Reading-Induced Shifts in Speech Perception in Dyslexic and Typically Reading Children

Linda Romanovska*, Roef Janssen, Milene Bonte

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

One of the proposed mechanisms underlying reading difficulties observed in developmental dyslexia is impaired mapping of visual to auditory speech representations. We investigate these mappings in 20 typically reading and 20 children with dyslexia aged 8-10 years using text-based recalibration. In this paradigm, the pairing of visual text and ambiguous speech sounds shifts (recalibrates) the participant's perception of the ambiguous speech in subsequent auditory-only post-test trials. Recent research in adults demonstrated this text-induced perceptual shift in typical, but not in dyslexic readers. Our current results instead show significant text-induced recalibration in both typically reading children and children with dyslexia. The strength of this effect was significantly linked to the strength of perceptual adaptation effects in children with dyslexia but not typically reading children. Furthermore, additional analyses in a sample of typically reading children of various reading levels revealed a significant link between recalibration and phoneme categorization. Taken together, our study highlights the importance of considering dynamic developmental changes in reading, letter-speech sound coupling and speech perception when investigating group differences between typical and dyslexic readers.

Original languageEnglish
Article number221
Number of pages13
JournalFrontiers in Psychology
Volume10
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 7 Feb 2019

Keywords

  • reading development
  • dyslexia
  • letter-speech sound coupling
  • recalibration
  • adaptation
  • DEVELOPMENTAL DYSLEXIA
  • PHONETIC RECALIBRATION
  • SELECTIVE ADAPTATION
  • VISUAL RECALIBRATION
  • PHONOLOGICAL BINDING
  • AUDITORY SPEECH
  • DEFICIT
  • INTEGRATION
  • BRAIN
  • ATTENTION

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