Prediction has become a key concept for understanding language comprehension, language production, and more recently reading. Recent studies suggest that predictive mechanisms in reading may be related to domain-general statistical learning (SL) abilities that support the extraction of regularities from sequential input. Both mechanisms have been discussed in relation to developmental dyslexia. Some suggest that SL is impaired in dyslexia with negative effects on the ability to make linguistic predictions. Others suggest that dyslexic readers rely to a greater extent on semantic and syntactic predictions to compensate for lower-level deficits. Here, we followed these two research questions in a single study. We therefore assessed the effects of semantic and syntactic prediction in reading and SL abilities in a population of university students with dyslexia and a group of typical readers using fMRI. The SL task was a serial reaction time (SRT) task that was performed inside and outside the scanner. The predictive reading task was performed in the scanner and used predictive versus nonpredictive semantic and syntactic contexts. Our results revealed distinct neural networks underlying semantic and syntactic predictions in reading, group differences in predictive processing in the left precentral gyrus and right anterior insula, and an association between predictive reading and SL, particularly in dyslexic readers. These findings contribute to our understanding of the interplay between SL, predictive processing, and compensation in dyslexia, providing new insights into the neural mechanisms that support reading.

In a functional magnetic resonance imaging study, we examined speech error monitoring in a cortico-cerebellar network for two contrasts: (a) correct trials with high versus low articulatory error probability and (b) overtly committed errors versus correct trials. Engagement of the cognitive cerebellar region Crus I in both contrasts suggests that this region is involved in overarching performance monitoring. The activation of cerebellar motor regions (superior medial cerebellum, lobules VI and VIII) indicates the additional presence of a sensorimotor driven implementation of control. The combined pattern of pre-supplementary motor area (active across contrasts) and anterior cingulate cortex (only active in the contrast involving overt errors) activations suggests sensorimotor driven feedback monitoring in the medial frontal cortex, making use of proprioception and auditory feedback through overt errors. Differential temporal and parietal cortex activation across contrasts indicates involvement beyond sensorimotor driven feedback in line with speech production models that link these regions to auditory target processing and internal modeling-like mechanisms. These results highlight the presence of multiple, possibly hierarchically interdependent, mechanisms that support the optimizing of speech production.