title: The effect of word length on lexical decision in dyslexic and normal reading children.
abstract: In the present study, the effect of word length on lexical decision in dyslexic and normal reading children was investigated. Dyslexics of 10-years old, chronological age controls, and reading age controls read words and pseudowords consisting of 3 to 6 letters in a lexical decision task. Length effects were much stronger in dyslexics and reading age controls than in chronological age controls. These results support the contention that dyslexics continue to rely on a predominantly sub-lexical reading procedure, whereas for normal readers the contribution of a lexical reading procedure increases. The relevance of the findings for current computational models of reading is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Education, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. v.e.g.martens@uva.nl
authors.forename: Vanessa E G
authors.initials: VE
authors.lastname: Martens
authors.forename: Peter F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: de Jong
mesh_terms: D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D003657:Decision Making; D004410:Dyslexia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009426:Netherlands; D010700:Phonetics; D011932:Reading; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology; D013997:Time Factors; D014825:Vocabulary