Statistical Learning, Letter Reversals, and Reading

Abstract

Reversal errors play a prominent role in theories of reading disability. We examined reversal errors in the writing of letters by 5- to 6-year-old children. Of the 130 children, 92 had a history of difficulty in producing speech sounds, a risk factor for reading problems. Children were more likely to reverse letter forms that face left, such as <d> and <J>, than forms that face right, such as <b> and <C>. We propose that this asymmetry reflects statistical learning: Children implicitly learn that the right-facing pattern is more typical of Latin letters. The degree of asymmetry that a child showed was not related to the child’s reading skill at Time 2, 2¾ years later. Although children who went on to become poorer readers made more errors in the letter writing task than children who went on to become better readers, they were no more likely to make reversal errors.