Vowel dyslexia in Turkish: A window to the complex structure of the sublexical route

We report on developmental vowel dyslexia, a type of dyslexia that selectively affects the reading aloud of vowel letters. We identified this dyslexia in 55 Turkish-readers aged 9–10, and made an in-depth multiple-case analysis of the reading of 17 participants whose vowel dyslexia was relatively selective. These participants made significantly more vowel errors (vowel substitution, omission, migration, and addition) than age-matched controls, and significantly more errors in vowel letters than in consonants. Vowel harmony, a pivotal property of Turkish phonology, was intact and the majority of their vowel errors yielded harmonic responses. The transparent character of Turkish orthography indicates that vowel dyslexia is not related to ambiguity in vowel conversion. The dyslexia did not result from a deficit in the phonological-output stage, as the participants did not make vowel errors in nonword repetition or in repeating words they had read with a vowel error. The locus of the deficit was not in the orthographic-visual-analyzer either, as their same-different decision on words differing in vowels was intact, and so was their written-word comprehension. They made significantly more errors on nonwords than on words, indicating that their deficit was in vowel processing in the sublexical route. Given that their single-vowels conversion was intact, and that they showed an effect of the number of vowels, we conclude that their deficit is in a vowel-specific buffer in the sublexical route. They did not make vowel errors within suffixes, indicating that suffixes are converted as wholes in a separate sublexical sub-route. These results have theoretical implications for the dual-route model: they indicate that the sublexical route converts vowels and consonants separately, that the sublexical route includes a vowel buffer, and a separate morphological conversion route. The results also indicate that types of dyslexia can be detected in transparent languages given detailed error-analysis and dyslexia-relevant stimuli.

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Reading Aloud

Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie) ◽

10.1027/1618-3169.54.3.215 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 54 (3) ◽

pp. 215-224 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Chris Blais ◽

Derek Besner

Keyword(s):

Reading Aloud ◽

Central Feature ◽

Additive Effects ◽

Stimulus Quality ◽

Cascaded Model ◽

Dual Route ◽

Dual Route Model

Abstract. A central feature of many formal accounts of reading aloud, and of Coltheart and colleagues dual-route cascaded model in particular, is that activation across various modules is cascaded. Evidence is reviewed that this assumption is problematic in a particular context, along with a solution that involves thresholding the output of the letter level to the nonlexical routine. Consideration of the known effects of repetition leads to the prediction of a three-way interaction between stimulus quality, repetition, and lexicality in which repetition and stimulus quality interact when reading aloud exception words, but produce additive effects when reading aloud nonwords. The result of such an experiment confirms this prediction, and appears consistent with the localized dual-route model. Implications for other accounts are briefly noted.

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Taking the sublexical route: brain dynamics of reading in the semantic variant of primary progressive aphasia

Brain ◽

10.1093/brain/awaa212 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 143 (8) ◽

pp. 2545-2560

Author(s):

Valentina Borghesani ◽

Leighton B N Hinkley ◽

Kamalini G Ranasinghe ◽

Megan M C Thompson ◽

Wendy Shwe ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Temporal Lobe ◽

Neural Activity ◽

Reading Aloud ◽

Primary Progressive Aphasia ◽

Anterior Temporal Lobe ◽

Progressive Aphasia ◽

Primary Progressive ◽

Dual Route ◽

Semantic Variant ◽

Dual Route Model

Abstract Reading aloud requires mapping an orthographic form to a phonological one. The mapping process relies on sublexical statistical regularities (e.g. ‘oo’ to |uː|) or on learned lexical associations between a specific visual form and a series of sounds (e.g. yacht to/jɑt/). Computational, neuroimaging, and neuropsychological evidence suggest that sublexical, phonological and lexico-semantic processes rely on partially distinct neural substrates: a dorsal (occipito-parietal) and a ventral (occipito-temporal) route, respectively. Here, we investigated the spatiotemporal features of orthography-to-phonology mapping, capitalizing on the time resolution of magnetoencephalography and the unique clinical model offered by patients with semantic variant of primary progressive aphasia (svPPA). Behaviourally, patients with svPPA manifest marked lexico-semantic impairments including difficulties in reading words with exceptional orthographic to phonological correspondence (irregular words). Moreover, they present with focal neurodegeneration in the anterior temporal lobe, affecting primarily the ventral, occipito-temporal, lexical route. Therefore, this clinical population allows for testing of specific hypotheses on the neural implementation of the dual-route model for reading, such as whether damage to one route can be compensated by over-reliance on the other. To this end, we reconstructed and analysed time-resolved whole-brain activity in 12 svPPA patients and 12 healthy age-matched control subjects while reading irregular words (e.g. yacht) and pseudowords (e.g. pook). Consistent with previous findings that the dorsal route is involved in sublexical, phonological processes, in control participants we observed enhanced neural activity over dorsal occipito-parietal cortices for pseudowords, when compared to irregular words. This activation was manifested in the beta-band (12–30 Hz), ramping up slowly over 500 ms after stimulus onset and peaking at ∼800 ms, around response selection and production. Consistent with our prediction, svPPA patients did not exhibit this temporal pattern of neural activity observed in controls this contrast. Furthermore, a direct comparison of neural activity between patients and controls revealed a dorsal spatiotemporal cluster during irregular word reading. These findings suggest that the sublexical/phonological route is involved in processing both irregular and pseudowords in svPPA. Together these results provide further evidence supporting a dual-route model for reading aloud mediated by the interplay between lexico-semantic and sublexical/phonological neurocognitive systems. When the ventral route is damaged, as in the case of neurodegeneration affecting the anterior temporal lobe, partial compensation appears to be possible by over-recruitment of the slower, serial attention-dependent, dorsal one.

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Reading monomorphemic and compound words in Chinese

The Mental Lexicon ◽

10.1075/ml.12.1.01cui ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. 1-20

Author(s):

Lei Cui ◽

Tuomo Häikiö ◽

Wenxin Zhang ◽

Yuwei Zheng ◽

Jukka Hyönä

Keyword(s):

Lexical Decision ◽

Word Type ◽

Morphological Processing ◽

Frequency Effect ◽

Word Frequency Effect ◽

Compound Words ◽

Recognition Time ◽

Speed Up ◽

Dual Route ◽

Dual Route Model

Abstract Two lexical decision experiments were conducted to study the recognition of two-character Chinese monomorphemic and compound words by adult native Chinese readers. In Experiment 1, the words appeared non-spaced, whereas in Experiment 2 a space was inserted between the two characters. An interaction between word type and spacing reflects a trend for spacing to slow down the recognition of monomorphemic words and speed up that of compound words. The word frequency effect was steeper for monomorphemic than compound words. The number of strokes in the first and the second character influenced the recognition time for compound words, but not for monomorphemic words. The results are interpreted in the light of the parallel dual route model of morphological processing. The holistic route is more prevalent in recognizing Chinese monomorphemic, while the morphological decomposition route is more prevalent in processing Chinese compound words.

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Dyslexic Subtypes and Literacy Skills in L2 Opaque English

Toegepaste Taalwetenschap in Artikelen ◽

10.1075/ttwia.81.07hai ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 81 ◽

pp. 65-74 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Joyce Haisma

Keyword(s):

Developmental Dyslexia ◽

Literacy Skills ◽

Transparent Orthography ◽

Orthographic Depth ◽

Reverse Pattern ◽

Dual Route ◽

Dual Route Model ◽

Surface Dyslexia

In theory, opaque orthographies should pose more difficulties for people with developmental dyslexia than transparent ones. (Frost, 2005). However, studies (Miller-Guron & Lundberg, 2000; Van der Leij & Morfidi, 2006) show that some people with dyslexia are better at reading L2 English than their L1 transparent orthography. The current study suggests that they have a form of dyslexia known as phonological dyslexia. On the basis of the dual-route model (Coltheart, 2005), it is proposed that membership of a dyslexic subtype - phonological or surface - influences success in dealing with orthographic depth. To test this, Dutch teenagers with phonological and surface dyslexia performed Dutch and English orthographic competence and spelling tasks. The results seem to indicate that people with phonological dyslexia are more successful in reading English as an L2 opaque than Dutch as an L1 transparent orthography; however, in the case of spelling, the reverse pattern is observed.

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Oral reading in bilingual aphasia: Evidence from Mongolian and Chinese

Bilingualism Language and Cognition ◽

10.1017/s1366728907002945 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 201-210 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

BRENDAN STUART WEEKES ◽

I FAN SU ◽

WENGANG YIN ◽

XIHONG ZHANG

Keyword(s):

Language Processing ◽

Oral Reading ◽

Word Processing ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Writing Systems ◽

Word Comprehension ◽

Bilingual Aphasia ◽

Written Word ◽

Cognitive Neuropsychological ◽

The Brain

Cognitive neuropsychological studies of bilingual patients with aphasia have contributed to our understanding of how the brain processes different languages. The question we asked is whether differences in script have any impact on language processing in bilingual aphasic patients who speak languages with different writing systems: Chinese and Mongolian. We observed a pattern of greater impairment to written word comprehension and oral reading in L2 (Chinese) than in L1 (Mongolian) for two patients. We argue that differences in script have only a minimal effect on written word processing in bilingual aphasia when the age of acquisition, word frequency and imageability of lexical items is controlled. Our conclusion is that reading of familiar words in Mongolian and Chinese might not require independent cognitive systems or brain regions.

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A Computational Study into the Evolution of Dual-Route Dynamics for Affective Processing

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/089892903321208132 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 15 (2) ◽

pp. 194-208 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Paul den Dulk ◽

Bram T. Heerebout ◽

R. Hans Phaf

Keyword(s):

Neural Network ◽

Neural Networks ◽

Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

Computational Study ◽

Avoidance Reaction ◽

Affective Processing ◽

Dual Processing ◽

Dual Route ◽

Dual Route Model ◽

Artificial World

The evolutionary justification by LeDoux (1996) for his dual-route model of fear processing was analyzed computationally by applying genetic algorithms to artificial neural networks. The evolution was simulated of a neural network controlling an agent that gathered food in an artificial world and that was occasionally menaced by a predator. Connections could not change in the agent's “lifetime,” so there was no learning in the simulations. Only if the smells of food and predator were hard to distinguish and the fitness reflected time pressures in escaping from the predator did the type of dual processing postulated by LeDoux emerge in the surviving agents. Processing in the “quick and dirty” pathway of the fear system ensured avoidance of both predators and food, but a distinction between food and predator was made only in the long pathway. Elaborate processing inhibited the avoidance reaction and reversed it into an approach reaction to food, but strengthened the avoidance reaction to predators (and more finely tuned the direction of escape). It is suggested that “computational neuroethology” (Beer, 1990) may help constrain reasoning in evolutionary psychology, particularly when applied to specific neurobiological models, and in the future may even generate new hypotheses for cognitive neuroscience.

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Zeading and reazing: Which is faster? The position of the diverging letter in a pseudoword determines reading time

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology ◽

10.1080/17470210600847842 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 60 (7) ◽

pp. 1005-1014 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Claudio Mulatti ◽

Francesca Peressotti ◽

Remo Job

Keyword(s):

Reading Time ◽

Reading Aloud ◽

Reading Process ◽

Lexical Knowledge ◽

Present Evidence ◽

Pseudoword Reading ◽

Dual Route

We present evidence that (a) at least some components of the reading process are serial and (b) pseudoword reading is affected by lexical knowledge, even in a transparent orthographic system like Italian. Pseudowords deriving from five-letter words by changing either the first or the fourth letter were presented for reading aloud. Results showed an effect of the position of the diverging letter: Early diverging pseudowords were read more slowly than late diverging pseudowords. The dual-route cascaded (DRC) model (Coltheart, Rastle, Perry, Langdon, & Ziegler, 2001) successfully simulated the behavioural data.

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Short Article: Tracking the Transition from Sublexical to Lexical Processing: On the Creation of Orthographic and Phonological Lexical Representations

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology ◽

10.1080/17470210802578385 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 62 (5) ◽

pp. 858-867 ◽

Cited By ~ 24

Author(s):

Erin Maloney ◽

Evan F. Risko ◽

Shannon O'Malley ◽

Derek Besner

Keyword(s):

Lexical Processing ◽

Reading Aloud ◽

Read Aloud ◽

The Novel ◽

Short Article ◽

Standard Result ◽

Lexical Representations ◽

Lexical Route ◽

Lower Case ◽

Dual Route

Participants read aloud nonword letter strings, one at a time, which varied in the number of letters. The standard result is observed in two experiments; the time to begin reading aloud increases as letter length increases. This result is standardly understood as reflecting the operation of a serial, left-to-right translation of graphemes into phonemes. The novel result is that the effect of letter length is statistically eliminated by a small number of repetitions. This elimination suggests that these nonwords are no longer always being read aloud via a serial left-to-right sublexical process. Instead, the data are taken as evidence that new orthographic and phonological lexical entries have been created for these nonwords and are now read at least sometimes by recourse to the lexical route. Experiment 2 replicates the interaction between nonword letter length and repetition observed in Experiment 1 and also demonstrates that this interaction is not seen when participants merely classify the string as appearing in upper or lower case. Implications for existing dual-route models of reading aloud and Share's self-teaching hypothesis are discussed.

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Preserved Imitation of Known Gestures in Children with High-Functioning Autism

ISRN Neurology ◽

10.1155/2013/751516 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 2013 ◽

pp. 1-8 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Joana C. Carmo ◽

Raffaella I. Rumiati ◽

Roma Siugzdaite ◽

Paolo Brambilla

Keyword(s):

High Functioning Autism ◽

Children With Autism ◽

Typically Developing ◽

Typically Developing Children ◽

High Functioning ◽

Action Imitation ◽

Dual Route ◽

Dual Route Model ◽

Transitive Gestures ◽

Better Than

It has been suggested that children with autism are particularly deficient at imitating novel gestures or gestures without goals. In the present study, we asked high-functioning autistic children and age-matched typically developing children to imitate several types of gestures that could be either already known or novel to them. Known gestures either conveyed a communicative meaning (i.e., intransitive) or involved the use of objects (i.e., transitive). We observed a significant interaction between gesture type and group of participants, with children with autism performing known gestures better than novel gestures. However, imitation of intransitive and transitive gestures did not differ across groups. These findings are discussed in light of a dual-route model for action imitation.

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