The Role of Visual and Auditory Temporal Processing in Reading Irregular and Nonsense Words

Abstract

In the present study, the role of rapid visual and auditory temporal processing in reading irregular and nonsense words was investigated with a group of normal readers. One hundred and five undergraduates participated in various visual and auditory temporal-processing tasks. Readers who primarily adopted the phonological route in reading (nonsense-word readers) showed a trend for better auditory temporal resolution but readers who primarily adopted sight word skills (irregular-word readers) did not exhibit better visual temporal resolution. Both the correlation and stepwise multiple-regression analyses, however, revealed a relationship between visual temporal processing and irregular-word reading as well as a relationship between auditory temporal processing and nonsense-word reading. The results support the involvement of visual and auditory processing in reading irregular and nonsense words respectively, and were discussed with respect to recent findings that only dyslexics with phonological impairment will display temporal deficits. Further, the temporal measures were not effective discriminants for the reading groups, suggesting a lack of association between reading ability and the choice of reading strategy.

The reading ability of good and poor temporal processors among a group of college students

“…The order of the presentation of the conditions was counterbalanced. As was stated in the introduction, visual temporal processing is more closely related to irregular words (Au & Lovegrove, 2001a). Visual temporal acuity also plays a role in a reading condition that requires saccadic eye movement (Chase et al, 2003;Hill & Lovegrove, 1992;Pammer et al, 2004).…”

“…Such differences might be more obvious in irregular words than in pseudowords, given their orthographic characteristics (Au & Lovegrove, 2001a).…”

“…Rapid visual processing or motion sensitivity is related to orthographic skills and irregular words. Conversely, rapid auditory processing and FM sensitivity are associated with phonological skills and phonologically regular pseudowords (Au & Lovegrove, 2001a;Booth, Perfetti, MacWhinney, & Hunt, 2000;Talcott et al, 2000).…”

Dorsal stream associations with orthographic and phonological processing

“…It is the magnocellular and subsequent dorsal stream processing that most likely generates the speeded function needed [20]. Nonword reading on the other hand does not place as much demand on quick visual recognition but rather depends more on auditory temporal processing [19]. A dorsal stream processing component may, however, play a significant role in nonword reading.…”

“…More specifically, these results are consistent with previous reports that a visual temporal processing component underlies aspects of orthographic decoding. For example, a group of skilled adult readers, similar to the participants examined in the current study [19], demonstrated that responses to 12 Hz flicker frequencies were highly correlated with irregular word reading. Moreover, this relationship could not be explained by reading style, defined by an individual's relative strength in either orthographic or phonological decoding.…”