Implicit Learning of Written Regularities and Its Relation to Literacy Acquisition in a Shallow Orthography

Abstract

Some research on literacy acquisition suggests that implicit learning processes may be related to reading and writing proficiency in English, which is a deep orthography. However, little research has been done to determine if the same is true in shallow orthographies. Here, we investigated whether the implicit learning ability of third grade Spanish speaking children was related to their reading and writing abilities. Twenty eight children viewed pseudowords which all adhered to untaught graphotactic rules and were later assessed to determine their implicit learning of these rules. The children's reading and writing abilities were also assessed using standardized tests. No correlations were found between the participants' level of implicit learning and their performance on reading tasks or on a pseudoword writing task, suggesting that implicit learning is not strongly related to the acquisition of phonological regularities in a shallow orthography. A correlation was found between recognition of previously seen exemplars and the ability to spell inconsistent words which require word specific knowledge to resolve the spelling inconsistencies. This result suggests that implicit learning mechanisms may play a role in the acquisition of lexical knowledge and thus, in writing proficiency.

Reading and the Neurocognitive Bases of Statistical Learning

“…It is important to note, however, that not all findings support a link between SL and reading. For example, Nigro, Jiménez-Fernández, Simpson, and Defior (2015) failed to find a correlation between SL and several reading measures in a sample of young children learning to read their native Spanish. In addition, a number of studies have failed to find group-level differences between typically developing individuals and individuals with dyslexia (e.g., Bussy et al, 2011; Deroost et al, 2010; Gabay, Schiff, & Vakil, 2012; Kelly, Griffiths, & Frith, 2002; Menghini et al, 2010; Yang & Hong-Yan, 2011).…”

Spelling impairments in Spanish dyslexic adults

“…The so-called lexical route gives access to the spelling of whole-words from long-term memory, and thus would be used when spelling familiar words. The existence of both routes is almost undisputed, even in particularly shallow orthographies such as Spanish or Italian, in which spelling could be accomplished by resorting merely to the P-O conversion procedures (Valle, 1989 ; Cuetos, 1991 , 1993 ; Barry and De Bastiani, 1997 ; Cuetos and Labos, 2001 ). Moreover, the independence of these routes is supported by the fact that they can be selectively damaged (Beauvois and Dérouesné, 1981 ; Shallice, 1988 ; Tainturier and Rapp, 2001 ).…”

“…As a result, sublexical phonological information would influence the writing of well-known words at the level of grapheme selection. Most of the evidence suggesting interaction of lexical and sublexical processes has revealed the influence of lexical knowledge on the sublexical route (Campbell, 1983 ; Barry and Seymour, 1988 ; Cuetos, 1991 , 1993 ; Tainturier et al, 2000 ). However, some studies support that P-O correspondences also have an impact during word spelling (Bonin et al, 2001b ; Folk and Rapp, 2004 ; Zhang and Damian, 2010 ; Afonso and Álvarez, 2011 ; Afonso et al, 2014 ).…”

Singh, Samara, & Wonnacott (pre-print). Statistical and explicit learning of graphotactic patterns with no phonological counterpart: Evidence from an artificial lexicon study with 7–8-year-olds and adults

“…However, correlations between measures of implicit or statistical learning are not consistently found (Nigro et al, 2015;Schmalz, Moll, Mulatti, & Schulte-Körne, 2019;West, Vadillo, Shanks, & Hulme, 2017). At least in part, null findings may be an artefact of poor statistical properties (e.g., low internal consistency and reliability) of the statistical learning measures (Krishnan, & Watkins, 2019;Siegelman, Bogaerts, & Frost, 2017).…”

“…In similar implicit learning tasks, Nigro, Jiménez-Fernández, Simpson and Defior (2015; 2016) also found significant learning of letter constraints among 8-year-old Spanish-speaking children: Four-letter pronounceable strings (e.g., mifo), and nonlinguistic stimuli (sequences of shapes), both of which adhered to constraints introduced during exposure (e.g., for letters strings, "stimuli only start with m, l, t-never with f, n, or s"), were reliably learnt by typically developing children and, to some extent, by children diagnosed with dyslexia. Note that in neither of the experiments by Samara and colleagues nor in the study by Nigro et al (2015Nigro et al ( , 2016, were participants prevented from reading the nonwords aloud, an issue we return to in the "Current study" section.…”