A connectionist multiple-trace memory model for polysyllabic word reading.

Abstract

A connectionist feedforward network implementing a mapping from orthography to phonology is described. The model develops a view of the reading system that accounts for both irregular word and pseudoword reading without relying on any system of explicit or implicit conversion rules. The model assumes, however, that reading is supported by 2 procedures that work successively: a global procedure using knowledge about entire words and an analytic procedure based on the activation of word syllabic segments. The model provides an account of the basic effects that characterize human skilled reading performance including a frequency by consistency interaction and a position-of-irregularity effect. Furthermore, early in training, the network shows a performance similar to that of less skilled readers. It also offers a plausible account of the patterns of acquired phonological and surface dyslexia when lesioned in different ways.

Varieties of developmental dyslexia in Greek children

“…Douklias et al suggested that this could be explained within a dual route cascaded framework (Coltheart, Rastle, Perry, Langdon & Ziegler, 2001) in terms of lack of feedback from the orthographic lexicon to sublexical processes when the lexical route is inefficient. Slow nonword reading can also be explained within the multi-trace memory model (Ans et al, 1998). The multi-character simultaneous processing hypothesis holds that both slow nonword reading and impaired irregular word reading can derive from a visual attention span disorder (Valdois et al, 2004; since, in this framework, nonword reading speed is associated with the size of the sublexical units that individuals use to read nonwords.…”

“…This dissociation was first identified in adults with acquired dyslexia Holmes, 1973;Shallice, 1981). It formed a cornerstone of evidence for dual route models of reading (e.g., Coltheart, 1987) and spelling (e.g., Barry, 1994), but has since been simulated in single route models of reading, such as the connectionist triangle model of Seidenberg & McClelland (1989) and the multi-trace memory model of Ans et al (1998). Castles and Coltheart (1993) provided evidence that surface and phonological dyslexia were relatively common amongst English speaking dyslexic children.…”

“…The association of reading ability and multi-character simultaneous processing was outlined using the multiple-trace memory model of reading by Ans, Carbonnel, and Valdois (1998). According to this, skilled reading involves global and serial analytic processing.…”

Lexical and Nonlexical Print-to-Sound Translation of Disyllabic Words and Nonwords

“…These procedures share a feature identification system, a letter identification system, and a phoneme system. The lexical route houses orthographic and phonological entries for every monosyllable in English, and the nonlexical route operates by applying a set of 1 Ans, Carbonnel, and Valdois (1998) have recently reported the development of a computational model of French polysyllabic word reading. However, the difficulty which arises in developing a computational model of Englishnamely, the placement of stress-does not arise in French, because French does not have lexical stress (see e.g., Beckman, 1986).…”

InfoSyll: A Syllabary Providing Statistical Information on Phonological and Orthographic Syllables

“…Roosevelt, 50-CP 191, 1050 Brussels, Belgium e-mail: fchetail@ulb.ac.be processing given that monosyllabic words account for a small part of the whole lexicon of a skilled reader (Brand et al 2003). This has strong implications for reading models since they are currently dedicated to the processing of monosyllabic words (see Ans et al 1998, for an exception). With regard to polysyllabic words, the syllable is a major infralexical unit that has received much attention in both the written and the spoken modalities.…”