Imagine a word sinking your yacht: sequential effects on reading accuracy in older adults and people with aphasia

EasyChair Preprint 6400

Abstract

During oral reading tasks, order of item types affects response times (Kinoshita & Lupker, 2007; Taylor & Lupker, 2001). Some researchers attribute these sequential effects to “response homogenization,” observing that readers subconsciously control speed, not process. (Lupker et al., 1997). Others suggest that the cost of switching between reading processes slows response times (Reynolds & Besner, 2005). These studies have been designed within Dual Route frameworks that do not emphasize the role of semantics in reading aloud (Coltheart et al., 1993, 2001), nor do they examine sequential effects on accuracy. To address these gaps, we use a mixed-block word reading task to examine sequential effects of word features on reading accuracy. Participants were 36 people with aphasia post left-hemisphere stroke and 39 matched controls. Both groups read aloud 200 monosyllabic words crossed factorially on frequency, regularity, and imageability. Generalized linear mixed effects models tested how preceding factors of frequency, regularity, and imageability relate to accuracy on high frequency regular, low frequency regular, high frequency irregular, and low frequency irregular words. Low frequency irregular words were read more accurately by both groups if preceded by a low imageability word rather than a high imageability word, suggesting that residual semantic activation from a highly imageable prior trial interferes with correct reading of low frequency irregular words. This is consistent with models suggesting semantic reliance in reading these words (Plaut et al., 1996). Patients also more accurately read high frequency regular words when preceded by an irregular word rather than a regular word. Overall, these findings support dynamic process-related causes of sequential reading effects, and suggest that sequential effects are not solely attributable to response time homogenization.

Keyphrases: Accuracy, aphasia, dynamic processing, imageability, oral reading, preceding word type, regularity, sequential effects

@booklet{EasyChair:6400,
  author    = {Sachi Paul and Vivian Dickens and Andrew DeMarco and Candace van der Stelt and Sarah Snider and Elizabeth Lacey and Elizabeth Dvorak and Peter Turkeltaub},
  title     = {Imagine a word sinking your yacht: sequential effects on reading accuracy in older adults and people with aphasia},
  howpublished = {EasyChair Preprint 6400},
  year      = {EasyChair, 2021}}