Reading words - BL2

Question 1

What language abilities have we not evolutionarily developed?

Answer 1

reading and writing

Question 2

What brain damage can lead to people no longer being able to read?

Answer 2

lots of regions - so lots of regions must be involved in reading processes

Question 3

What is visual word form?

Answer 3

the abstract level of word representation that is stored in your brain and allows for quick word recognition

Question 4

What 3 forms are words stored as in the brain?

Answer 4

meaning, word form, phonological form

Question 5

What kind of process is reading for adults?

Answer 5

global (look at whole word rather than the sounds within it)

Question 6

What is an example of reading being a global process?

Answer 6

you can read words even then they have the letters in the middle of them jumbled up lkie tihs

Question 7

What is categorical perception in terms of speech perception?

Answer 7

using the general features to recognise words, not just one specific sound for each - so you can understand different accents

Question 8

What is grapheme to phoneme conversion and when do we use it? (2)

Answer 8

• you know how each letter maps to a sound
• used when pronouncing non-words or when learning new words from reading

Question 9

What does the triangle model of reading posit?

Answer 9

three main centres or nodes for orthographic, phonological and semantic word representations

Question 10

What is special about the nodes in the triangle theory?

Answer 10

they are interconnected so can be simultaneously activated in a single task

Question 11

What nodes are used in the triangle theory when reading out non-words?

Answer 11

map orthographic to phonology

Question 12

Where is the visual word form area?

Answer 12

in the fusiform (occipitotemporal) gyrus

Question 13

What does the visual word form area respond to? (4)

Answer 13

• words more than false-fonts or consonant strings
• upper and lower case equally
• real words more than non-words sounding the same
• orthographic identity of the word (recognising something as a word you know)

Question 14

What does the similar area to the visual word form area but in the right hemisphere do?

Answer 14

facial recognition

Question 15

how does the visual word form area respond to left and right visual field presentation? (2)

Answer 15

• responds equally
• but the response is stronger in the left hemisphere

Question 16

What happens when you present written sentences to literates, ex-illiterates and illiterates ? (2)

Answer 16

• more visual word form area (left) activation for literates and more words read per minute
• ex-illiterate had more activation than illiterate (not as much as literate though)

Question 17

What happens when you present faces or other objects to literates, ex-illiterates and illiterates ? (2)

Answer 17

illiterate people have more response in the visual word form area than the others
ex middle, lit least

Question 18

What happens when you present letter strings to literates, ex-illiterates and illiterates ? (2)

Answer 18

literates have most visual word form activation (they try to work out the meaning)
ex middle, ill least

Question 19

What do skilled readers also activate the visual word form area for? (3)

Answer 19

letter strings, auditory words, object naming

Question 20

What do blind people activate the visual word form area for?

Answer 20

reading braille

Question 21

On which route is the visual word form area located?

Answer 21

the ventral route

Question 22

What route will sounding out non-words activate?

Answer 22

the dorsal route (to sound out the word)

Question 23

What route will reading words silently activate? (2)

Answer 23

• whole ventral route to get meaning
• maybe some dorsal activation but only to get the word sound

Question 24

What route will be activated when reading out loud?

Answer 24

dorsal and ventral (the whole route) - to get meaning and pronounce

Question 25

What is developmental dyslexia?

Answer 25

difficulty in learning to read (below standard appropriate to age)

Question 26

What impairment is present in developmental dyslexia?

Answer 26

phonological (mapping letters to sounds)

Question 27

What are some deficits in developmental dyslexia? (5)

Answer 27

non-word repetition, naming pictures, phonological working memory, rhyming

Question 28

What connection has in issue in developmental dyslexia?

Answer 28

orthography and phonology connection

Question 29

How does the brain differ in dyslexic children compared to typical brains? (3)

Answer 29

• deactivation in reading network, particularly phonological route
• overactivation in left inferior frontal gyrus (broca)
• differential grey and white matter volume

Question 30

Why might some dyslexics be able to reach good levels of reading?

Answer 30

the right hemisphere compensates and takes over some of the function (more activation is found in their right Broca’s area)

Question 31

How does acquired phonological dyslexia happen?

Answer 31

stroke

Question 32

What are the effects of acquired phonological dyslexia?

Answer 32

fine visual lexicon and comprehension but can’t pronounce unfamiliar words

Question 33

What is impaired in acquired phonological dyslexia?

Answer 33

• short term memory for speech sounds and manipulation of sounds
• grapheme to phoneme conversion in reading and writing

Question 34

Where is the damage likely to be in acquired phonological dyslexia?

Answer 34

the passage from visual word form to representation of the sounds