Younger Normal Readers Research Articles

Auditory temporal processing, reading, and phonological awareness among aging adults

Auditory temporal processing (ATP) has been related in the literature to both speech perception as well as reading and phonological awareness. In aging adults, it is known to be related to difficulties in speech perception. In the present study, we aimed to test whether an age-related deficit in ATP would also be accompanied by poor reading and phonological awareness. Thirty-eight aging adults were compared to 55 readers with dyslexia and 42 young normal readers on temporal order judgment (TOJ), speech perception, reading, and phonological awareness tests. Aging adults had longer TOJ thresholds than young normal readers, but shorter than readers with dyslexia; however, they had lower speech perception accuracy than both groups. Phonological awareness of the aging adults was better than readers with dyslexia, but poorer than young normal readers, although their reading accuracy was similar to that of the young controls. This is the first report on poor phonological awareness among aging adults. Suprisingly, it was not accompanied by difficulties in reading ability, and might instead be related to aging adults' difficulties in speech perception. This newly discovered relationship between ATP and phonological awareness among aging adults appears to extend the existing understanding of this relationship, and suggests it should be explored in other groups with ATP deficits.

The effects of inter-letter spacing in visual-word recognition: Evidence with young normal readers and developmental dyslexics

Recent research has demonstrated that slight increases of inter-letter spacing have a positive impact on skilled readers' recognition of visually presented words. In the present study, we examined whether this effect generalises to young normal readers and readers with developmental dyslexia, and whether increased inter-letter spacing affects the reading times and comprehension of a short text. To that end, we conducted a series of lexical decision and continuous reading experiments in which words were presented with the default settings or with a small increase in inter-letter spacing. Increased spacing produced shorter word identification times not only with adult skilled readers (Experiment 1), but also with young normal readers (Grade 2 and Grade 4 children; Experiment 2) and, even to a larger degree, with readers with dyslexia (Experiments 3 and 4). These experiments suggest that slight increases in inter-letter spacing would improve the readability of texts aimed at children, especially those with dyslexia.

The nonword-reading deficit of disabled readers: A developmental interpretation.

This article presents empirical evidence challenging the received wisdom that a nonword-reading deficit is a characteristic trait of disabled readers. On the basis of 2 large-scale empirical studies using the reading-level match design, we argue that a nonword-reading deficit is the consequence of normal developmental differences in word-specific knowledge between disabled readers and younger normal readers (both groups being matched on real-word reading). The first study shows that the nonword-reading deficit varies as a function of age and reading level and that this deficit is not typical for disabled readers. The second study demonstrates that a nonword-reading deficit crucially depends on the sensitivity of the matching word reading task to detect age-related differences in word-specific knowledge between disabled and normal readers. We clarify how these findings can be interpreted within the current framework of the phonological deficit hypothesis and discuss implications for theories of reading development.

Effects of repeated reading on the length effect in word and pseudoword reading

In this study the effect of repeated reading on the acquisition of orthographic knowledge was examined. Acquisition of orthographic knowledge was assessed by the effect of word length on reading speed. We predicted that the effect of length in a set of words and pseudowords would decrease after the repeated reading of these (pseudo)words. The study involved fourth and fifth grade dyslexic children, in addition to normal readers in second and fourth grade. Words and pseudowords ranged from four to six letters and were read 16 times. A length effect was found in the dyslexic and younger normal readers, but not in the older normal readers. The length effect did not change from pre‐test to post‐test, although a large overall improvement in reading speed was found in all groups. These results suggest that repeated reading did not alter the predominantly sub‐lexical reading procedure of the dyslexic and younger normal readers. Implications for the interpretation of the length effect and the notion of word‐specific orthographic knowledge are discussed.

Do dual-route models accurately predict reading and spelling performance in individuals with acquired alexia and agraphia?

Coltheart and co-workers [Castles, A., Bates, T. C., & Coltheart, M. (2006). John Marshall and the developmental dyslexias. Aphasiology, 20, 871–892; Coltheart, M., Rastle, K., Perry, C., Langdon, R., & Ziegler, J. (2001). DRC: A dual route cascaded model of visual word recognition and reading aloud. Psychological Review, 108, 204–256] have demonstrated that an equation derived from dual-route theory accurately predicts reading performance in young normal readers and in children with reading impairment due to developmental dyslexia or stroke. In this paper, we present evidence that the dual-route equation and a related multiple regression model also accurately predict both reading and spelling performance in adult neurological patients with acquired alexia and agraphia. These findings provide empirical support for dual-route theories of written language processing.

Word Recognition and Basic Cognitive Processes among Reading-Disabled and Normal Readers in Arabic.

This study investigated word identification inArabic and basic cognitive processes inreading-disabled (RD) and normal readers of thesame chronological age, and in younger normalreaders at the same reading level. The studyfocused on the word identification processes ofphonological decoding and orthographicprocessing and the cognitive processes ofsyntactic and morphological awareness, workingmemory, and visual processing. RD children werecompared with normal readers on a battery oftests developed in Arabic on the basis of thoseavailable in English and Hebrew. The presentresults revealed deficiencies among the RD childrenin phonological decoding, in contrast torelative strengths in orthographic processing. These data were consistent with English-languagefindings. The analysis of basiccognitive processes indicated significantdeficiencies in morphology, working memory, andsyntactic and visual processing, with the mostsevere deficiencies observed for phonologicalawareness. The results are discussed in lightof international RD findings and the nature ofArabic orthography.

A reading-level match study of phonemic processes underlying reading disabilities in a transparent orthography

The current study examined the relationship in Spanish (i.e., a transparent orthography) between different levels of phonological awareness and reading disabilities. In addition, the strategies used by the children when they resolved phoneme segmentation and reversal tasks were analyzed. A sample of 133 subjects were selected and organized in three different groups: (1) A group of 45 reading-disabled children, (2) A comparison group of 44 normal readers matched in age with the reading disabled, and (3) A reading level match group of 44 younger normal readers at the same reading level as the reading disabled. Three phonological awareness tasks were used to measure levels of intrasyllabic and phonemic awareness. The reading disabled group was equivalent to the younger reading level-matched control group in the odd-word-out task. However, there were differences in the phonemic tasks (e.g., phoneme segmentation and reversal) because the reading disabled group performed more poorly than the younger children. Overall, the children matched in age with the reading disabled group were superior in all phonological awareness tasks. There were differences between the groups when the strategies used by the children were analyzed.

Are dyslexics different? I. A comparison between dyslexics, reading age controls, poor readers and precocious readers

Four groups of children with matched reading ages of 7:03–8:06 were given a battery of tests assessing a range of skills related to reading, visual processing and phonological processing. The groups were: (i) dyslexics (mean age 10:03, mean IQ 118 with a minimum of 105); (ii) younger normal readers (conventional ‘reading age controls’ with a mean age of 7:11 and a mean IQ of 107); (iii) ordinary poor readers (mean age 10:04, mean IQ 80); (iv) precocious readers (mean age 6:02, mean IQ 126). The dyslexics were faster at some of the visual processing tasks, including object naming, and did not differ significantly from the other three groups on any of the phonological processing tasks. There was no indication of less use of phonology in reading on the part of the dyslexics: they were no less affected by spelling-sound regularity in lexical decision and naming than the other groups, showed a similar sensitivity to pseudohomophones in lexical decision, and were not significantly impaired in their reading of non-words. Dyslexic reading comprehension was superior to that of the reading age controls and precocious readers and their listening comprehension was better than that of the other three groups. The poor readers were similar to the reading age controls on the visual processing tasks. They were worse than the reading age controls at discriminating rhyme but not at phoneme deletion, non-word repetition or verbal memory span.

The memory‐span deficit in children with specific reading disability: Is speech rate responsible?

Memory span and articulation rates for one‐, two‐ and three‐syllable words were measured in three groups of 15 children: (i) children identified as having specific reading disability (SRD children), (ii) a group of chronological age‐matched (CA) controls and (iii) a group of younger normal readers matched to the SRD children for reading age (RA controls). All children had IQ scores in the normal range. The results showed that mean memory span for the SRD group was poor relative to CA controls, but approximately equal to the RA group. Similarly, the articulation rates of SRD children were slower than those of CA controls and approximately equal to those of RA controls. More importantly, mean articulation rate accounted for memory‐span differences between groups. The results suggest that the poor memory span observed in SRD children may be the result of slow speech rates. Possible relationships between reading ability, speech rate and memory span are discussed.

Evidence for phonological processing deficits in less-skilled readers

Although weaknesses in metaphonological skills are well-documented in poor readers, prior studies have yielded inconsistent findings as to whether less-skilled readers also have deficits in the more primary phonological processes entailed in verbal working memory and speech production tasks. The present study was designed to examine this issue by comparing less-skilled third-graders readers (n=30) with younger children at the same reading level (n=30) and with more-skilled agemates (n=30) on a variety of tasks that require phonological processing (i.e., three "verbal memory" tasks [word span, span with concurrent processing, pseudoword imitation] and three "speech production" tasks [word-pair repetition, tongue twisters, rapid naming]). The results were striking: the less-skilled third-grade readers had significantly lower accuracy scores than both their agemates and the younger normal readers on the word span, pseudoword imitation, word-pair repetition, and tongue twister tasks. Measures of accuracy were more related to reading ability than were measures of speed. Performance on a pseudoword imitation task was the variable most strongly linked to reading achievement.

A developmental, interactive activation model of the word superiority effect

Parallel distributed processing (PDP) models of reading developed out of an appreciation of the role that context plays in letter and word perception. Adult readers can more accurately identify letters in a word than alone or in other random display contexts, a phenomenon known as the Word Superiority Effect (WSE). We examined the effects of orthographic context on the letter recognition skills of dyslexic children, comparing their performance to adults, and chronological- and reading-age matched groups. Consistent with previous studies, results showed adults better able to identify letters in the context of words and pseudowords than in random letter strings. Young normal readers demonstrated the WSE, but their pseudoword advantage was less than adults. The dyslexic children showed no WSE at all. PDP computer simulations for the experimental data using the Interactive Activation model (IA) suggested that the orthographic components of the lexical system of normal children are interactive and distributed as they are in adults but provide less bottom-up activation. In addition, topdown processing increases with age and reading skill, but may be absent for dyslexic readers.

A developmental perspective on dyslexic subtypes

In this paper we apply a developmental model of reading to the question of dyslexic subtypes. Groups of normal readers (n=40) and dyslexic children (n=50), matched on reading level and IQ, were given a comprehensive test battery measuring level of development of visual, phonological, and orthographic skills. As a group, dyslexics deviated from normal readers of equivalent reading achievement primarily in phonological skills (spelling-to-sound translation and phonemic analysis), although limited differences in knowledge of word-specific spellings were also observed. Dyslexics were superior to the younger normal readers in visual processing of print. Analysis of individual data by reference to the reading level control group revealed three major subgroups: a group with a specific deficit in phonological processing of print (52 percent), a group with deficits in processing both the phonological and orthographic features of printed words (24 percent), and a group with phonological deficits in language (8 percent). The remainder of the sample (16 percent) had specific deficits in visual or orthographic processing of print, in spelling, or did not differ from the control group. The data support the view that most developmental dyslexics have a specific language disorder involving some aspect of phonological processing. However, small subgroups with very different configurations of reading and nonreading difficulties may exist as well.

Normal and Disabled Readers' Use of Orthographic Structure in Processing Print

Two experiments examined whether normal and disabled readers differed in the ability to use orthographic structure information to process printed material. Experiment 1 required subjects to search for a target letter in a six-letter stimulus array held in memory. Experiment 2 required subjects to make word-nonword decisions. Stimulus arrays for both experiments were words and nonwords varying in orthographic regularity and positional frequency. The results of Experiment 1 showed that both disabled and normal readers were able to perform the memory search task more accurately for letter strings high in either type of orthographic structure. In Experiment 2, disabled and younger normal readers produced decision times reflecting greater sensitivity than older normal readers to orthographic regularity. The finding that disabled readers use orthographic structure information to the same extent, and, under some circumstances, to a greater extent than normal readers supports the interactive-compensatory model of reading proposed by Stanovich (1980).

Contextual Effects on Reading of Individual Words by Reading Disabled Adolescents with Specific Learning Disabilities

Word recognition involves both decoding of word sounds and retrieval of the meaning of a word. This study examined the influence of context on both decoding and meaning recognition. Reading disabled adolescents with specific learning disabilities were compared to normal adolescent readers and young normal readers. The results showed that (a) context facilitated both decoding and meaning recognition for all readers, and (b) reading disabled adolescents showed deficits on both tasks. Some reading disabled adolescents had primary difficulty in decoding while others demonstrated primary difficulty in meaning recognition. No evidence was found of a specific deficit in reading disabled adolescents' use of context.

Phonetic coding in dyslexics and normal readers

Young normal readers and older severely deficient readers showed markedly and similarly poorer recall for rhyming vs. nonrhyming letter strings. This result is contrary to recent proposals attributing a phonetic code deficiency to deficient readers.