Speed and accuracy of dyslexic versus typical word recognition: an eye-movement investigation

Kunert, R. and Scheepers, C. (2014) Speed and accuracy of dyslexic versus typical word recognition: an eye-movement investigation. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, p. 1129. (doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01129)

Abstract

Developmental dyslexia is often characterized by a dual deficit in both word recognition accuracy and general processing speed. While previous research into dyslexic word recognition may have suffered from speed-accuracy trade-off, the present study employed a novel eye tracking task that is less prone to such confounds. Participants (10 dyslexics and 12 controls) were asked to look at real word stimuli, and to ignore simultaneously presented non-word stimuli, while their eye-movements were recorded. Improvements in word recognition accuracy over time were modeled in terms of a continuous non-linear function. The words’ rhyme consistency and the non-words’ lexicality (unpronounceable, pronounceable, pseudohomophone) were manipulated within-subjects. Speed related measures derived from the model fits confirmed generally slower processing in dyslexics, and showed a rhyme consistency effect in both dyslexics and controls. In terms of overall error rate, dyslexics (but not controls) performed less accurately on rhyme-inconsistent words, suggesting a representational deficit for such words in dyslexics. Interestingly, neither group showed a pseudohomophone effect in speed or accuracy, which might call the task-independent pervasiveness of this effect into question. The present results illustrate the importance of distinguishing between speed- vs. accuracy related effects for our understanding of dyslexic word recognition.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Scheepers, Dr Christoph
• Authors: Kunert, R., and Scheepers, C.
• Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Psychology & Neuroscience
• Journal Name: Frontiers in Psychology
• Publisher: Frontiers Research Foundation
• ISSN: 1664-1078
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2014 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Frontiers in Psychology 5:1129
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License