ERP Effects of Word Exposure and Orthographic Knowledge on Lexical Decisions in Spanish

Andrés A González-Garrido,R Malatesha Joshi,Daniel Zarabozo,Daniel Zarabozo-Hurtado,Fabiola R Gómez-Velázquez

doi:10.4236/jbbs.2015.56019

Abstract

Orthographic knowledge is affected by language processing, which is associated with word exposure. This study used event-related potentials (ERP) to explore this association in Spanish-speaking adults with different levels of orthographic competence (High Spelling Skills: HSS; Low Spelling Skills: LSS) while they performed a lexical decision task on previously exposed words (1 or 5 times). Both groups benefited from the exposure rate, but HSS reached significantly higher correct and faster responses, particularly with repeated words. Word recognition potential (RP) amplitude was higher bilaterally in HSS group, especially with repeated words, while P220 was found to be right-lateralized and sensitive to word exposure. Also, the amplitude of P600 varied as a function of word exposure and positively correlated with reading speed. Results suggest that LSS group is less sensitive to word exposure and fails to automatize strategies to word recognition that affect reading fluency.

Highlights

It is generally accepted that reading experience activates adjustment processes that progressively facilitate visualHow to cite this paper: González-Garrido, A.A., Gómez-Velázquez, F.R., Zarabozo, D., Zarabozo-Hurtado, D. and Joshi, R.M. (2015) event-related potentials (ERP) Effects of Word Exposure and Orthographic Knowledge on Lexical Decisions in Spanish
Behavioral results showed that Low Spelling Skills (LSS) was significantly less efficient in detecting orthographic errors than High Spelling Skills (HSS)
Given the suggestion that the recognition potential reflects specialized visual word orthographic processing [2] [13], which probably depicts increased visual processing expertise in pre-lexical orthographic processing [32], the higher RP amplitudes observed in HSS may reveal early differences among groups in their orthographic processing abilities

Summary

Introduction

It is generally accepted that reading experience activates adjustment processes that progressively facilitate visualHow to cite this paper: González-Garrido, A.A., Gómez-Velázquez, F.R., Zarabozo, D., Zarabozo-Hurtado, D. and Joshi, R.M. (2015) ERP Effects of Word Exposure and Orthographic Knowledge on Lexical Decisions in Spanish. It is generally accepted that reading experience activates adjustment processes that progressively facilitate visual. How to cite this paper: González-Garrido, A.A., Gómez-Velázquez, F.R., Zarabozo, D., Zarabozo-Hurtado, D. and Joshi, R.M. (2015) ERP Effects of Word Exposure and Orthographic Knowledge on Lexical Decisions in Spanish. Journal of Behavioral and Brain Science, 5, 185-193. Word recognition by making it more automatic and effortless. Empirical data indicate that word knowledge is a critical predictor of reading proficiency, and that vocabulary knowledge is closely related to new word identification [1]. It is postulated that knowledge and mastery of the spelling structure of a word can depend on the adequate development of the mechanisms involved in visual orthographic memory [2]

Methods

Results

Conclusion