Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Evidence for a preserved sensitivity to orthographic redundancy and an impaired access to phonological syllables in French developmental dyslexics

  • Published:
Annals of Dyslexia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

To evaluate the orthographic and phonological processing skills of developmental dyslexics, we (a) examined their abilities to exploit properties of orthographic redundancy and (b) tested whether their phonological deficit extends to spelling-to-sound connections for large-grain size units such as syllables. To assess the processing skills in dyslexics, we utilized the illusory conjunction paradigm to investigate the nature of reading units in French dyslexic and control children matched in reading age. In control children, reading units were defined by both orthographic redundancy and phonological syllable information. In dyslexics, however, reading units were defined only by orthographic redundancy. Therefore, despite their impairment in reading acquisition, developmental dyslexics have the ability to encode and exploit letter frequency co-occurrences. In contrast, their access to phonological syllables from letters was impaired, suggesting that their phonological deficit extends to large grain-size phonological units.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adams, M. J. (1979). Models of word recognition. Cognitive Psychology, 11, 133–176.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Adams, M. J. (1981). What good is orthographic redundancy? In O. J. L. Tzeng & H. Singer (Eds.), Perception of print: reading research in experimental psychology (pp. 197–221). Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Álvarez, C., Carreiras, M., & Perea, M. (2004). Are syllables phonological units in visual word recognition? Language & Cognitive Processes, 19, 427–452.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Apel, K. (2010). Kindergarten children’s initial spoken and written word learning in a storybook context. Scientific Studies of Reading, 14(5), 400–463.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Apel, K. (2011). What is orthographic knowledge. Language Speech and Hearing Services in Schools, 42, 592–603.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Backman, J. E., Mamen, M., & Ferguson, H. B. (1984). Reading level design: Conceptual and methodological issues in reading research. Psychological Bulletin, 96, 560–568.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Binder, J. R., Medler, D. A., Westbury, C. F., Liebenthal, E., & Buchanan, L. (2006). Tuning of the human left fusyform gyrus to sublexical orthographic structure. NeuroImage, 33, 739–745.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blau, V., Reithler, J., van Atteveldt, N., Seitz, J., Gerretsen, P., Goebel, R., & Blomert, L. (2010). Deviant processing of letters and speech sounds as proximate cause of reading failure: A functional magnetic resonance imaging study of dyslexic children. Brain, 133(3), 868–879.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blomert, L. (2010). The neural signature of orthographic–phonological binding in successful and failing reading development. NeuroImage, 57(3), 695–703.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boada, R., & Pennington, B. F. (2006). Deficient implicit phonological representations in children with dyslexia. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 95, 153–193.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bosse, M. L., Tainturier, M. J., & Valdois, S. (2007). Developmental dyslexia: The visual attention span deficit hypothesis. Cognition, 104, 198–230.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bryant, P. E., & Goswami, U. (1987). Phonological awareness and learning to read. In J. Beech & A. Colley (Eds.), Cognitive approaches to reading (pp. 213–243). Chichester: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carreiras, M., Alvarez, J. C., & De Vega, M. (1993). Syllable frequency and visual word recognition in Spanish. Journal of Memory and Language, 32, 766–780.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chetail, F., & Mathey, S. (2009a). The syllable frequency effect in visual recognition of French words: A study in skilled and beginning readers. Reading & Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 22, 955–973.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chetail, F., & Mathey, S. (2009b). Syllable priming in lexical decision and naming tasks: The syllable congruency effect re-examined in French. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 63(1), 40–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Colé, P., Magnan, A., & Grainger, J. (1999). Syllable-sized units in visual word recognition: Evidence from skilled and beginning readers of French. Applied PsychoLinguistics, 20, 507–532.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Colé, P., & Sprenger-Charolles, L. (1999). Traitement syllabique au cours de la reconnaissance de mots écrits chez des enfants dyslexiques, lecteurs en retard et normolecteurs de 11 ans. Revue de Neuropsychologie, 9(4), 323–360.

    Google Scholar 

  • Conners, C. K. (1990). Conners' Abbreviated Symptom Questionnaire: Parent Version, Teacher Version Manual. Multi-Health Systems, Toronto.

  • Conrad, M., Grainger, J., & Jacobs, A. M. (2007). Phonology as the source of syllable frequency effects in visual word recognition: Evidence from French. Memory & Cognition, 35(5), 974–983.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Content, A., Mousty, P., & Radeau, M. (1990). Brulex: Une base de données lexicales informatisée pour le francais écrit et parlé. L'Année Psychologique, 90, 551–566.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cunningham, A. E., Perry, K. E., Stanovich, K. E., & Share, D. L. (2002). Orthographic learning during reading: Examining the role of self teaching. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 82, 185–199.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Gelder, B., & Vroomen, J. (1996). Auditory illusions as evidence for a role of the syllable in adult developmental dyslexics. Brain and Language, 52, 373–385.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dehaene, S., Cohen, L., Sigman, M., & Vinckier, F. (2005). The neural code for written words: A proposal. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 9(7), 335–340.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doignon, N., & Zagar, D. (2005). Illusory conjunctions in French: The nature of sublexical units in visual word recognition. Language & Cognitive Processes, 20(3), 443–464.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doignon, N., & Zagar, D. (2006). Les enfants en cours d’apprentissage de la lecture perçoivent-ils les syllabes à l’écrit? Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 60(4), 258–274.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doignon-Camus, N., & Zagar, D. (2009). Les enfants apprentis lecteurs perçoivent-ils la syllabe à l’écrit ? Le modèle DIAMS. In N. Marec-Breton, A.S. Besse, F. de La Haye, N. Bonneton, & E. Bonjour. Apprentissage du langage écrit: Approche cognitive. Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes.

  • Ecalle, J., Magnan, A., & Calmus, C. (2009). Lasting effects on literacy skills with a computer-assisted learning using syllabic units in low-progress readers. Computers in Education, 52, 554–561.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ehri, L. (1992). Reconceptualizing the development of sight word reading and its relationship to recoding. In P. Gough, L. Ehri, & R. Treiman (Eds.), Reading acquisition (pp. 107–143). Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fabre, D., & Bedoin, N. (2003). Sensitivity to sonority for print processing in normal readers and dyslexic children. Current Psychology Letters, 10(1), 1–6.

    Google Scholar 

  • Facoetti, A., Paganoni, P., Turatto, M., Marzola, V., & Mascetti, G. (2000). Visual–spatial attention in developmental dyslexia. Cortex, 36(1), 109–123.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Froyen, D., Willems, G., & Blomert, L. (2010). Evidence for a specific cross-modal association deficit in dyslexia: an electrophysiological study of letter–speech sound processing. Developmental Science, 14(4), 635–648.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goswami, U. (1993). Toward an interactive analogy model of reading development: Decoding vowel graphemes in beginning reading. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 56, 443–475.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grainger, J., Bouttevin, S., Truc, C., Bastien, M., & Ziegler, J. C. (2003). Word superiority, pseudoword superiority, and learning to read: A comparison of dyslexic and normal readers. Brain and Language, 87(3), 432–440.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harm, M. W., & Seidenberg, M. S. (1999). Phonology, reading acquisition, and dyslexia: Insights from Connectionist Models. Psychological Review, 106, 491–528.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jiménez, J. E., García, E., O’Shanahan, I., & Rojas, E. (2010). Do Spanish children use the syllable in visual word recognition in learning to read? The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 13(1), 63–74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jiménez, J. E., Hernández-Valle, I., Ramírez, G., Ortiz, M., Rodrigo, M., Estévez, A., O’Shanahan, I., García, E., & Trabaue, M. (2007). Computer speech-based remediation for reading disabilities: The size of spelling-to-sound unit in a transparent orthography. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 10(1), 52–67.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirkham, N. Z., Slemmer, J. A., & Johnson, S. P. (2002). Visual statistical learning in infancy: Evidence for a domain general learning mechanism. Cognition, 83, 35–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lefavrais, P. (1967). Manuel du test de l'Alouette: Test d'analyse de la lecture et de la dyslexie. Paris: ECPA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maïonchi-Pino, N., Magnan, A., & Ecalle, J. (2010a). Syllable frequency effects in visual word recognition: Developmental approach in French children. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 31, 70–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maïonchi-Pino, N., Magnan, A., & Ecalle, J. (2010b). The nature of the phonological processing in French dyslexic children: Evidence for the phonological syllable and linguistic features’ role in silent reading and speech discrimination. Annals of Dyslexia, 60, 123–150.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mathey, S., & Zagar, D. (2002). Lexical similarity in visual word recognition: The effect of syllabic neighborhood in French. Current Psychology Letters: Behavior Brain & Cognition, 8, 107–121.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maurer, U., Brem, S., Bucher, K., Kranz, F., Benz, R., Steinhausen, H. C., & Brandeis, D. (2007). Impaired tuning of a fast occipito-temporal response for print in dyslexic children learning to read. Brain, 130, 3200–3210.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maurer, U., Brem, S., Kranz, F., Bucher, K., Benz, R., Halder, P., Steinhausen, H. C., & Brandeis, D. (2006). Coarse neural tuning for print peaks when children learn to read. NeuroImage, 33, 749–758.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morais, J., Cluytens, M., & Alegria, J. (1984). Segmentation abilities of dyslexics and normal readers. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 58, 221–222.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pammer, K., & Vidyasagar, T. R. (2005). Integration of the visual and auditory networks in dyslexia: A theoretical perspective. Journal of Research in Reading, 3, 320–331.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paul, I., Bott, C., Heim, S., Wienbruch, C., & Elbert, T. R. (2006). Phonological but not auditory discrimination is impaired in dyslexia. European Journal of Neuroscience, 24, 2945–2953.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perruchet, P., & Pacton, S. (2006). Implicit learning and statistical learning: One phenomenon, two approaches. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 10(5), 233–238.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prinzmetal, W., Hoffman, H., & Vest, K. (1991). Automatic processes in word perception: An analysis from illusory conjunctions. Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception and Performance, 17(4), 902–923.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prinzmetal, W., Treiman, R., & Rho, S. H. (1986). How to see a reading unit? Journal of Memory and Language, 25, 461–475.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rack, J. P. (1985). Orthographic and phonetic coding in developmental dyslexia. British Journal of Psychology, 76(3), 325–340.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rack, J. P., Snowling, M. J., & Olson, R. K. (1992). The nonword reading deficit in developmental dyslexia: A review. Reading Research Quarterly, 27(1), 28–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ramus, F., & Szenkovits, G. (2008). What phonological deficit? The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 61(1), 129–141.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rapp, B. (1992). The nature of sublexical orthographic organization: The bigram trough hypothesis examined. Journal of Memory and Language, 31, 33–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rey, A., Ziegler, J. C., & Jacobs, A. M. (2000). Graphemes are perceptual reading units. Cognition, 75, 1–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Savill, N. J., & Thierry, G. (2011). Reading for sound with dyslexia: Evidence for early orthographic and late phonological integration deficits. Brain Research, 1385, 192–205.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seidenberg, M. (1987). Sublexical structures in visual word recognition: Access units or orthographic redundancy? In M. Coltheart (Ed.), Attention and performance. XII: The psychology of reading (pp. 245–263). Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Share, D. L. (1995). Phonological recoding and self-teaching: Sine qua non of reading acquisition. Cognition, 55, 121–218.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Share, D. L. (2004). Orthographic learning at a glance: On the time course and development onset of self-teaching. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 72, 95–129.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Siegel, L. S., Share, D., & Geva, E. (1995). Evidence for superior orthographic skills in dyslexics. Psychological Science, 6, 250–254.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Snowling, M. J. (2000). Dyslexia (2nd ed.). Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Snowling, M. J. (2001). From language to reading and dyslexia. Dyslexia, 7, 37–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sprenger-Charolles, L., Colé, P., Lacert, P., & Serniclaes, W. (2000). On subtypes of developmental dyslexia: Evidence from processing time and accuracy scores. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 54(2), 87–104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Swan, D., & Goswami, U. (1997). Picture naming deficits in developmental dyslexia: The phonological representation hypothesis. Brain and Language, 56, 334–353.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Szenkovits, G., & Ramus, F. (2005). Exploring dyslexics’ phonological deficit I: Lexical vs. sublexical and input vs. output process. Dyslexia, 11, 253–268.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taft, M. (1979). Lexical access via an orthographic code: The Basic Orthographic Syllabic Structure (BOSS). Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behaviour, 18, 21–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taft, M., & Forster, K. I. (1975). Lexical storage and retrieval of prefixed words. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behaviour, 14, 638–647.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taft, M., & Forster, K. I. (1976). Lexical storage and retrieval of polymorphemic and polysyllabic words. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behaviour, 15, 607–620.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taroyan, N. A., & Nicolson, R. I. (2009). Reading words and pseudowords in dyslexia: ERP and behavioural tests in English-speaking adolescents. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 74, 199–208.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Treiman, R. (1992). The role of intrasyllabic units in learning to read and spell. In P. G. Gough, L. Ehri, & R. Treiman (Eds.), Reading Acquisition (pp. 65–106). Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Treiman, R., & Chafetz, J. (1987). Are there onset and rime-like units in printed words? In M. Coltheart (Ed.), Attention and performance. XII: reading. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Treiman, R., & Zukowski, A. (1996). Children's sensitivity to syllables, onsets, rimes, and phonemes. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 61, 193–215.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Treisman, A., & Schmidt, H. (1982). Illusory conjunctions in the perception of objects. Cognitive Psychology, 14, 107–141.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van der Mark, S., Bucher, K., Maurer, U., Schulz, E., Brem, S., Buckelmüller, K., Loenneker, T., Klaver, P., Martin, E., & Brandeis, D. (2009). Children with dyslexia lack multiple specializations along the visual word-form (VWF) system. NeuroImage, 47, 1940–1949.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vellutino, F. R., Fletcher, J. M., Snowling, M. J., & Scanlon, D. M. (2004). Specific reading disability (dyslexia): What have we learned in the past four decades? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 45(1), 2–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vellutino, F. R., & Scanlon, D. M. (1989). Some prerequisites for interpreting results from reading level matched designs. Journal of Reading Behavior, 21, 361–385.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vidyasagar, T. R. (2004). Neural underpinnings of dyslexia as a disorder of visuo-spatial attention. Clinical and Experimental Optometry, 87(1), 4–10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vidyasagar, T. R., & Pammer, K. (2010). Dyslexia: a deficit in visuospatial attention, not in phonological processing. Trends in Cognitive Science, 14(2), 57–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vinckier, F., Dehaene, S., Jobert, A., Dubus, J. P., Sigman, M., & Cohen, L. (2007). Hierarchical coding of letter strings in the ventral stream: Dissecting the inner organization of the visual word-form system. Neuron, 55, 143–156.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wagner, R. K., & Torgesen, J. K. (1987). The nature of phonological processing and its causal role in the acquisition of reading skills. Psychological Bulletin, 101(2), 192–212.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wioland, F. (1985). Les structures syllabiques du français. Genève-Paris: Slatkine-Champion.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolter, J. A., & Apel, K. (2010). Initial acquisition of mental graphemic representations in children with language impairment. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research, 53, 179–195.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wydell, T. N., & Butterworth, B. (1999). A case study of an English–Japanese bilingual with monolingual dyslexia. Cognition, 70, 273–305.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ziegler, J. C., & Goswami, U. (2005). Reading acquisition, developmental dyslexia, and skilled reading across languages: A psycholinguistic grain size theory. Psychological Bulletin, 131(1), 3–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ziegler, J. C., Jacobs, A. M., & Stone, G. O. (1996). Statistical analysis of the bidirectional inconsistency of spelling and sound in French. Behavior Research Methods Instruments & Computers, 28, 504–515.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. LINC, UMR 7237, CNRS, Université de Strasbourg, 21 rue Becquerel, 67087, Strasbourg, France

    Nadège Doignon-Camus

  2. UTRPP-EA 4403, Université Paris XIII, Paris, France

    Alix Seigneuric

  3. ISTR, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Lyon, France

    Emeline Perrier & Aurélie Sisti

  4. Université de Bourgogne, Dijon, France

    Daniel Zagar

Authors
  1. Nadège Doignon-Camus
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Alix Seigneuric
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Emeline Perrier
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Aurélie Sisti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Daniel Zagar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nadège Doignon-Camus.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Doignon-Camus, N., Seigneuric, A., Perrier, E. et al. Evidence for a preserved sensitivity to orthographic redundancy and an impaired access to phonological syllables in French developmental dyslexics. Ann. of Dyslexia 63, 117–132 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11881-012-0075-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11881-012-0075-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation