Chapter 8

Question 1

Acquired dyslexia

Answer 1

An impairment in reading ability due to brain damage in a person who had previously been a skilled reader

Question 2

Alphabet

Answer 2

A writing system that represents each phoneme with a different symbol

Question 3

Alphabetic principle

Answer 3

The process by which readers associate written symbols with speech sounds

Question 4

Auditory processing deficit hypothesis

Answer 4

The proposal that dyslexia stems from an underlying difficulty in accurately detecting and remembering rapid sound changes

Question 5

Burst

Answer 5

A period of active text comprehension bounded by pauses at both ends

Question 6

Deep orthography

Answer 6

The situation in which spelling and pronunciation are poorly matched

Question 7

Developmental dyslexia

Answer 7

A reading disability in children that cannot be attributed to a lack of intelligence, motivation, or educational opportunity

Question 8

Diffusion tensor imaging

Answer 8

An fMRI technique that enables researchers to trace the pathways of white matter tracts

Question 9

Direct route

Answer 9

The process of going straight from the written word to its meaning

Question 10

Dual route model

Answer 10

The proposal that readers can either first access a word’s meaning and then its pronunciation or else access a word’s pronunciation and then its meaning

Question 11

Exner’s area

Answer 11

A brain region located in the left frontal premotor cortex above Broca’s area the stores the motor programs for handwriting gestures

Question 12

Fovea

Answer 12

The region of the retina directly behind the the pupil where vision is most acute

Question 13

Frequency effect

Answer 13

The observation that low-frequency words are fixed longer than high-frequency words

Question 14

Gaze contingency paradigm

Answer 14

An experimental procedure in which a narrow window of text surrounding the fixation point is displayed on a computer screen

Question 15

Gray matter

Answer 15

Brain tissue that is mainly composed of neuron cell bodies and whose function is to process information

Question 16

Hayes model

Answer 16

An influential theory of the writing process that that has guided research since the 1980s

Question 17

Homographs

Answer 17

Words that are spelled the same but pronounced differently

Question 18

Homophones

Answer 18

Words with the same pronunciation but different meanings

Question 19

Implicit prosody hypothesis

Answer 19

The proposal that skilled readers organize the material they read into prosodic phrases similar to the way they would when they speak

Question 20

Indirect route

Answer 20

The process of accessing the meaning of a written word by first reconstructing its pronunciation

Question 21

Isolated spelling disorder

Answer 21

A specific and significant impairment in spelling skills even though reading ability is in the normal range

Question 22

Letter position dyslexia

Answer 22

A rare form of reading disorder in which readers mix up the order of letters in words

Question 23

Logogram

Answer 23

A written symbol that represents a word or morpheme

Question 24

Missing letter effect

Answer 24

The observation that skilled readers skip over predictable words and thus cannot track the letters in those words

Question 25

Neuronal recycling hypothesis

Answer 25

The proposal that brain areas designed for one function can be reorganized to perform another, somewhat similar function

Question 26

Orthography

Answer 26

The set of rules for writing the words of a language

Question 27

Parafovea

Answer 27

The area surrounding the fovea, where vision is less acute

Question 28

Parafovea-on-fovea effect

Answer 28

The case in which characteristics of the following word affect the fixation duration of the current word

Question 29

Perceptual span

Answer 29

The range of letters that can be processed during one fixation

Question 30

Phonics-based approach

Answer 30

A method of teaching reading that explicitly trains children to recognize consistent relationships between letters and sounds

Question 31

Phonological awareness

Answer 31

An understanding that words can be broken down into smaller sound structures

Question 32

Phonological dyslexia

Answer 32

A condition in which reading is relatively intact but the ability to sound out unfamiliar words is lost

Question 33

Predictability effect

Answer 33

The observation that less predictable words are fixated longer than more highly predictable words

Question 34

Rapid automatized naming

Answer 34

A diagnostic for dyslexia in which the child is asked to name written letters, numbers, and other familiar symbols as quickly as possible

Question 35

Shallow orthography

Answer 35

The situation in which spelling a pronunciation are closely matched

Question 36

Spillover effect

Answer 36

The case in which processing difficulties of the preceding word cause the fixation duration of the current word to be extended

Question 37

Surface dyslexia

Answer 37

A condition in which the ability to read regularly spelled words and pseudowords is intact while the ability to read irregularly spelled words is lost

Question 38

Syllabary

Answer 38

A writing system that represents each syllable with a different symbol

Question 39

Visual word form area

Answer 39

A region between the occipital and temporal lobes where the symbols of the writing system are stored, regardless of the language or type of script

Question 40

White matter tracts

Answer 40

Bundles of fibers that connect various regions of the brain and whose function is to transmit information