Reading compounds in neglect dyslexia: The headedness effect

Semenza, Carlo; Arcara, Giorgio; Facchini, Silvia; Meneghello, Francesca; Ferraro, Marco; Passarini, Laura; Pilosio, Cristina; Vigato, Giovanna; Mondini, Sara

doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2011.07.020

Cited by 17 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…In particular, our data highlight an overall more effortful processing for NN2 than for NN1. Similar results were found in the event-related potential (ERP) study by El Yagoubi et al (2008), in a study with neglect patients by Semenza et al (2011), and in a recent study with ERP by Arcara et al (2013). In the case of NN2, a reanalysis seems to be necessary in order to correctly assign the constituent properties-that is, to determine which constituent is the head of the compound (El Yagoubi et al, 2008).…”

Section: Word Structure Effects In Readingsupporting

confidence: 78%

“…The activation of the second constituent could indeed be inhibited in the case of head-initial compounds, because the meaning of the compound, and its syntactic properties, is mainly related to the first constituent and not to the second one. Following the proposal by Semenza et al (2011), this could be explained in terms of conflicting attentional capture, driven by the frequency or by the headedness. Importantly, the serial access to constituents does not exclude a parallel influence of whole-word form, whose effects are consistently reported in the literature as well as in this study (Kuperman et al, 2008;Marelli & Luzzatti, 2012).…”

Section: Constituent Effect and Headedness In Compound Processingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several studies suggest that the head position can influence the processing of compound words (Arcara, Marelli, Buodo, & Mondini, 2013;El Yagoubi et al, 2008;Jarema, Busson, Nikolova, Tsapkini, & Libben, 1999;Jarema, Perlak, & Semenza, 2010;Marelli, Crepaldi, & Luzzatti, 2009;Marelli & Luzzatti, 2012;Semenza et al, 2011).…”

Section: The Issue Of Headedness In Compound Processingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Word structure and decomposition effects in reading

Arcara

Semenza

Bambini

2014

Cognitive Neuropsychology

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Theories on the processing of compound words differ on the role attributed to access to individual constituents. These theories are mostly based on empirical evidence obtained in experimental settings that could induce artificial effects normally not occurring in natural processing. In this study we investigated the processing of compounds as compared to noncompound complex words in Italian through a reading task with eye movement recording. We included both head-initial and head-final compounds, in order to test whether the position of the head may influence the reading process. After ruling out the effects of length and frequency, we observed that pseudocompounds (i.e., words with a segment homograph to a real word in the leftmost part) elicited longer total reading times than all other types of complex words, including compounds. Furthermore, head-final compounds elicited longer total reading times than head-initial compounds. The results suggest that a word structure resembling a compound may induce longer processing, presumably related to unexpected morphological structures. The results also converge with previous evidence that in some cases there is a higher processing costs for head-final as opposed to head-initial compounds, possibly indexing a reanalysis of the stimulus in order to correctly assign the constituent properties. However, a deeper analysis restricted to compounds revealed a more complex scenario where several variables interact with headedness (namely, first and second constituent frequency, compound frequency, and compound length), and future studies are needed to discriminate among possible interpretations. Overall, our findings suggest that longer reading times are related to solving incongruities due to noncanonical structures, rather than to morphologically complexity per se.

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Section: Word Structure Effects In Readingsupporting

confidence: 78%

Section: Constituent Effect and Headedness In Compound Processingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Issue Of Headedness In Compound Processingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Word structure and decomposition effects in reading

Arcara

Semenza

Bambini

2014

Cognitive Neuropsychology

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“…Since the two types of compound stimuli were matched for the relevant psycholinguistic variables, this effect can be explained by the assumptions that (i) lexical information in the neglected hemifield is processed (at least implicitly; see Marshall & Halligan, 1988), and (ii) the head and the modifier constituents are represented differently in the mental lexicon. This result is highly consistent with the data recently obtained by Semenza et al (2011) in a different experimental paradigm.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Understanding the mental lexicon through neglect dyslexia: a study on compound noun reading

et al. 2013

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The present study employs neglect dyslexia (ND) as an experimental model to study compound-word processing; in particular, it investigates whether compound constituents are hierarchically organized at mental level and addresses the possibility of whole-word representation. Seven Italian-speaking patients suffering from ND participated in a word naming task. Both left-headed (pescespada, swordfish) and right-headed (astronave, spaceship) Italian compound nouns were used as stimuli. Non-existent compounds, which were generated by substituting the leftmost constituent of a compound with an orthographically similar word (e.g., *pestespada, *plaguesword), were also employed. A significant headedness effect emerged in the group analysis: patients read left-headed compounds better than right-headed compounds. A significant lexicality effect was also found: the participants read real compounds better than their non-existent compound pairs. Moreover, logit mixed-effects analyses indicated a left-hand constituent frequency effect. Results are discussed in terms of hierarchical representation of compounds and direct access to compound lemma nodes.

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“…The nature of stored lexical knowledge seems to partially compensate for attentional problems (Arduino et al, 2002). More conspicuous components of a word, such as, for instance, the head of a compound, seem more resistant to the deficit (Semenza et al, 2011a). A similar investigation related to IBs is thus conducted here.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is “Hit and Run” a Single Word? The Processing of Irreversible Binomials in Neglect Dyslexia

Arcara¹,

Lacaita²,

Mattaloni³

et al. 2012

Front. Psychology

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The present study is the first neuropsychological investigation into the problem of the mental representation and processing of irreversible binomials (IBs), i.e., word pairs linked by a conjunction (e.g., “hit and run,” “dead or alive”). In order to test their lexical status, the phenomenon of neglect dyslexia is explored. People with left-sided neglect dyslexia show a clear lexical effect: they can read IBs better (i.e., by dropping the leftmost words less frequently) when their components are presented in their correct order. This may be taken as an indication that they treat these constructions as lexical, not decomposable, elements. This finding therefore constitutes strong evidence that IBs tend to be stored in the mental lexicon as a whole and that this whole form is preferably addressed in the retrieval process.

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Reading compounds in neglect dyslexia: The headedness effect

Cited by 17 publications

References 22 publications

Word structure and decomposition effects in reading

Word structure and decomposition effects in reading

Understanding the mental lexicon through neglect dyslexia: a study on compound noun reading

Is “Hit and Run” a Single Word? The Processing of Irreversible Binomials in Neglect Dyslexia

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