Twenty-four 8–10-year-old children (13 very
low birthweight, 11 control) performed a lexical decision
and a semantic classification task while event-related
potentials (ERPs) were recorded. Both groups were within
normal range on standardized reading tests, but the very-low-birthweight
group had lower scores. There were no differences between
groups in reaction times or accuracy for ERP tasks. On
analyses of P2a (246 ms anteriorly), P2p (336 ms posteriorly),
N2a (356 ms anteriorly), and N2p (396 ms posteriorly) peaks
and a late positive component, control children showed
greater right than left asymmetry at P2p and greater left
than right asymmetry at N2a. Very-low-birthweight children
showed less asymmetry. For the late positive component,
both groups showed greater left than right asymmetry, which
was more marked for the semantic classification task. The
results suggest that very-low-birthweight children display
differing cortical utilization during reading.