This is according to a new study in the Department of Education at the University of Haifa
The reading slowness of people suffering from dyslexia is due to the slowness in processing verbal visual information in the various stages of information processing - this is according to a study conducted by Dr. Sheli Shaul from the Department of Education at the University of Haifa.
Various studies have shown that one of the characteristics of dyslexics is a deficiency in the ability to decode words (turning the letter into its sound). This process is basic and serves as a layer upon which the other more complex reading skills such as reading comprehension develop. Accurate recognition of a word ultimately occurs when accurate phonological (combination of vowels), orthographic (graphical-visual representation) and semantic (meaning-creating) representations of the word are simultaneously stimulated and processed in the right places in the brain. A more recent claim holds that the quality of brain processing depends on the processing rate of the active systems and not only on accuracy. This claim is based on an assumption called "the desynchronization assumption" which means a lack of synchronization in the processing rate between the visual-orthographic and auditory-phonological channel and the large gap between them is a factor in the phenomenon of dyslexia.
In Dr. Shaul's research work, conducted under the guidance of Prof. Tzvia Barznitz, it is claimed that each information processing process relies on more than one brain area or processing channel, therefore timing is required between the various information sources. Such a lack of timing between the relevant processing systems may result in information processing failure. The study examined the processing rate of the visual and auditory channel, the gap in the processing rate of the channels, the rate of information transfer between the brain hemispheres (the two parts of the cerebrum responsible for coordinating voluntary actions in the body) as well as the connections between all these abilities to decipher words in reading.
The researcher examined two groups - one of normal readers and the other of dyslexics. Each subject had to decide whether the sequence of letters presented to him formed a real word or not. This process is called "lexical decision" and the subjects were given a task of visual and auditory lexical decision and the integration between these two channels was also tested.
From the research findings it appears that dyslexic readers have difficulties in reading when they have to perform the phonological decoding (meaning the transformation of a visual-signal stimulus into an auditory-sound stimulus) which is the beginning of a normative reading process. The final conclusion from the study is that dyslexics are slow in reading mainly due to the slowness in processing visual information, the gap in the processing rate between the two channels which is probably caused by this slowness impairs the integration of the information at the perceptual level among the dyslexics. This slowness accumulates for them during the entire verbal processing process in the brain. In addition, it was found that the dyslexic process the verbal information better in the right hemisphere compared to the left hemisphere, which the normal readers use with the help of the language structures that are in this hemisphere.
https://www.hayadan.org.il/BuildaGate4/general2/data_card.php?Cat=~~~611174726~~~58&SiteName=hayadan
One response
How can I get this article?