Early detection of sublexical and lexical processing in beginning readers: evidence from Steady-State Visual Evoked Potentials (SSVEPs)

There are multiple levels of processing relevant to reading that vary in their visual, sublexical and lexical orthographic processing demands. Segregating distinct cortical sources for each of these levels has been challenging in EEG studies of early readers. To address this challenge, we applied recent advances in analyzing high-density EEG using Steady-State Visual Evoked Potentials (SSVEPs) via data-driven Reliable Components Analysis (RCA) in a group of early readers spanning from kindergarten to second grade. Three controlled stimulus contrasts---familiar words versus unfamiliar pseudofonts, familiar words versus orthographically legal pseudowords, and orthographically legal pseudowords versus orthographically illegal nonwords---were used to isolate visual print/letter selectivity, sublexical processing, and lexical processing, respectively. We found robust responses specific to each of these processing levels, even in kindergarteners who have limited knowledge of print. Moreover, comparing amplitudes of these three stimulus contrasts across three reading fluency-based groups and three grade-based groups revealed fluency group and grade group main effects only for lexical contrast (i.e., words versus orthographically legal pseudowords). Furthermore, we found that sublexical orthography-related responses shifted their topographic distribution from the right to left hemisphere from kindergarten to first and second grades. Results suggest that, with more sensitive measures, the sublexical and lexical fine tuning for words---as a bio-marker of reading ability---can be detected at a much earlier stage than previously assumed.

The Main Character of the Book of Esther: The Contribution of the Textual Divisions and the Assigned Titles of the Book of Esther to Uncovering Its Protagonist

Scrutiny of the traditional textual divisions of the Hebrew version of the book of Esther—the sedarim, the Hebrew paragraphs and the Latin chapters – throws light on whom some ancient readers thought was the main character (protagonist) of the book. The sedarim appear to favour Mordecai’s role over Esther’s in the events narrated, whereas the positioning of the Hebrew paragraph breaks apportions attention more evenly between Esther and Mordecai, who each sought the welfare of the Jewish people. The chapter divisions show an interest in all three leading characters namely, Esther, Mordecai and Ahasuerus. In terms of assigned titles, the book was given the alternate names of Esther and Ahasuerus. It is plain, therefore, that early readers did not come to a settled conclusion as to who is the main character; however, it is clear that the role of Ahasuerus cannot be ignored and that the Persian king must be a candidate for the main character of the book.

A Nuremberg Chymist and a Torgau Astrologer Read Pseudo-Weigel

This chapter introduces two early readers of pseudo-Weigelian texts on the alchemical rebirth as representative of two different avenues by which this conception could have reached Jacob Boehme. Johann Siebmacher, a chymist in Nuremberg, penned a treatise that discussed the subject in 1607. It was printed a decade later under the title Wasserstein der Weysen (Water-stone of the wise). Boehme praised this work in a letter mistakenly dated 1622. Once the date is corrected to 1624, it becomes clear that Boehme only read the Wasserstein shortly before his death. This renders Paul Nagel, a millenarian and astrologer who corresponded with Boehme, the more likely source for Boehme’s spiritual alchemy of rebirth. Nagel not only copied relevant pseudo-Weigelian texts but also integrated their ideas on alchemical rebirth into his own manuscript treatises.

Mary Anne Atwood and Her First Readers

This chapter shows how the earliest readers of the Suggestive Inquiry into the Hermetic Mystery perceived its mystical bent and distinguished it from other interpretations of alchemy that denied its laboratory operations. Initially, Mary Anne South closely managed the circulation of the few remaining copies of her work. After she was widowed as Mrs Atwood in 1885, she became more forthcoming and shared exemplars with several London-based occultists, most of them associated with the Theosophical Society. Early readers such as Arthur Edward Waite and Patience Sinnett esteemed the Suggestive Inquiry more highly than the moral interpretation of alchemy proposed by Ethan Allen Hitchcock in the United States and other alternatives. Isabelle de Steiger became Atwood’s closest friend and guardian of her intellectual legacy. To her dying day, Atwood herself insisted on the importance of the spiritual alchemy of rebirth.

The role of metacognition in monitoring performance and regulating learning in early readers

Metacognition refers to the capacity to reflect upon our own cognitive processes and its contribution to learning and academic achievement remains subject to ongoing debate. However, little is known about its developmental trajectories when children begin to receive formal education in reading. Here, we evaluate the metacognitive efficiency of children aged between 6 and 7 years old (N=60) in four reading-related linguistic discrimination tasks and one non-linguistic task unrelated to reading skills. First, we investigated how metacognition on these tasks related to performance measured in standardized reading tests and to sensitivity indexes in the reading-related linguistic tasks. Second, we assessed whether these developing readers recruited common metacognitive mechanisms across the different task domains. Third, we explored whether metacognition in this early stage was related to the longitudinal improvement in performance in a linguistic and a non-linguistic task. No association was found between students’ metacognition in the reading-related linguistic tasks and performance on the standardized reading tests, notwithstanding performance correlated across these tasks. We found some evidence consistent with shared metacognitive mechanisms monitoring performance across tasks. Remarkably, metacognitive ability significantly predicted children’s performance improvement across domains a year later. These results suggest that the development of metacognitive processing may be dissociated to some extent from reading-related linguistic abilities and non-linguistic abilities during the early stages of formal education. Nevertheless, it may play a fundamental role in guiding students' learning across domains. These data highlight the importance of creating educational programs fostering students’ metacognition as a long-term learning tool.

Sociability, Censorship and the Limits of Ridicule from Shaftesbury to Hutcheson

This chapter discusses Sensus Communis: An Essay on the Freedom of Wit and Humour. The Sensus Communis became the urtext of the ridicule debate for the remainder of the century. The chapter situates Sensus Communis in its political context and shows how Shaftesbury's commitment to ridicule received an early test when the High Churchman Henry Sacheverell used a sermon at St Paul's Cathedral to mock Whig pieties concerning toleration. By agreeing with Whig efforts to suppress Sacheverell's sermonizing through parliamentary impeachment, Shaftesbury conceded that the coercive power of the state was sometimes needed to create space for the more sociable exchanges he preferred. The chapter concludes in the 1720s with two of Shaftesbury's most influential early readers: Bernard Mandeville and Francis Hutcheson. The chapter shows that it was in the disagreement between these two philosophers (one a champion of Shaftesbury, the other his most trenchant critic), that the significance of ridicule to the debate on sociability comes truly into focus.

Supporting Acquisition of Spelling Skills in Different Orthographies Using an Empirically Validated Digital Learning Environment

This paper discusses how the association learning principle works for supporting acquisition of basic spelling and reading skills using digital game-based learning environment with the Finland-based GraphoLearn (GL) technology. This program has been designed and validated to work with early readers of different alphabetic writing systems using repetition and reinforcing connections between spoken and written units. Initially GL was developed and found effective in training children at risk of reading disorders in Finland. Today GL training has been shown to support learning decoding skills among children independent of whether they face difficulties resulting from educational, social, or biological reasons.