Kemény, F. & Landerl, K.
Institute of Psychology, University of Graz
Purpose: Reading is a rich source of statistical information: there are more and less frequent letter clusters. Skilled reading, however, does not require the identification and decoding of each individual letter, rather the recognition of words by word form, that is, parallel processing of letters. The current research is aimed at identifying whether adults and children differ in parallel processing of letters, how they utilize predictive information, and how this knowledge contributes to the different (word versus pseudoword) reading skills.
Method: The current study used an indirect assessment of statistical orthographic knowledge with adults as well as children aged 7-9 years. In a target detection task two letters of a cluster appeared one after the other. Participants were instructed to press a response key only if a given target letter appeared. The letter clusters were of high or low frequency and the target letters were either the first or the second letter of the cluster (target-first and target-second items, respectively). Both types assess parallel processing of letters, but in target-second items also first letters predict second letters. One minute tests of word and pseudoword reading were used as criterion measures.
Results: Adults were faster in target detection in high compared to low frequency clusters, but only in target-first items. Children showed this frequency effect for both letter positions. In multiple linear regression analyses adults' pseudoword (but not word) reading performance was predicted by the frequency effect observed on target-second items. For children, word (but not pseudoword) reading skills were predicted by the frequency effect observed on target-first items.
Conclusion: Both beginning and proficient readers exhibit a sensitivity to letter-cluster frequencies. For children, parallel processing of letters is crucial for the development of word specific orthographic representations, whereas adults' sublexical reading skills are associated with the utilization of predictive information.