Abstract
For about 10% of children reading acquisition is extremely difficult because they are affected by a heritable neurobiological disorder called developmental dyslexia (DD), mainly associated to an auditory-phonological disorder. Visual crowding is a universal phenomenon that impairs the recognition of stimuli in clutter, such as a letter in a word or a word in a text. Several studies have shown an excessive crowding in individuals with DD, but the causal link between excessive crowding and DD is not yet clearly established. An excessive crowding might be, indeed, a simple effect of DD due to reduced reading experience. The results of five experiments in 181 children reveal that: (i)an excessive crowding only at unattended locations characterizes an unselected group of children with DD (Experiment 1); (ii)an extra-large spaced text increases reading accuracy by reducing crowding in an unselected group of children with DD (Experiment 2); (iii)efficient attentional action video game trainings reduce crowding and accelerate reading speed in two unselected groups of children with DD (Experiment 3 and 4), and; (iv)pre-reading crowding longitudinally predicts future poor readers (Experiment 5). Our results show multiple causal links between visual crowding and learning to read. These findings provide new insights for a more efficient remediation and prevention for DD.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 107-117 |
| Journal | Neuropsychologia |
| Volume | 130 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jan 1 2019 |
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Keywords
- Dyslexia predictors
- Dyslexia remediation
- Reading disability
- Spatial attention
- Visual perception
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Behavioral Neuroscience
Cite this
Is excessive visual crowding causally linked to developmental dyslexia? / Bertoni, Sara; Franceschini, Sandro; Ronconi, Luca; Gori, Simone; Facoetti, Andrea.
In: Neuropsychologia, Vol. 130, 01.01.2019, p. 107-117.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Is excessive visual crowding causally linked to developmental dyslexia?
AU - Bertoni, Sara
AU - Franceschini, Sandro
AU - Ronconi, Luca
AU - Gori, Simone
AU - Facoetti, Andrea
PY - 2019/1/1
Y1 - 2019/1/1
N2 - For about 10% of children reading acquisition is extremely difficult because they are affected by a heritable neurobiological disorder called developmental dyslexia (DD), mainly associated to an auditory-phonological disorder. Visual crowding is a universal phenomenon that impairs the recognition of stimuli in clutter, such as a letter in a word or a word in a text. Several studies have shown an excessive crowding in individuals with DD, but the causal link between excessive crowding and DD is not yet clearly established. An excessive crowding might be, indeed, a simple effect of DD due to reduced reading experience. The results of five experiments in 181 children reveal that: (i)an excessive crowding only at unattended locations characterizes an unselected group of children with DD (Experiment 1); (ii)an extra-large spaced text increases reading accuracy by reducing crowding in an unselected group of children with DD (Experiment 2); (iii)efficient attentional action video game trainings reduce crowding and accelerate reading speed in two unselected groups of children with DD (Experiment 3 and 4), and; (iv)pre-reading crowding longitudinally predicts future poor readers (Experiment 5). Our results show multiple causal links between visual crowding and learning to read. These findings provide new insights for a more efficient remediation and prevention for DD.
AB - For about 10% of children reading acquisition is extremely difficult because they are affected by a heritable neurobiological disorder called developmental dyslexia (DD), mainly associated to an auditory-phonological disorder. Visual crowding is a universal phenomenon that impairs the recognition of stimuli in clutter, such as a letter in a word or a word in a text. Several studies have shown an excessive crowding in individuals with DD, but the causal link between excessive crowding and DD is not yet clearly established. An excessive crowding might be, indeed, a simple effect of DD due to reduced reading experience. The results of five experiments in 181 children reveal that: (i)an excessive crowding only at unattended locations characterizes an unselected group of children with DD (Experiment 1); (ii)an extra-large spaced text increases reading accuracy by reducing crowding in an unselected group of children with DD (Experiment 2); (iii)efficient attentional action video game trainings reduce crowding and accelerate reading speed in two unselected groups of children with DD (Experiment 3 and 4), and; (iv)pre-reading crowding longitudinally predicts future poor readers (Experiment 5). Our results show multiple causal links between visual crowding and learning to read. These findings provide new insights for a more efficient remediation and prevention for DD.
KW - Dyslexia predictors
KW - Dyslexia remediation
KW - Reading disability
KW - Spatial attention
KW - Visual perception
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85065762187&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85065762187&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.04.018
DO - 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.04.018
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85065762187
VL - 130
SP - 107
EP - 117
JO - Neuropsychologia
JF - Neuropsychologia
SN - 0028-3932
ER -