Orthographic and phonological contributions to reading development: tracking developmental trajectories using masked...

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Educational Psychology

Background:

• Reading development involves both phonological and orthographic processing.
• The interplay between these processes changes as reading proficiency increases.
• Understanding these developmental trajectories is crucial for effective reading instruction.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the developmental trajectories of phonological and orthographic processing in children.
• To examine how pseudohomophone (PsH) priming and transposed-letter (TL) priming effects change from Grade 1 to Grade 5.
• To assess the role of phonological and orthographic coding in direct lexical access.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study using a masked priming paradigm.
• Pseudohomophone (PsH) priming was used as a marker for phonological processing.
• Transposed-letter (TL) priming was used as a marker for coarse-grained orthographic processing.

Main Results:

• The PsH priming effect remained stable across all grade levels, indicating a continuous reliance on phonological information.
• The TL priming effect increased monotonically with grade level, suggesting enhanced use of orthographic coding in skilled readers.
• These findings support the dual-route model of orthographic processing.

Conclusions:

• Phonological processing remains a significant factor throughout reading development, challenging views of decreasing reliance on phonology.
• Orthographic coding, particularly coarse-grained coding, becomes more efficient as children develop reading skills.
• TL priming serves as a valuable indicator of a child's ability to utilize orthographic information for faster lexical access.