Using repetition priming to improve oral reading in phonological text alexia

Abstract

In Phonological Text Alexia (PhTA), pseudoword reading is poor, as is functor and affix reading in text. Reading of real words in isolation remains well preserved (Friedman, 1996). The syndrome may result from the phonological representations of functors being activated incompletely or at reduced speed. An alternate explanation is that while functors/affixes are activated normally, their activation levels decay at a pathologically rapid rate. If activation is either incomplete/slowed or if it decays rapidly, single functor reading should be unaffected, while functor reading in text would be impeded by interference from surrounding words. PhTA patients would therefore benefit from therapies that strengthen or prolong functor activation. One such technique that provides an immediate and transitory boost to word activation levels is repetition priming (Dean and Young, 1996). We hypothesized that repetition priming could be utilized to strengthen and/or maintain activation of functors during text reading. We created a treatment program to train a strategy, ‘Sentence Building’, in which the patient learns to read sentences by building them in steps. The repetition of the words as the sentences are built is predicted to help speed and maintain activation of the words on subsequent steps. We predict improved accuracy when the patient applies the mastered strategy to novel sentences.