Constituent frequency effects in the written production of Spanish compound words

The debate about whether compound words are accessed as whole-words or via their constituents remains unresolved, especially in the field of language production. In the present study, three experiments using a copying task examined whether compound words are accessed via their constituents in handwriting production. In Experiment 1, production of compound words and noncompounds was compared. The last inter-letter interval within the first constituent of compounds was observed to be shorter than the same interval in noncompounds, revealing that writing durations are sensitive to morphological processing. In Experiments 2 and 3, the first and second constituent frequency was manipulated respectively. The frequency of both constituents affected writing onset times. Interestingly, the interval between the last two letters of the first constituent was shorter when the second constituent was of high-frequency, suggesting that the effect obtained in this position in Experiment 1 was related to the anticipation of the second constituent. Our findings indicate that both constituents are activated before the initiation of the written response and that the second component is reactivated before the production of the first constituent has finished

Procesamiento fonológico en la escritura manual de palabras aisladas

In the present manuscript, we provide striking evidence about the involvement of phonology in a range of writing tasks (copy, spelling-to-dictation, associated-pairs) when adult writers produce known words. Interestingly, multiple phonological units seem to be functional during handwriting, as syllables and graphemes. Furthermore, we demonstrate that he frequency of a phoneme have an impact in the duration of its corresponding grapheme. Altogether, the evidence presented here also confirms the impact of central high-order (phonological) variables in the duration of a written response. This fact supports the idea that writing starts as soon as the initial segments of the response have been processed, and rules out the affirmation that a word does not begin to be produced until the whole word has been processed at the central (abstract) levels. Evidence obtained in these experiments strongly support the claim that phonology is systematically retrieved during the normal handwriting process, even when writing well-known words. Phonology is retrieved during handwriting, and it is used at a sublexical level to strengthen the orthographic (lexical) information kept in the orthographic working memory. Later on the process, the written response is produced syllable-by-syllable, indicating that the phonological loop plays a role in the response segmentation. In the case of low-frequency syllables, which lack of a holistic motor pattern, the motor programs for individual letters have to be retrieved. This process produces an increase of the cognitive load demanded by complex graphemes. More studies are necessary to establish how these effects vary when complex graphemes are embedded in high-frequency syllables. However, we have been able to confirm the involvement of at least two different units of phonological origin during handwriting production: syllables and graphemes. Multiple units seem to be used to program the writing movements, in line with Van Galen's (1991) proposal. Finally, this pattern of results fits a model of written production in which levels of processing are simultaneously active, but engaged with different segments of the response. When processing demands are increased at a certain level of processing, concurrent processes can be also affected. We propose a psycholinguistic model of handwriting production which integrates the evidence reported here and most of the previous literature

Writing proficiency in English as L2 in Spanish children with dyslexia

Producción CientíficaDifferent studies have demonstrated that people with dyslexia have difficulties in acquiring fluent reading and writing. These problems are also evident when they learn a second language. The aim of our study was to investigate if there is a linguistic transfer effect for writing in children with dyslexia when they face tasks in English (L2), as well as the possible influence of other linguistic skills (spelling, vocabulary and reading) in English (L2) and in Spanish (L1). Participants completed a series of tasks both in Spanish and English: a picture naming task, a word reading task, a word spelling task, and a written composition of which we analysed its quality through different variables provided by the Coh-metrix software. Our results revealed that children with dyslexia show similar or parallel performance in written composition in both languages, which could imply a language transfer effect from L1 and L2. Besides, basic language skills are related to the characteristics of written composition to a greater extent in English than in Spanish, suggesting the impact of these on the quality of written composition.Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, (grant PID2019-106868 GB-I00)Publicación en abierto financiada por el Consorcio de Bibliotecas Universitarias de Castilla y León (BUCLE), con cargo al Programa Operativo 2014ES16RFOP009 FEDER 2014-2020 DE CASTILLA Y LEÓN, Actuación:20007-CL - Apoyo Consorcio BUCL

Use of spellcheck in text production by college students with dyslexia

It is widely assumed that by identifying spelling errors and suggesting replacement words, spellcheck allows writers to revise spelling errors even if they do not have the necessary spelling knowledge. However, there have been no studies evaluating the efficacy of modern spellcheck tools for students with spelling difficulties, such as dyslexia. In fact, the very limited and dated research into use of spellcheck by writers with dyslexia indicated that, even when using spellcheck to revise spelling errors, this group left many misspellings in their texts. The current study is the first to investigate whether a modern spellcheck program allows college students with dyslexia to produce texts that are as free from misspellings as texts by their peers, and whether this affects the quality of the text in other ways. College students with dyslexia (n=18) and a control group of peers (n=18) wrote two short essays using Microsoft Word, one with spellcheck active and one without spellcheck active. Spelling accuracy and overall quality of the texts were measured. Without spellcheck, students with dyslexia made more misspellings than the control group, however, with spellcheck active students from both groups left almost zero misspelled words in their texts. Text quality was not affected. Results demonstrate that spellcheck helps college students with dyslexia to overcome the limitations that poor spelling knowledge imposes. Importantly, results indicate that spellcheck does not lead to improvements in text beyond spelling accuracy, or lead to poorer quality texts, indicating that it is suitable for use in exam conditions

Writing impairments in Spanish children with developmental dyslexia

This study investigated which components of the writing production process are impaired in Spanish children with developmental dyslexia (DD) aged 8-12 years. Children with and without dyslexia (n = 60) were assessed in their use of the lexical and the sublexical routes of spelling as well as the orthographic working memory system by manipulating lexical frequency, phonology-to-orthography (P-O) consistency and word length in a copying task and a spelling-to-dictation task. Results revealed that children with dyslexia produced longer written latencies than chronological age-matched (CA) controls, more errors than CA and reading age-matched (RA) controls and writing durations similar to CA controls. Latencies were more affected by frequency, consistency and length in the DD group and the RA group than in CA controls. Children in the DD and RA groups produced longer written latencies in the copying than in the spelling-to-dictation task, while controls in the CA group were not affected by the task. Results indicate that spelling impairments in Spanish children with dyslexia affect the relative involvement of lexical and sublexical information during handwriting. Meanwhile effects on writing speed seem to be related to deficits in reading ability, accuracy scores seem to be poorer than expected by children’s reading skill

The embodied penman: Effector-specific motor-language integration during handwriting

Several studies have yielded fine-grained insights on the embodied dynamics of language by revealing how processing of manual action verbs (MaVs) affects the programming or execution of concurrent hand movements. However, virtually all extant studies have relied on highly contrived dual tasks in which independent motoric and linguistic processes are arbitrarily related. To circumvent potential attentional confounds, we conducted the first assessment of motor-language integration during handwriting, an early acquired skill that necessarily integrates both types of processes. Using a digital pen, participants copied carefully matched MaVs, non-manual action verbs, and non-action verbs as we collected measures of motor programming (the time needed to start the writing routine after verb presentation) and motor execution (the time needed to write the whole verb). Whereas motor programming latencies were similar across conditions, the unfolding of motor routines was faster for MaVs than for the other two categories, irrespective of the subjects’ daily writing time. Moreover, this effect remained consistent regardless of whether word meanings were accessed implicitly or explicitly. In line with the Hand-Action-Network Dynamic Language Embodiment (HANDLE) model, such findings suggest that everyday manual movements can be primed by effector-congruent verbs, even in a highly automatized task that seamlessly combines linguistic and motoric processes. In addition, this effect differs from that observed for MaVs in a previous (keyboard-based) typing experiment, suggesting that language-induced sensorimotor resonance during writing depends on the motoric particularities of each production modality. More generally, our paradigm opens new avenues for fine-grained explorations of embodied language processes

Writing difficulties in Alzheimer's disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment

The present study addresses the scope of the writing difficulties observed in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). Patients with AD, patients with MCI and healthy controls performed a written picture-naming task and a direct copy transcoding task in which phonology-to-orthography (P-O) consistency was manipulated. Written latencies, inter-letter durations, mean word pen pressure and number of errors were measured. Results revealed that there was a significant difference between the control group and both groups of patients in written latencies and number of errors. However, in inter-letter interval or mean pen pressure there were significant differences only between the group with AD and the other groups. P-O consistency and the type of task produced similar effects in the three groups of participants, suggesting a general deficit affecting the ability to access/generate orthographic representations. The relevance of these results for understanding the spelling impairment in AD and MCI are discussed

Handwriting production in Spanish children with dyslexia: Spelling or motor difficulties?

Spelling and handwriting are different processes; however, they are learned simultaneously, and numerous studies have shown that they interact. Besides the commonly reported presence of a spelling deficit, previous studies have indicated that handwriting difficulties can also be detected in children with dyslexia. Despite this, this issue has not been sufficiently explored. The goal of the study was to investigate the potential handwriting difficulties met by children with dyslexia and how they might relate to spelling difficulties and to basic graphic skills. Twenty children with dyslexia were compared with a chronological age-matched group and reading level-matched group. Participants completed a spelling-to-dictation task of words and pseudowords, an alphabet writing task, and two graphic tasks. Results showed that children with dyslexia were less accurate and slower in preparing and executing the written response than typically developing peers, but they showed the spelling level expected given their reading ability. Children with dyslexia also performed similarly to children with the same reading level in the alphabet and graphic tasks, with both groups being slower and less fluent than the control age group. Altogether, the results suggest the existence of a delay in the development of handwriting and graphic fluency related to the level of reading and spelling skills rather than the presence of a core deficit affecting fine motor skills in dyslexia. In this sense, it seems that reduced literacy skills can affect the development of other skills that are usually enhanced with handwriting practice, such as fine motor skills

A study of writing mechanisms in Spanish primary education children = Estudio de los mecanismos de escritura en niños españoles de Educación Primaria

Several studies performed on deep orthography systems reveal variables that influence writing latencies that occur over the course of learning. In transparent orthographies such as Spanish there are very few studies on writing that measure latencies and duration. The aim of this present study was to take a more in-depth look at knowledge of the writing mechanisms used by Spanish children in primary education, by studying the errors, latencies and duration of the writing of words. To do this, sixty children performed a copying task and a dictation task with regular words of different frequency and length. The obtained results show changes in the writing mechanisms used by the children as they became more expert, as indicated by the greater effect of word length in the first years of primary. This word length effect is a more determining factor with regard to the number of letters in words than for the number of syllables. These results hold important implications for the teaching of writing in Spanish. Numerosos estudios realizados en sistemas de ortografía profunda muestran las variables que influyen sobre las latencias de escritura a lo largo del aprendizaje. En ortografías transparentes como el castellano son escasos los estudios sobre escritura que recojan medidas de latencias y duración de la escritura. El objetivo del presente trabajo fue profundizar en el conocimiento de los mecanismos de escritura utilizados por niños españoles de Educación Primaria, a partir del estudio de los errores, las latencias y la duración de la escritura de palabras. Para ello, 60 niños realizaron una tarea de copia y otra de dictado de palabras regulares con diferente frecuencia y longitud. Los resultados obtenidos muestran cambios en los mecanismos de escritura utilizados por los niños a medida que se hacen más expertos, como indica el mayor efecto de la longitud de las palabras en los primeros cursos. Ese efecto de longitud es más determinante por el número de letras que por el número de sílabas de las palabras. Estos resultados tienen importantes implicaciones en la enseñanza de la escritura en castellano

Characteristics of the written compositions of Spanish children with dyslexia and their relationship with spelling difficulties

Previous work in English has found that the spelling difficulties of children with dyslexia affect the overall quality attributed to their written compositions. The aim of this study was to investigate whether different processes related to transcription, translation and ideas proposing/planning are affected in developmental dyslexia and to what extent potential deficits are associated to poor spelling. Compositions handwritten by Spanish-speaking children with and without dyslexia aged 9-12 years-old (n = 42) were compared on measures of productivity, spelling accuracy, legibility, lexical diversity, punctuation, sentence structure and grammar, organisation, ideas quality, and readability. Children with dyslexia performed worse in spelling, lexical diversity, syntax and grammar and ideas quality. Interestingly, in the group with dyslexia spelling accuracy contributed to lexical diversity, while lexical diversity was the only significant predictor of syntax and grammar, organisation and ideas quality. This pattern of results was absent in typically developing children. This evidence suggests that spelling difficulties are associated to reduce the lexical diversity of the texts of children with dyslexia, which may affect the activity of the translator and the proposer, diminishing the perceived quality of their written compositions