Fluidez verbal semántica y fonológica en una muestra de niños de Argentina

The aim of this work is to obtain data about the evolutionary pattern of performance in verbal fluency tasks for a sample of Argentinean primary school aged children (3rd, 5th y 7th grade) in semantic and phonological verbal fluency tasks. For the semantic fluency task, children were assessed in different categories: animals, fruits and vegetables, and body parts for living things domain, and means of transport, musical instruments and clothes for inanimate objects. For the phonological fluency assessment, children were tested with /f/, /a/and /s/phonemes. Both fluency tasks showed differences between grades, indicating the influence of education. Besides, irrespective of the grade, children performed better on the semantic fluency tasks. Results in the semantic fluency task also showed a better performance for the living things domain over the inanimate objects domain. Further analysis on the results showed that 3rd grade children have the worst performance, compared to 5th and 7th grade children. The results of our work are discussed taking in account cognitive mechanisms, executive functions and semantic memory development.No presente trabalho oferecemos dados de tarefas de fl uência verbal para crianças argentinas de 3°, 5° e 7 ° ano do ensino fundamental. Os participantes foram avaliados com uma tarefa de fl uência semântica, que testou as categorias de animais, frutas e legumes e partes do corpo para o domínio dos seres vivos e meios de transporte, instrumentos musicais e roupas para os objetos inanimados. As crianças também foram avaliadas com uma tarefa de fl uência fonológica que testou os fonemas /f/, /a/ e /s/. Os dados obtidos apontam para diferenças de desempenho entre as tarefas e mostraram um melhor desempenho nas de fl uência semântica. Além disso, nas tarefas de fl uência semântica os participantes tiveram um melhor desempenho no domínio dos seres vivos. Tanto para fl uência semântica quanto fonológica, as diferenças estiveram presentes quando os grupos foram comparados pelo nível de escolaridade, de modo que os alunos de 3° ano se dissociam signifi cativamente dos 5° e 7 ° anos, produzindo menor quantidade de exemplares. Os resultados são discutidos à luz de possíveis diferenças originadas no desenvolvimento cognitivo, as funções executivas e o sistema semântico.El objetivo del presente trabajo es obtener información del patrón evolutivo de desempeño en tareas de fl uidez verbal para una muestra de niños argentinos de nivel primario de 3°, 5° y 7° grado. Se evaluó a los participantes con una tarea de fl uidez semántica, en la que se evaluaron las categorías de animales, frutas y verduras, y partes del cuerpo para el dominio de seres vivos, y medios de transporte, instrumentos musicales y ropa para el de objetos inanimados. Asimismo fueron evaluados con una tarea de fl uidez fonológica en la que se testearon los fonemas /f/, /a/ y /s/. Los datos obtenidos dan cuenta de diferencias de rendimiento entre las tareas de fl uidez con un mejor desempeño en las tareas de fl uidez semántica. Asimismo, en las tareas de fl uidez semántica se observa un mejor rendimiento en el dominio de seres vivos. Las diferencias obtenidas en ambas tareas se identifi can al comparar los grupos según escolaridad, siendo únicamente los niños de 3° grado los que, con menor cantidad de ejemplares recuperados, se disocian signifi cativamente de los de 5° y 7° grado. Estos hallazgos son discutidos a la luz de posibles diferencias en función del desarrollo cognitivo, de las funciones ejecutivas y del sistema semántico.Fil: Fumagalli, Julieta Carolina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Instituto de Lingüística; ArgentinaFil: Soriano, Federico Gonzalo. Instituto de Neurociencias Cognitiva y Traslacional; ArgentinaFil: Shalóm, Diego Edgar. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Barreyro, Juan Pablo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Psicología. Instituto de Investigaciones; ArgentinaFil: Martínez Cuitiño Carricaburo, María Macarena. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva. Fundación Favaloro. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva; Argentin

Reading fluency and dyslexia: A case study

El objetivo de este trabajo es comparar el rendimiento de un niño con dislexia con los datos provenientes de la evaluación de un grupo control emparejado en edad cronológica y nivel de escolaridad en tareas que miden distintos procesos implicados en la fluidez lectora. La lectura fluida se caracteriza por ser rápida, precisa, expresiva y comprensiva.Los participantes fueron evaluados con 3tareas:lectura de palabras y no palabras y comprensión de textos con lectura en voz alta y con lectura silente.Los datos obtenidos se analizaron para establecer las diferencias de rendimiento entre el niño con dislexia y el grupo control. Los resultados permiten observar un rendimiento equiparable del niño con dislexiay de sus pares en términos de comprensión lectora, pero no enprecisión lectora nienvelocidad porque el niño con dislexia comete más errores de lectura y precisa más tiempo que el grupo control para resolver las distintas tareas. Asimismo, un análisis de los errores de lectura muestra que el paciente presenta un mayor porcentaje de erroresy estos son en su mayoría producto de tanteos, silabeos y vacilaciones al leer en voz alta tanto los ítems aislados como las palabras en el texto. Estos datos indican que se trata de paciente con dificultades para leer que se manifiestan en la falta de automatización de los mecanismos subyacentes a la lectura y en un déficit en la velocidad lectora, que se refleja en la lentitud para resolver las tareas propuestas. Estos hallazgos tienen implicancias para una mejor comprensión delos perfiles lectores de los niños con dislexia y para la intervención clínica y escolar en niños con estas dificultades.Fluent reading is fast, accurate, with proper intonation and comprehensive. The aim of this research is to compare the processes involved in reading fluency by contrasting the performance of child with dyslexia with the results reached by a control group matched in age and school level. The participants were assessed with 3 tasks: word and no word reading, oral reading and comprehension and silent reading and comprehension. The data was analysed to establish differences between the control group and the child with dyslexia. These results show no differences in reading comprehension tasks. Nevertheless, the dyslexic child and the control group differ in accuracy and time measures because the child with dyslexiamake more reading mistakes and needs more time to solve all the tasks proposed. In addition, the qualitative reading error analysis shows that the dyslexic performance has more syllable by syllable reading and hesitations during oral reading of isolated words and no words and words in the text. According to the results the child with dyslexia has reading difficulties caused by a phonological deficit that prevent the automatization of the underlying reading processes as well as a speedreading deficit. Nevertheless, the dyslexic child is able to comprehend the texts relying on oral comprehension abilities. These results have implications in a better comprehension of reading performance and reading comprehension in children with dyslexia as well as for clinic and classroom practices.Fil: Fumagalli, Julieta Carolina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Instituto de Lingüística; ArgentinaFil: Jaichenco, Virginia Irene. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Instituto de Lingüística; Argentin

Partisanship Predicts COVID-19 Vaccine Brand Preference: The Insightful Case of Argentina

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of not only diminishing the resistance to vaccine adoption in general, but also to reduce both real and perceived barriers to a swift vaccination campaign. One major problem faced by health systems around the world was that people’s preferences for a specific brand of vaccine often delayed vaccination efforts as people canceled or delayed appointments to receive their preferred brand. Therefore, in the event of another pandemic, it is important to know which factors influence preferences for specific vaccine brands. Previous literature showed that consumers choose products that are congruent with their self-concept, which includes their political affiliation. Given that the discourse around vaccine brands has been strongly politicized during the pandemic, in our work, we test whether partisanship influences preferences for COVID-19 vaccine brands. To test this, we collected survey data from Argentina (N = 432), a country with a clear bipartisan structure and where a variety of vaccine brands were administered, both from Western and Eastern laboratories. We found that supporters of the ruling party, which had strong ties with Eastern countries such as Russia and China, perceived Eastern vaccine brands (e.g., Sputnik V) to be more effective and safe than Western ones (e.g., Pfizer) whereas the contrary was true for supporters of the opposition. Our results also showed that supporters of the opposing party were more likely to wish to hypothetically switch vaccines, to delay their appointment in case of not receiving their preferred brand, and to disapprove of their local vaccination campaign. Our results demonstrate that political party affiliation biases perceptions of both vaccine brands’ quality and vaccination campaign effectiveness. We anticipate that our results can inform public policy strategies when it comes to an efficient vaccine supply allocation, as political affiliation is a measurable and predictable consumer trait.Este artículo se encuentra publicado en SSRN 4292235

Prueba de emparejamiento de unidades fonológicas a partir de dibujos: diferencias de rendimiento entre niños prelectores de distinto estrato socioeconómico

Several researchers have demonstrated that phonological awareness is an important factor in reading development and, it has also been confirmed that there is a positive relationship between reading and phonological awareness: evidences reveal that measures of phonological awareness skills in prereaders are related to their later success in reading. In order to detect early difficulties in a phonological awareness a group of 127 prereaders from different socioeconomic environment were asked to identify drawings´ beginning or ending with the same syllable or the same phoneme. The analysis showed statistical differences depending on the unit assesed as well as differences between the two socioeconomic groups tested.Este trabajo se enmarca en las investigaciones sobre lectura que consideran a la conciencia fonológica como un factor esencial en el aprendizaje lector. Con el objetivo de detectar dificultades en la manipulación de unidades subléxicas de manera temprana un total de 127 niños prelectores de Sala de 4 y Sala de 5 de dos escuelas de distinto nivel socioeconómico realizaron una prueba de emparejamiento de sílabas y fonemas a partir de dibujos. Los resultados muestran diferencias significativas de rendimiento según la unidad evaluada así como entre las escuelas de distinto nivel socioeconómico

Sex Differences in a Semantic Fluency Task?

It is a well-documented empirical fact that men and women perform differently in language tasks involving various semantic categories. The sex-by-category effect has been reported in several languages and through different tasks. The results of these studies agree that some semantic categories are preferentially male while others are preferentially female, but which categories are associated with one gender or the other varies across studies. In our study, we tested a group of undergraduate native Spanish speakers from Argentina on a written semantic fluency task. Participants were tested on ten semantic categories, five from the Living Things domain (LT) and five from the Non-Living Things domain (NLT). While women retrieved more items than men across categories, differential output was only significant in five categories: animals, vegetables (LT), furniture and utensils (NLT) for females and tools (NLT) for males

Avaliação de leitura: escala de fluência baseada em textos narrativos

El objetivo de este trabajo es aplicar una escala subjetiva de fluidez a fin de determinar si esta modalidad de evaluación configura una herramienta eficiente para valorar la fluidez lectora. Una muestra de niños y niñas argentinos de 5to grado de nivel primario fue evaluada con una tarea de comprensión lectora silente ad hoc (TCL), una tarea estandarizada de lectura de palabras (TL) y una tarea de lectura en voz alta para valorar la fluidez con la Escala de fluidez lectora para textos (EFT). Los datos obtenidos al aplicar la EFT fueron analizados y comparados con las puntuaciones de las tareas de CL y TL. Primero, se realizó un análisis de correlación que detectó que el puntaje total de la EFT y cada una de las categorías contempladas en su diseño se asociaron significativamente entre sí y con las puntuaciones alcanzadas por los participantes en la TL y en la TCL. Luego, para establecer si la EFT permite diferenciar entre sujetos con diferente nivel de comprensión se dividió a la muestra en dos grupos según su rendimiento en la TCL y se llevó adelante un análisis de contrastes para medias relacionadas que indicó diferencias en la puntuación global y en las distintas categorías de la EFT entre los grupos de alto y bajo nivel de comprensión. Estos resultados sugieren que la EFT es una herramienta fiable para la evaluación de la fluidez lectora en el ámbito educativo y clínico y es un instrumento sensible para detectar diferencias de rendimiento en comprensión lectora.The aim of this research is to apply a fluency scale in order to investigate if this way to assess is an efficient tool for measuring reading fluency. A sample of Argentinean primary school-aged children (5th grade) were assessed with an ad hoc silent reading comprehension task (RC), a standardized word reading task (WR), and an oral reading task (OR). Oral reading samples were analysed with the Text Reading Fluency Scale (TRFS) designed for this research. The results from the TRFS were analysed and compared with those from the RC and WR tasks. In first place, a correlation analysis was performed. Results showed that TRFS’ total score and each of the categories included in the rubric were significantly associated with each other as well as with participant´s rating achieved in RC and WR tasks. Then, further analysis was fulfilled to establish if TRFS can identify differences in reading comprehension level. The sample was divided according to their performance in the RC in two groups: high and low level of comprehension, and a contrast analysis was conducted. The results showed differences between high and low level of comprehension groups in TRFS´ total score and in the different categories of the rubric. These results suggest that TRFS is a reliable tool to evaluate reading fluency at school as well as in clinical practice and is a sensitive instrument for detecting reading comprehension performance level.O objetivo deste artigo é aplicar uma escala de fluência subjetiva a fim de determinar se esta modalidade de avaliação é uma ferramenta eficiente para avaliar a fluência da leitura. Uma amostra de crianças argentinas do 5º ano da escola primária foi avaliada com uma tarefa ad hoc de compreensão de leitura silenciosa (TCL), uma tarefa estandardizada de leitura de palavras (TL) e uma tarefa de leitura em voz alta para avaliar a fluência com a Escala de Fluência de Leitura para Textos (EFT). Os dados obtidos através da aplicação do EFT foram analisados e comparados com as pontuações das tarefas CL e TL. Primeiro, foi realizada uma análise de correlação que constatou que a pontuação total da EFT e cada uma das categorias no desenho da EFT estavam significativamente associadas umas às outras e às pontuações de TL e TCL dos participantes. Depois, para estabelecer se o EFT pode diferenciar entre sujeitos com diferentes níveis de compreensão, a amostra foi dividida em dois grupos de acordo com o seu desempenho no TCL e foi realizada uma análise de contrastes para meios relacionados, indicando diferenças na pontuação global e nas diferentes categorias de EFT entre os grupos de alta e baixa compreensão. Estes resultados sugerem que o EFT é uma ferramenta fiável para a avaliação da fluência da leitura em contextos educativos e clínicos e é um instrumento sensível para detectar diferenças no desempenho da compreensão da leitura.Fil: Fumagalli, Julieta Carolina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Instituto de Lingüística; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Ferroni, Marina Valeria. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Instituto de Lingüística; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Jaichenco, Virginia Irene. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Instituto de Lingüística; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Hurlingham; Argentin

Fluidez lectora en niños: cuáles son las habilidades subyacentes

Reading fluency is an important component of reading learning process and reading comprehension. Fluency in reading is a construct that involves reading accuracy, expressive reading, speed and reading comprehension. In Spanish there are few tools to assess it so, the aim of this work is to stablish which are the underlying skills of reading fluency in order to obtain information for the future design of a test that evaluates it with texts in Spanish. A group of 172 primary school children from third, fifth and seventh grades with no reading learning disabilities were evaluated. The participants were assessed with five tasks: phonological fluency (FVF), phonological awareness (CF), naming (RAN), word and nonword reading (Lectura de PyNP) and text reading aloud (LVA) from which reading accuracy, speed and comprehension measures were extracted. The results obtained provide information about variables that affect directly (RAN and reading of PyNP) and indirect (CF and FVF) on reading fluency. These data are relevant for the forthcoming design of a battery that allows professionals how to measure this construct.La fluidez lectora es un componente crítico del aprendizaje de la lectura y la comprensión de textos. En español son escasas las herramientas para evaluar este constructo que involucra aspectos relativos a la precisión lectora, la expresividad, la velocidad y la comprensión. A fin de obtener información para el futuro diseño de una batería que evalúe la fluidez a partir de textos en español, este trabajo se propone establecer las habilidades subyacentes a la fluidez. Para tal fin, se evalúo a un total de 172 niños de tercero, quinto y séptimo grado de nivel primario sin dificultades para el aprendizaje de la lectura. Los participantes respondieron cinco tareas: fluidez verbal fonológica (FVF), conciencia fonológica (CF), velocidad de denominación (RAN), lectura de palabras y no palabras (Lectura de PyNP) y lectura en voz alta de un texto (LVA) a partir de la cual se extrajeron medidas de precisión lectora, velocidad y comprensión. Los resultados obtenidos brindan información sobre variables que inciden de manera directa (RAN y Lectura de PyNP) e indirecta (CF y FVF) sobre la fluidez lectora. Estos datos resultan relevantes para el futuro diseño de una batería que permita medir este constructo

Reading fluency: differences between oral and silent reading comprehension

Became a fluent reader is one of the aims of the reading learning process. In previous researches, the relationship between oral and silent reading fluency and text reading comprehension has been investigated with different results. According to the variety of information about the topic, the purpose of this work is to compare oral and silent reading fluency to establish possible differences between reading modalities and the implications for reading comprehension. A sample of 171 children from 3rd, 5th, and 7th grade answered three tasks: a standardized word and non-word reading task, an oral reading comprehension task, and a silent reading comprehension task, both designed ad hoc. In order to compare the three groups of students, time measures and accuracy were calculated for word and no-word reading task, and time and comprehension measures were considered for oral and silent reading comprehension tasks.Fil: Fumagalli, Julieta Carolina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Instituto de Lingüística; ArgentinaFil: Barreyro, Juan Pablo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Psicología; ArgentinaFil: Jaichenco, Virginia Irene. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Instituto de Lingüística; Argentin