The impact of temporal processing on reading in dyslexia with rapid automatized naming deficits.

In the present study, we aimed to investigate the different impacts of temporal processing on reading by Chinese children with and without dyslexia. In total, 27 children with dyslexia who had a deficit in rapid automatized naming (RAN) (D_R), 37 children with dyslexia who had deficits in both RAN and phonological awareness (PA) (D_RP), and 40 typically developing children (TD) were recruited in Taiwan. The children were asked to complete non-verbal intelligence, PA, RAN, Chinese character reading tasks and an auditory temporal order judgement (ATOJ) task. Our results of a multiple regression model showed that the ATOJ accounted for unique variances in the reading differences between the children in the D_R and TD groups; performance was controlled for non-verbal intelligence, PA and RAN tasks. Theoretically, we provide possible explanations for the controversial findings in the field of Chinese children with dyslexia and, practically, suggest different interventions should be provided for children with dyslexia with different underlying impairments.

The role of body-object interaction in children's concept processing: insights from two Chinese communities.

A rating of body-object interactions (BOIs) reflects the ease with which a human body can interact physically with a word's referent. Studies with adults have demonstrated a facilitating BOI effect in language tasks, with faster and more accurate responses for high BOI words (e.g., cup) than low BOI words (e.g., coal). A few studies have explored the BOI effect in children. However, these studies have all adopted adult-rated BOIs, which may differ from children's. Using child-rated BOIs, the present study investigated the BOI effect in Chinese children and its relationship with age, as well as whether there was a community difference in the BOI effect. Children (aged 7-8) from Mainland China (N = 100) and Hong Kong SAR (HK; N = 90) completed a lexical decision task used to measure the BOI effect. The children were asked to judge whether each item was a real Chinese word; each real word was assigned a child-rated BOI score. After controlling nonverbal intelligence, gender, working memory, and Chinese character reading, a significant BOI effect was observed at the response accuracy and speed levels. The accuracy and latency analyses illustrated a community difference; the BOI effect was smaller in the HK children. This study suggests that BOI measures may be sensitive to the ecological differences between tested communities. The findings support the need for further investigations into the BOI effect across Chinese communities, particularly those in Mainland China.

The Interaction Between Morphological Awareness and Word Detection Skills in Predicting Speeded Passage Reading in Primary and Secondary School Chinese Readers.

Previous studies suggest that morphological awareness (MA) and word detection skills have facilitating roles in reading fluency; however, it is unknown whether they can interplay with each other in such roles. The present study explored the relationships of MA, word detection, and passage reading fluency across ages. In total, 180 Chinese primary and secondary school students, aged from 8.52 to 15.67 years, completed tasks for these aforementioned capacities. After controlling gender, non-verbal intelligence, and reading ability at the word level, the results showed that the participants with higher scores for MA or word detection performed better in passage reading fluency. However, the predictive effect of word detection on reading fluency became weaker as the children became older. The interaction between MA and word detection was positive in younger children, whereas this interaction tended to be negative for older children. The results demonstrated a dynamic interplay between MA and word detection in contributing to passage reading fluency in Chinese children. While it has a positive interaction with word detection on reading fluency in younger children, MA may become a compensator in older children (e.g., over 14 years old) whose word detection skills are less effective in facilitating fluent reading.

Body-object interaction effect in word recognition and its relationship with screen time in Chinese children.

A sample of 144 s- and 150 fourth-grade Chinese children was recruited to investigate the influence of body-object interactions (BOIs) on word recognition, i.e., how easily they could interact physically with each word's referent. The moderation on this relationship of children's screen time for entertainment purposes (i.e., the viewing or use of any device with a screen) was also examined. In a lexical decision task, the children were asked to judge whether each item was a real Chinese word. Each real word was assigned a BOI rating score. Model analysis showed that the BOI rating was a significant predictor of the children's word recognition performances. The children recognized the words with higher BOI ratings at higher accuracy rates and higher response speeds more than the words with lower BOI ratings, showing a BOI effect. These results suggest an involvement of sensorimotor information in processing concepts. As well, the results showed a moderating effect of screen time on the BOI effect. With the increase of screen time, the BOI effect was reduced in terms of response speed. Moreover, the influence of the screen time on the BOI effect was larger in the second graders than in the fourth graders.

The Moderation Effect of Processing Efficiency on the Relationship Between Visual Working Memory and Chinese Character Recognition.

To investigate the underlying mechanism of the relationship between visual working memory (VWM) and Chinese character recognition, and the moderation effect of processing efficiency on this relationship, 154 first-grade students were administered a battery of tasks for VWM, rapid temporal processing, and Chinese character reading. In the VWM task, the children were asked to remember the jumping routes of a frog and report these routes in reverse sequence. The longest span for which each participant could respond correctly at least four times out of six was the VWM index. In the task of temporal order judgement, the participants were asked to select which of two balls was presented first, with stimulus onset asynchronies varying from 8 to 492 ms according to an adaptive psychophysical procedure. Visual temporal order threshold (VTOT) was utilized as an indicator of processing efficiency. The participants were asked to read 100 characters aloud to measure their word-level reading abilities in Chinese character recognition. After controlling age, non-verbal intelligence, visual short-term memory, morphological awareness, and orthographic awareness, the results of a moderation effect analysis showed that (1) both VWM and visual VTOT predicted Chinese character reading, and (2) the moderation effect of VTOT on the VWM-reading link was significant (p = 0.001). The correlation between VWM and Chinese character reading was positive and significant when VTOTs were above average (i.e., smaller than 87.14 ms); however, the correlation was negative at relatively poor levels of VTOTs (i.e., larger than 231.44 ms).

Distinct effects of visual and auditory temporal processing training on reading and reading-related abilities in Chinese children with dyslexia.

This study aimed to examine the effects of temporal processing training on the reading abilities of Chinese children with dyslexia. In total, 69 Chinese children with dyslexia in grades three through six were recruited in Taiwan. The children were divided into the following three equal groups: (1) auditory temporal processing training group, (2) visual temporal processing training group, and (3) control group with no specific training. The participants in both training groups received instruction with identical durations (30-40 min), intensities (12 times in total), and frequencies (three to four times per week). The participants in the control group were asked to independently surf some specified websites using devices similar to those used by the two experimental groups for an identical duration, intensity, and frequency. Our results indicated that the two groups who received temporal processing training exhibited significant correlations among Chinese character reading, rapid naming, and corresponding reading-related abilities, while visual temporal processing served as a significant predictor of Chinese character reading ability even if all background data, reading-related abilities, and auditory temporal processing were introduced first. Additionally, significant interactions were found between the Groups and Tested sessions in all the measures, except for phonological awareness, confirming the distinct effects of different temporal processing on most measures involved in this study. Further simple main effects revealed that only those who received the visual temporal processing training gained benefits in the corresponding reading-related ability (i.e., orthographic knowledge) and far-transfer to Chinese character reading.

The association between reading abilities and visual-spatial attention in Hong Kong Chinese children.

A growing body of research suggests that visual-spatial attention is important for reading achievement. However, few studies have been conducted in non-alphabetic orthographies. This study extended the current research to reading development in Chinese, a logographic writing system known for its visual complexity. Eighty Hong Kong Chinese children were selected and divided into poor reader and typical reader groups, based on their performance on the measures of reading fluency, Chinese character reading, and reading comprehension. The poor and typical readers were matched on age and nonverbal intelligence. A Posner's spatial cueing task was adopted to measure the exogenous and endogenous orienting of visual-spatial attention. Although the typical readers showed the cueing effect in the central cue condition (i.e., responses to targets following valid cues were faster than those to targets following invalid cues), the poor readers did not respond differently in valid and invalid conditions, suggesting an impairment of the endogenous orienting of attention. The two groups, however, showed a similar cueing effect in the peripheral cue condition, indicating intact exogenous orienting in the poor readers. These findings generally supported a link between the orienting of covert attention and Chinese reading, providing evidence for the attentional-deficit theory of dyslexia.