ERIC Number: EJ1043800
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2014-Oct
Pages: 20
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0736-9387
EISSN: N/A
Dyslexic and Skilled Reading Dynamics Are Self-Similar
Holden, John G.; Greijn, Lieke T.; van Rooij, Marieke M. J. W.; Wijnants, Maarten L.; Bosman, Anna M. T.
Annals of Dyslexia, v64 n3 p202-221 Oct 2014
The shape of a word pronunciation time distribution supplies information about the dynamic interactions that support reading performance. Speeded word-naming pronunciation and response time distributions were collected from 20 sixth grade Dutch students with dyslexia and 23 age-matched controls. The participants' pronunciation times were modeled and contrasted with a lognormal inverse power-law mixture distribution. Identical contrasts were also conducted on the same participants' response time distributions derived from flanker, color-naming, and arithmetic tasks. Results indicated that children with dyslexia yield slower, broader, and more variable pronunciation time distributions than their age-matched counterparts. This difference approximated a self-similar rescaling between the two group's aggregate pronunciation time distributions. Moreover, children with dyslexia produced similar, but less prominent trends toward slower and more variable performance across the three non-reading tasks. The outcomes support a proportional continuum rather than a localized deficit account of dyslexia. The mixture distribution's success at describing the participants' pronunciation and response time distributions suggests that differences in proportional contingencies among low-level neurophysiological, perceptual, and cognitive processes likely play a prominent role in the etiology of dyslexia.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Dyslexia, Pronunciation, Reading Skills, Naming, Word Recognition, Reaction Time, Grade 6, Comparative Analysis, Arithmetic, Color, Neurological Impairments, Cognitive Ability, Etiology
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Grade 6; Intermediate Grades; Middle Schools; Elementary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Netherlands
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A