The development of visual simultaneous processing skill subcomponents of Chinese children with developmental dyslexia and its relationship with reading

doi:10.3724/SP.J.1041.2021.00821

Abstract

Abstract:

By using high frequency Chinese characters (Experiment 1) and non-verbal graphic materials (Experiment 2) as stimuli, and adopting the method of parameter estimation based on the theory of visual attention (TVA), we conducted two combined TVA tests to systematically explore the intrinsic mechanism of visual simultaneous processing deficits in Chinese children with developmental dyslexia from grade three to six in primary school. 43 children with Chinese developmental dyslexia and 46 age-matched typical developmental children were recruited and they were divided into middle grade group (grade 3, grade 4) and senior grade group (grade 5, grade 6). Both experiments found that the perceptual processing speed of dyslexic children in different grades was significantly lower than that of the control group. On the weight parameter of spatial attention distribution, the results of Experiment 1 showed that the attention distribution of dyslexics in both grade groups was unbiased, which was different from the left-lateral model of the controls. In Experiment 2, no significant group difference was found. And these two kinds of simultaneous processing subcomponents are closely related to different levels of Chinese reading skills. The results showed that Chinese dyslexic children had a slow and persistent perceptual processing speed deficit when processing multiple visual stimuli at the same time, and showed abnormal spatial attention distribution pattern when processing verbal stimuli simultaneously. This study will help to reveal the mechanism of Chinese developmental dyslexia from the basic cognitive level, and provide a theoretical basis for the further design of related intervention programs to improve reading efficiency.

Key words: Chinese developmental dyslexia, visual simultaneous processing skill, theory of visual attention, perceptual processing speed, selective spatial attention distribution pattern

LI Jie, YANG Yue, ZHAO Jing. (2021). The development of visual simultaneous processing skill subcomponents of Chinese children with developmental dyslexia and its relationship with reading. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 53(8), 821-836.

Figures/Tables 9

References 53

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Items	Middle grade group			Senior grade group			DD (n = 43)	TD (n = 46)	t
Items	DD (n = 21)	TD (n = 23)	t	DD (n = 22)	TD (n = 23)	t	DD (n = 43)	TD (n = 46)	t
Age (years)	9.25 (0.75)	9.28 (0.62)	-0.17	11.46 (0.73)	11.34 (0.67)	0.55	10.37 (1.33)	10.31 (1.22)	0.24
Chinese character recognition test score	1005 (307)	1945 (417)	-8.57****	2265 (254)	3195 (96)	-16.08***	1650 (696)	2570 (699)	-6.22***
Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices test score	40.43 (4.99)	40.04 (3.10)	0.30	43.45 (5.48)	44.65 (3.42)	-0.88	41.98 (5.40)	42.35 (3.98)	-0.37
Rapid digit naming (s)	14.28 (3.11)	11.21 (2.44)	3.66**	12.61 (3.04)	10.19 (2.59)	2.89**	13.43 (3.15)	10.70 (2.54)	4.51***
Single-character reading test score speed (c/min)	80.29 (21.90)	100.87 (16.48)	-3.54**	95.55 (17.92)	114.91 (21.08)	-3.31**	88.09 (21.18)	107.89 (20.01)	-4.54***
Sentence reading test score (c/min)	121.54 (65.73)	149.59 (24.16)	-1.85	150.00 (36.72)	232.88 (131.40)	-2.85**	136.10 (54.21)	191.24 (102.46)	-3.14**

Items	Middle grade group			Senior grade group			DD (n = 43)	TD (n = 46)	t
Items	DD (n = 21)	TD (n = 23)	t	DD (n = 22)	TD (n = 23)	t	DD (n = 43)	TD (n = 46)	t
Age (years)	9.25 (0.75)	9.28 (0.62)	-0.17	11.46 (0.73)	11.34 (0.67)	0.55	10.37 (1.33)	10.31 (1.22)	0.24
Chinese character recognition test score	1005 (307)	1945 (417)	-8.57****	2265 (254)	3195 (96)	-16.08***	1650 (696)	2570 (699)	-6.22***
Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices test score	40.43 (4.99)	40.04 (3.10)	0.30	43.45 (5.48)	44.65 (3.42)	-0.88	41.98 (5.40)	42.35 (3.98)	-0.37
Rapid digit naming (s)	14.28 (3.11)	11.21 (2.44)	3.66**	12.61 (3.04)	10.19 (2.59)	2.89**	13.43 (3.15)	10.70 (2.54)	4.51***
Single-character reading test score speed (c/min)	80.29 (21.90)	100.87 (16.48)	-3.54**	95.55 (17.92)	114.91 (21.08)	-3.31**	88.09 (21.18)	107.89 (20.01)	-4.54***
Sentence reading test score (c/min)	121.54 (65.73)	149.59 (24.16)	-1.85	150.00 (36.72)	232.88 (131.40)	-2.85**	136.10 (54.21)	191.24 (102.46)	-3.14**

Items	Middle grade group		Senior grade group		F (group)	F (grade group)	F (interaction)
Items	DD (n = 21)	TD (n = 23)	DD (n = 22)	TD (n = 23)	F (group)	F (grade group)	F (interaction)
C	6.91 (1.57)	8.26 (0.96)	7.93 (1.34)	8.85 (1.05)	18.68***	9.22**	0.66
K	3.30 (0.04)	3.31 (0.05)	3.28 (0.58)	3.29 (0.04)	1.12	2.22	0.04
ω	0.49 (0.05)	0.49 (0.03)	0.50 (0.04)	0.50 (0.02)	0.05	1.32	0.45
α	8.10×e^-7 (6.80×e^-7)	9.13×e^-7 (1.05×e^-6)	9.55×e^-7 (1.23×e^-6)	4.78×e^-7 (3.84×e^-7)	< 0.001	< 0.001	< 0.001

Items	Middle grade group		Senior grade group		F (group)	F (grade group)	F (interaction)
Items	DD (n = 21)	TD (n = 23)	DD (n = 22)	TD (n = 23)	F (group)	F (grade group)	F (interaction)
C	6.91 (1.57)	8.26 (0.96)	7.93 (1.34)	8.85 (1.05)	18.68***	9.22**	0.66
K	3.30 (0.04)	3.31 (0.05)	3.28 (0.58)	3.29 (0.04)	1.12	2.22	0.04
ω	0.49 (0.05)	0.49 (0.03)	0.50 (0.04)	0.50 (0.02)	0.05	1.32	0.45
α	8.10×e^-7 (6.80×e^-7)	9.13×e^-7 (1.05×e^-6)	9.55×e^-7 (1.23×e^-6)	4.78×e^-7 (3.84×e^-7)	< 0.001	< 0.001	< 0.001

Reading test	Chinese character material		Graphic material
Reading test	C	ω	C
character reading	0.19	0.22*	0.16
Sentence reading speed	0.10	0.01	0.01