The effect of word predictability and its manifestation among skilled and less skilled readers

Research output: Contribution to conferencePoster

Abstract

The effect of word predictability - that is, facilitated processing of predictable compared to unpredictable words counts among the best studied effects in reading research. Despite its profound documentation in terms of regional activity, less is known about the correlated response among previously identified brain regions associated with processing (un-)predictable words. Furthermore, behavioral evidence showed that the effect of word predictability is much more pronounced in less skilled than in skilled readers, suggesting that impaired readers rely more on sentence context to compensate for their difficulties with visual word recognition. The present study aimed to investigate differences in functional connectivity of skilled and less skilled readers within core regions associated with processing (un-)predictable words, that are the left occipito-temporal cortex, middle temporal and inferior frontal gyrus. Our results show that less skilled readers exhibit a more pronounced functional connectivity among these core-regions of the brains’ reading network. We interpret our results in terms of the lexical quality hypothesis which postulates a stronger involvement of semantic on orthographic processing for impaired readers.
Original languageEnglish
Publication statusPublished - 15 Jul 2021
EventSalzburg Mind-Brain Annual Meeting (SAMBA) 2021 - Virtual, Virtual, Austria
Duration: 15 Jul 202116 Jul 2021

Online-Conference

Online-ConferenceSalzburg Mind-Brain Annual Meeting (SAMBA) 2021
Abbreviated titleSAMBA 2021
Country/TerritoryAustria
CityVirtual
Period15/07/2116/07/21

Fields of Science and Technology Classification 2012

  • 501 Psychology

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