Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences - Research Publications

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    Cognitive modelling and the behaviour genetics of reading
    Castles, A ; Bates, T ; Coltheart, M ; Luciano, M ; Martin, NG (WILEY, 2006-02)
    While it is well known that reading is highly heritable, less has been understood about the bases of these genetic influences. In this paper, we review the research that we have been conducting in recent years to examine genetic and environmental influences on the particular reading processes specified in the dual‐route cognitive model of reading. We argue that a detailed understanding of the role of genetic factors in reading acquisition requires the delineation and measurement of precise phenotypes, derived from well‐articulated models of the reading process. We report evidence for independent genetic influences on the lexical and nonlexical reading processes represented in the dual‐route model, based on studies of children with particular subtypes of dyslexia, and on univariate and multivariate genetic modelling of reading performance in the normally reading population.
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    Patterns of analogical reasoning among beginning readers
    Farrington-Flint, L ; Wood, C ; Canobi, KH ; Faulkner, D (WILEY, 2004-08)
    Despite compelling evidence that analogy skills are available to beginning readers, few studies have actually explored the possibility of identifying individual differences in young children's analogy skills in early reading. The present study examined individual differences in children's use of orthographic and phonological relations between words as they learn to read. Specifically, the study addressed whether general analogical reasoning, short‐term memory and domain‐specific reading skills explain 5‐ to 6‐year‐olds' reading analogies (n=51). The findings revealed an orthographic analogy effect accompanied by high levels of phonological priming. Single‐word reading and use of visual analogies predicted young children's orthographic and phonological analogies in the regression analyses. However, different findings emerged from exploring profiles based on individual differences in reasoning skill. Indeed, when individual differences in composite scores of orthographic and phonological analogy were examined, group membership was predicted by word reading and early phonological knowledge, rather than general analogical reasoning skills. The findings highlight the usefulness of exploring individual differences in children's analogy development in the early stages of learning to read.
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    The role of feedback from phonology to orthography in orthographic learning: an extension of item-based accounts
    McKague, M ; Davis, C ; Pratt, C ; Johnston, MB (WILEY, 2008-02)
    Skilled readers were trained to recognise either the oral (n=44) or visual form (n=40) of a set of 32 novel words (oral and visual instantiation, respectively). Training involved learning the ‘meanings’ for the instantiated words and was followed by a visual lexical decision task in which the instantiated words were mixed with real English words and untrained pseudowords, and the instantiated words were to be considered as words. The phonology‐to‐orthography consistency (feedback consistency) of the instantiated words was manipulated to investigate the role of feedback from phonology in orthographic learning. Masked consonant and vowel‐preserving form primes were used in the lexical decision task as probes of orthographic learning. Feedback‐consistent instantiated words were recognised significantly faster in lexical decision than feedback‐inconsistent instantiated words, and facilitation was significantly greater from consonant‐preserving than vowel‐preserving primes for orally but not visually instantiated words. The results support the hypothesis that orthographic representations based on a consonant frame can be generated from the speech signal before encountering the printed forms, and that feedback from phonology is involved in the early stages of orthographic learning.