Orthographic and phonetic coding in developmental dyslexia

Abstract

Memory coding in dyslexic readers and reading-age-matched controls was investigated using cued recall. In the first phase of the experiment subjects made rhyme judgements about pairs of words. In the second phase one member of each pair (the cue) was used to cue recall of the other member of the pair (the target). Cues and targets were either rhyming and orthographically similar, rhyming and orthographically distinct, orthographically similar and not rhyming, or unrelated. Dyslexics were as accurate at detecting rhyme compared to the reading-age-matched controls; however, they were slower and were subject to a greater orthography effect (Seidenberg & Tanenhaus, 1979). Overall memory performance did not differ between the two groups. However, dyslexics were found to make more use of an orthographic code with both visual and auditory presentation. They made less use of a phonetic code in the visual but not the auditory condition. The results support the view that dyslexics have less easy access to a phonological code in memory, but they are able to compensate for this by increased use of a visual/orthographic code.

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