Behavioral measures of written language processing in normal and impaired populations

I consider visual word recognition a primer phenomenon to study high level cognitive processes and how they interact with sensorymotor processes. To this end, within the Reading and Lexical Processing Lab [W-READ] of the ISTC-CNR and the Adult Cognition and Neuropsychology group of the Department of Psychology of the University of York, we use behavioral experimental paradigms (i.e., Visual Single Word Recognition and Visual Lexical Decision) to study language processes in participants with different expertise (adult and children) and different proficiency (typical readers, acquired/developmental dyslexia).

Within the WoRHD project I'm exploring the impact of auditory deprivation on word recognition. Evidence indicates that adequate phonological abilities are necessary to develop proficient reading skills and that later in life phonology also has a role in the covert visual word recognition of expert readers. Impairments of acoustic perception, such as deafness, can lead to atypical phonological representations of written words and letters, which in turn can affect reading proficiency. In Barca et al. (2013) we report an experiment in which young adults with different levels of acoustic perception (i.e., hearing and deaf individuals) and different modes of communication (i.e., hearing individuals using spoken language, deaf individuals with a preference for sign language, and deaf individuals using the oral modality with less or no competence in sign language) performed a visual lexical decision task, which consisted of categorizing real words and consonant strings.

Results show that mode of communication modulates the lexicality effect, suggesting that learning a sign language during development shapes visuo-motor representations of words, which are tuned to the actions used to express them (phono-articulatory movements vs. hand movements) and to associated perceptions. As these visuo-motor representations are elicited during on-line linguistic processing and can overlap with the perceptual-motor processes required to execute the task, they can potentially produce interference or facilitation effects.

Following is a short list of recent publications on this topic.

Typical readers:

  • Ellis, A., Ferreira, R., Cathles-Hagan, P., Holt, K., Jarvis, L., & Barca, L. (2009). Word learning and the cerebral hemispheres: from serial to parallel processing of written words. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, part B, 364, 3675-3696. [pdf]
  • Pagliuca, G., Arduino, L.S., Barca, L., & Burani, C. (2008). Fully transparent orthography, yet lexical reading aloud: New evidence from Italian. Language and Cognitive Processes, 23, 422-433. [pdf]
  • Barca, L., Ellis, A.W., & Burani, C. (2007). Context-sensitive rules and word naming in Italian children. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 20, 495-509. [pdf]
  • Burani, C., Barca, L., & Ellis, A.W. (2006). Orthographic complexity and word naming in Italian: Some words are more transparent than others. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 13, 346-352. [pdf]

Deaf readers:

  • Barca, L., Pezzulo, G., Castrataro, M., Rinaldi, P., & Caselli, M.C. (2013).Visual word recognition in deaf readers: Lexicality is modulated by communication mode. PlosOne, 8 (3): e59080 [link]

Acquired/developmental dyslexia:

  • De Luca, M., Barca, L., Burani, C., & Zoccolotti, P. (2008). Word length effect in developmental dyslexia. Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology, 21, 227-235. [pdf]
  • Henderson, L., Barca, L., & Ellis, A. (2007). Interhemispheric cooperation and non-cooperation during word recognition: evidence for callosal transfer dysfunction in dyslexic adults. Brain and Language, 103, 276-291.
  • Burani, C., Barca, L., & Arduino, L.S. (2007). Frequency, not age of acquisition affects Italian word naming. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 19, 828-866. [pdf]
  • Barca, L., Burani, C., Di Filippo, G., & Zoccolotti, P. (2006). Italian developmental dyslexic and proficient readers: Where are the differences? Brain & Language, 98, 347-351. [pdf]

Genetic syndrome:

  • Barca, L., Bello, A., Volterra, V., & Burani, C. (2010). Lexical-semantic reading in a shallow orthography: Evidence from a girl with Williams Syndrome. Reading and Writing. An Interdisciplinary Journal, 23, (5), 569. [pdf]
  • Burani, C., Bimonte, D., Barca, L., & Vicari, S. (2006). Word morphology and lexical comprehension in Williams Syndrome. Brain & Language, 99, 8-219. [pdf]