The Focal Attention Window Size Explains Letter Substitution Errors in Reading

• DOI: 10.3390/brainsci11020247
• Publication Date: 2021-02-17T03:13:38Z
• Authors: Roberta Daini; Silvia Primativo; Andrea Albonico; Laura Veronelli; Manuela Malaspina; Massimo Corbo; Marialuisa Martelli; Lisa S. Arduino
• Keywords: Crowding

Acquired Neglect Dyslexia is often associated with right-hemisphere brain damage and mainly characterized by omissions substitutions in reading single words. Martelli et al. proposed 2011 that these two types of error are due to different mechanisms. Omissions should depend on neglect plus an oculomotor deficit, whilst the difficulty which letters perceptually segregated from each other (i.e., crowding phenomenon). In this study, we hypothesized a deficit focal attention could determine pathological effect, leading imprecise letter identification consequently substitution errors. Experiment 1, three brain-damaged patients, suffering peripheral dyslexia, substitutions, underwent assessment distribution pseudowords T detection task as function cue size timing, order measure attention. Each patient, when compared control group, showed adjusting attentional focus. 2, group 17 right-brain-damaged patients were asked perform read words inter-letter spacing. The results allowed us confirm more general association between substitution-type errors performance task.