Auditory word perception in sentence context in reading-disabled children

摘要

Reading difficulties appear to be related to a phonological deficit that has its origin in poor speech perception. As such, disabled readers may use contextual cues to compensate for their weak speech perception abilities. We compared good and poor readers, 7–13 years, on auditory perception of words varying in phonological contrast, in congruent vs. incongruent sentence contexts. Both groups did worse in the phonologically similar than in the phonologically dissimilar incongruent condition. Magnetoencephalography revealed differential activation between the groups as a function of phonological contrast in left superior temporal gyrus between 200–300 ms, suggesting that poor readers may have processed phonologically similar incongruent stimuli as congruent. The results are consistent with a phonological account of reading disability.