Word decoding and picture naming in children with a reading disability

Poor readers and reading age level matched controls performed a primed picture-naming task and a lexical decision task; their vocabulary performance was also assessed. Picture-naming data showed that poor readers were slower in the repeated prime condition only. This effect could not be explained by differences in vocabulary. Semantically related primes were ineffective compared with the repeated prime condition. Lexical decision data replicated the nonword reading deficit hypothesis: Poor readers were slower, particularly on the pseudowords and nonwords. A separately conducted analysis of the real word data showed strong effects of acquisition age. Late-acquired words had longer reaction times. Vocabulary performance as the covariate could explain the between-groups effects on this task. Semantic processing, as it is involved in picture naming, and phonological processing, as it is involved in decoding printed words, appear to be 2 relatively independent sources of reading deficits.