaning of words and then connects it to other words.5