Semantic Priming Effects in Normal Versus Poor Readers

Abstract

The authors studied sensitivity to semantic priming, as distinct from semantic judgment, in poor readers. Association strength (high vs. low semantic association) was manipulated factorially with semantic association type (categoric vs. thematic association). Participants were 11-year-old poor readers (n = 15) who were matched with a group of chronological-age controls (n = 13), and also matched with a group of reading-age controls (n = 15). Three priming conditions were used: related, unrelated, and neutral prime. Neutral primes consisted of a row of hash marks. Related primes elicited shorter decision latencies than did unrelated primes. Neutral primes elicited the slowest responses in all groups. Poor readers showed an additional delay in the neutral prime condition. No effects of association type (categorical vs. thematic) or association strength (high vs. low) were found, nor were any relationship with reading ability found. The delayed performance of the poor readers on neutral primes is explained in terms of orthographic processing and dependency on grapheme phoneme relationships. The findings are discussed with reference to F. R. Vellutino, D. M. Scanlon, and D. Spearing's (1995) work on semantic processing and reading ability.

Semantic Priming Effects in a Lexical Decision Task: Comparing third Graders and College Students in two Different Stimulus Onset Asynchronies

“…The majority of our results corroborate previous studies concerning SPE in adults (e.g., Coney, 2002;Davenport & Potter, 2005;Ferrand & New, 2003;Frost & Bentin, 1992;Hutchison, 2007;McNamara, 1994;McRae & Boisvert, 1998;Nobre & McCarthy, 1995;Perea & Gotor, 1997;Perea & Rosa, 2002;Sánchez-Casas, et al, 2006;Valdés, et al, 2005), children (e.g., Assink, et al, 2004;Hala, et al, 2007;Schvaneveldt, et al, 1977;Simpson & Lorsbach, 1987;Torkildsen, et al, 2007), and the comparison between them (e.g., Nievas & Justicia, 2004;Schwantes, et al, 1980;Simpson & Foster, 1986;Simpson & Lorsbach, 1983). Among these results, we would like to emphasize the fact that adults had faster RTs than children; that in the related context RTs were faster than in the unrelated one; the presence of SPE in adults with both SOAs; and finally that at the 500ms SOA, the presence of SPE in children was of a larger magnitude than that observed in adults.…”

“…But when there is a longer SOA and priming is a consequence of expectancy-based processes, all age groups show SPE (Nievas & Justicia, 2004. Several studies were developed to verify the SPE in healthy adults (e.g., Coney, 2002;Davenport & Potter, 2005;Ferrand & New, 2003;Frost & Bentin, 1992;Hutchison, 2007;McNamara, 1994;McRae & Boisvert, 1998;Nobre & McCarthy, 1995; STEFFEN HOLDERBAUM AND FUMAGALLI DE SALLES Perea & Gotor, 1997;Perea & Rosa, 2002;Sánchez-Casas, Ferré, García-Albea, & Guasch, 2006;Valdés, Catena, & Marí-Beffa, 2005). A small number of studies were established for the same purpose with children as participants (e.g., Assink, Bergen, Teeseling, & Knuijt., 2004;Hala, Pexman, & Glenwright, 2007;Schvaneveldt, Ackerman, & Semlear, 1977;Simpson & Lorsbach, 1987;Torkildsen, Syversen, Simonsen, Moen, & Lindgren, 2007).…”

Efeitos de priming semântico em tarefa de decisão lexical em crianças de 3ª série

“…Os resultados do estudo corroboram os encontrados na literatura (Assink et al, 2004;Hala et al, 2007;Plaut & Booth, 2000;Schwantes, et al, 1980;Simpson & Lorsbach, 1983) utilizando um SOA maior do que 300 ms em crianças. Mesmo que as crianças de 3ª série ainda estejam em processo inicial de desenvolvimento da leitura, a apresentação de um estímulo gráfico a 750 ms permite acesso lexical-semântico, que facilita o processamento do estímulo seguinte (o alvo).…”

“…Dentre os estudos dos efeitos de priming semântico encontrados na literatura, a maioria deles tem sido realizada com adultos (Basnight-Brown & Altarriba, 2007;Brown & Besner, 2002;Brown, Roberts, & Besner, 2001;Coney, 2002;Davenport & Potter, 2005;Friedrich, Henik, & Tzelgov, 1991;Frost & Bentin, 1992;Hutchison, 2007;Lukatela & Turvey, 1991;McNamara, 1994;Nievas & Justicia, 2004;Nobre & McCarthy, 1995;Perea & Gotor, 1997;Perea & Rosa, 2002;Reimer, Brow, & Lorsbach, 2001;Valdés, Catena, & Marí-Beffa, 2005). Nos poucos estudos realizados com crianças/adolescentes tem sido encontrado efeito de priming semântico (Assink, Bergen, Teeseling, & Knuijt, 2004;Barry, 2007;Hala, Pexman, & Glenwright, 2007;Nievas & Justicia, 2004;Schvaneveldt, Ackerman, & Semlear, 1977;Schwantes, Boesl, & Ritz, 1980;Simpson & Forster, 1986;Simpson & Lorsbach, 1983, 1987 em amostras de algumas idades/séries e sob determinadas condições.…”

O paradigma de priming semântico na investigação do processamento de leitura de palavras

“…Voltando-se para os processos de leitura nos leitores em desenvolvimento (aprendizes), têm sido encontrados efeitos de priming ortográfico e fonológico (Booth, Perfetti & MacWhinney, 1999;Bowey, Vaughan & Hansen, 1998), assim como de priming semântico (Assink, Bergen, Teeseling & Knuijt, 2004;Simpson & Forster, 1986;Simpson & Lorsbach, 1983).…”