Visual scanning and reading ability in normal and dyslexic children

Issue title: A New Impulse for Neuropsychology in Europe: The Federation of the European Societies of Neuropsychology

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Ferretti, G.^; | Mazzotti, S. | Brizzolara, D.^;

Affiliations: Department of Developmental Neuroscience, IRCCS "Stella Maris", Pisa, Italy | Division of Child Neurology and Psychiatry, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

Note: [] Corresponding author: Giovanni Ferretti, Department of Developmental Neuroscience, IRCCS "Stella Maris", 56018 Calambrone (Pisa), Italy. Tel.: +39 050 886237; Fax: +39 050 886247; E-mail: giovanni.ferretti@inpe.unipi.it

Abstract: Very few studies have investigated the development of visual search of aligned stimuli in relation to normal reading acquisition and in developmental dyslexia. In this study we used a new computerised experimental task which requires a visuo-motor response (RT) to a target appearing unpredictably in one out of seven different spatial positions on a horizontally aligned array of 18 geometrical figures. The aims of the study were to investigate: 1) the visual scanning development in normal children from pre-school to school age; 2) whether visual scanning performance in kindergarten children could predict reading acquisition; 3) the visual scanning abilities in a group of developmental dyslexic children. The main results were: 1) a significant decrement of RTs with age and a progressive increase of the left-to-right gradient with reading experience; 2) visual scanning abilities in kindergarten proved to be a good predictor of reading acquisition; 3) dyslexics were slow scanners and did not present the left-to-right strategy typical of normal readers. The results support the hypothesis of a relationship between visual scanning and reading abilities.

Keywords: Visual scanning, reading acquisition, developmental dyslexia

Journal: Behavioural Neurology, vol. 19, no. 1-2, pp. 87-92, 2008