Abstract
In delineating the amount of orthographic information that can be processed in parallel during a single fixation, the visual attention (VA) span acts as a key component of the reading system. Previous studies focused on the contribution of VA span to normal and pathological reading in monolingual and bilingual children from different European languages, without direct cross-language comparison. In the current paper, we explored modulations of VA span abilities in three languages –French, Spanish, and Arabic– that differ in transparency, reading direction and writing systems. The participants were skilled adult readers who were native speakers of French, Spanish or Arabic. They were administered tasks of global and partial letter report, single letter identification and text reading. Their VA span abilities were assessed using tasks that require the processing of briefly presented five consonant strings (e.g., R S H F T). All five consonants had to be reported in global report but a single cued letter in partial report. Results showed that VA span was reduced in Arabic readers as compared to French or Spanish readers who otherwise show a similar high performance in the two report tasks. The analysis of VA span response patterns in global report showed a left-right asymmetry in all three languages. A leftward letter advantage was found in French and Spanish but a rightward advantage in Arabic. The response patterns were symmetric in partial report, regardless of the language. Last, a significant relationship was found between VA span abilities and reading speed but only for French. The overall findings suggest that the size of VA span, the shape of VA span response patterns and the VA Span-reading relationship are modulated by language-specific features.
Highlights
The visual attention (VA) span is defined as the number of distinct visual elements that can be processed simultaneously in a multi-element configuration (Bosse et al, 2007)
The effect of Language was significant for the two VA span tasks of global report [F(2,120) = 99.65, MSE = 61.66, p < 0.0001, η2 = 0.62] and partial report [F(2,120) = 31.26, MSE = 31.36, p < 0.0001, η2 = 0.34]
We focused on the VA span, i.e., a cognitive process of the reading system involved in letter-string processing (Bosse et al, 2007; Bosse and Valdois, 2009; Lobier et al, 2013)
Summary
The visual attention (VA) span is defined as the number of distinct visual elements that can be processed simultaneously (at a glance) in a multi-element configuration (Bosse et al, 2007). VA span abilities are typically assessed through tasks of multi-character simultaneous processing (Lobier et al, 2012a). They are critical for reading (Ans et al, 1998). VA span affects both word and pseudo-word reading. The VA span further relates to pseudo-word reading (Bosse and Valdois, 2009). Assuming that children with larger VA span can process more letters simultaneously, they should identify and process longer sublexical orthographic units as a whole (Valdois et al, 2004). VA Span abilities affect the size of relevant orthographic units that can be processed while reading
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
