The /O/ in OVER is different from the /O/ in OTTER: phonological effects in children with and without dyslexia

First-letter naming was used to investigate the role of phonology in printed word perception in children with and without dyslexia. In 2 experiments, all children showed faster first-letter-naming times in a congruent condition than in an incongruent condition, which suggests that phonology is a fundamental constraint in the printed word perception of readers of all levels and all skills. An explanation in terms of a recurrent network put forward by G. C. Van Orden and S. D. Goldinger (1996) is discussed to account for the apparent paradox in the reading behavior of readers with dyslexia, that is, that in first-letter naming, dyslexic readers appear to show phonological congruity effects, whereas in pseudoword reading, their phonological knowledge appears to be deficient or absent.