In this study, we examined the effects of word and character frequency across three commonly used word-identification tasks (lexical decision, naming, and sentence reading) using the same set of two-character target words (N = 60) and participants (N = 82). Facilitatory effects of word frequency were observed across all three tasks. The…

Previous research has revealed conflicting results with regard to the role of the magnocellular visual system in reading and dyslexia. In order to investigate this further, the present study examined the relationship between performance on two magnocellular tasks (temporal gap detection and coherent motion), reading rate (oral and silent), and…

The idea of Matthew effects in reading--the widening achievement gap between good and poor reader--has attracted considerable attention in education research in the past 25 years. Despite the popularity of the topic, however, empirical studies that have analyzed the core assumption of Matthew effects in reading have produced inconsistent results.…

Finds that individuals judged to be high in print exposure displayed more extensive vocabularies and cultural knowledge than those with low print exposure, even after differences in age and education were controlled. Suggests a more prominent role for print exposure in theories of individual differences in cognitive development. (RS)

An audiovisual sensory test on 66 educational psychology students supported the contention expressed in Holmes'"Substrata Factor of Reading" that the individual differences in the sensory modes are not necessarily highly correlated. It further suggested that there exists an "intersensory facilitation," but that facilitation is probably not at the…