The First Nata Goulandris Memorial Lecture

The effect of orthography on reading and reading problems

Uta Frith UCL - Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience

5th June 2006

First Nata Goulandris Memorial Lecture

A tribute to Nata Goulandris

This Memorial lecture takes its key themes from Nata’s main research interests

• Her interest and research on reading and spelling• Her interest in different orthographies• Her interest in cross-language comparisons• Her interest in dyslexia

Nata’s passionate interest in reading and spelling research

Alpha BetaGammaDelta

Α α Β βΓ γΔ δ

The Greek origin of the alphabet

Orthography andthe origins of the alphabet• Orthos = right, correct• Graphy = writing

• Different ways of writing down the sounds of speech• The alphabet provides a unique key for mapping speech

sounds at sub-segmental level– Below sentence level, below word level, below syllable level

• Vowels - the great Greek invention • The shapes of letters, the names of letters, the set of

letters used in European writing systems are all based on their original Greek forms.

ορτοσγραφειν

European ProjectA comparison of Italian, French and English readers

• Eraldo Paulesu, F. Fazio, D. Perani, S. Cappa, G. Cossu, G. Silani and others

• Milan, Brescia, Parma• Jean-Francois Démonet, V. Chanoine, M. Habib and others• Toulouse, Marseille, Grenoble• Cathy Price, E. McCrory, N. Brunswick, C. Frith, U. Frith and others• UCL - FIL and ICN

Does depth of orthography affect reading strategy and efficiency?

Does it affect dyslexia?

Is dyslexia a different disorder in different languages?

Aimsof theProject

Depth of orthography

Shallow orthographywhat you see is what you hear

Speech sound is encodedEach letter maps to one sound

You can pronounce previously unseen words

Deep orthographywhat you see is what you know

Each letter maps to many soundsYou cannot pronounce previously unseen words

Sound, origin, meaning of words is encoded

The relationship of print-to-sound is transparent

As in ItalianRoma - Milano

N.B. There is ambiguity at the supra-segmental levelWord stress is not marked: fémore vs rumòre

Shallow orthography

Deep orthography

Ambiguous print - sound mappings at both segmental and supra-segmental levels

As in EnglishLeicester - NorwichAs in FrenchRhône - Saône

roughthough

youjournalwould

outourselves

thought

The ambigous print-to-sound mappings of English

Differences in reading strategyin shallow and deep orthographies

Behavioural studyreading words, non-words

and control tasksNeuroimaging study

brain activation pattern during readingexplicit reading (reading aloud)implicit reading (exposure to print)

Behavioural studyParticipants

72 ordinary university students• 36 from London• (mean age 20.6 sd 3.3)• 36 from Milan• (mean age 20.8, sd=3.0),

• Students were matched on course of study arts, science, engineering

30 0

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Engl i shI t al i an

words nonwords nonwords

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cLatencies for words and nonwords

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*English REDItalian GREEN

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cabinmarketcottage

marmopontemoto

margopondamoco

caginmarnetconnage

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Latencies for ‘International’ words

taxi pandabravo villapasta coma

tennis boilerbasket cornerpartner bitter

Summary - Italian readers

• Italian readers read faster

• They are even faster reading non-wordsTaking advantage of unambiguous print-sound relationships at segmental levelStrategy of letter-sound translation in segments‘From small to big’

Summary - English readers

• English readers read more slowly

• Even more so when reading non-words- need to disambiguate print-sound mappings

Strategy of looking up whole word/segment firstmore effortful and labour-intensive?‘From big to small’

Reading strategy shaped by orthographyshaped by languageshaped by culture

Are the different reading strategiesvisible in the brain?

Explicit reading (words vs nothing)“read aloud”

Implicit reading (words vs graphic patterns)“yes or no” to ascenders (b,t,l,h)cat: yes yes

car: no no

12 Italian normal readers - university students 12 English normal readers - university students

Neuroimaging studiesWhat happens in the brain when we see print?

Greater activation in English readers in‘word naming area’

Greater activation in Italian readers in‘Letter-sound decoding area’

The brain is affected by differences in orthography

Extensive common activation of the same left hemisphere language network

In additionIn English skilled readersareas associated with word naming more activated

In Italian skilled readersareas associated with letter sound decoding more activated

Different manifestations in different culturesWhat is stable? what is variable?

How do differences in orthography affect dyslexia?

Dyslexia - the behavioural signsin EnglishWORK BY MAGGIE SNOWLING

A developmental disorderPre-school childrendifficulties in learning spoken languagerepeating speech

School childrendifficulties in learning written language phoneme awareness difficult

Adultsslow reading, poor speling, difficulties in speech processing tasks+ difficulties in learning second language

Is dyslexia a different disorderin different cultures?

Estimates of prevalence of dyslexia are often lower than in English speaking countries

European ProjectPart II

Is dyslexia a different disorder in different languages?

A comparison of Italian - French - English

dyslexic readers

Problems of subject selection

In Uk and FranceAdult volunteers previously diagnosedknown difficulties in reading and writing acquisition

slow reading and poor spellingimpaired on phonological tasks

In ItalyNo previous diagnosisWide screening of students was necessary to selectslowest readers and worst on phonological tasks

Similar participants

Full WAIS - standardised in three countriesall highly able students

WAIS subtests where English dyslexics show impaired performance

Digit SpanArithmetic

Digit Symbol

All involve short term memoryExcellent performance on all other subtests

Also true for French and Italian dyslexics

Tests where English dyslexics are impaired

Reaction time to name words, digitsWord Span: Short Term Memory

Spoonerisms[Hear] Basket Lemon[Say] Lasket Bemon

Also true for French and Italian dyslexics

Similar stimuli across the three languagesWords(frequent regular nouns)UK carrot river bananaIT grano terra bananaFR melon canard bananeNonwords(very wordlike)UK bonnel rixer barataIT bansio terba barataFR mebon carand barafe

Naming latencies

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UK IT FR UK IT FRNonwords Words

DyslexicsControls

Digit Naming

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Spoonerisms

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Italian dyslexics just as different fromnormally reading controls - as others

even though not diagnosed

Slow reading and impaired phonologicaltests are robust indicators

For English, French and Italian dyslexics

Neuroimaging PET scans of

explicit and implicit reading

12 dyslexics in each country12 controls in each country

Total = 72

Reduced activation in dyslexia

dyslexicnormal

What are the differences?

comparing exposure to print vs baselinein normal and dyslexic readers

In English, French, Italian

All dyslexics showed reduced activationItalian, English and French

Are there subtle anatomical differences

in the brains of dyslexics?(Giorgia Silani et al., 2005)

Investigate whole brain voxel by voxelLook for relative decreases and increases

in grey matter

Brain areas that are more active in normal readers than dyslexic readers

Yellow/red: decrease in grey matterBlue: increase in grey matter

in dyslexics

Function Structure

Differences in white matter densityThe arcuate fasciculusconnecting regions of the speech system

Less dense white matterIn dyslexics

for all 3 language groups

Fig. 3

Dyslexic FR

Dyslexic IT

Dyslexic UK

Relationship between grey matter increase and reading performance in dyslexic readers

French

Italian

English

reading speed

highgrey matter density

grey matter density

grey matter density

reading speed

reading speed

slowfast

low

What does this brain region do?

• Part of the speech processing system• Active when things are named

– Words, pictures, letters, colours, sounds…– Associated with rapid access to NAMES of things

• Names? phonological representations– Heard sounds and programs for articulation

• Rare longitudinal study of Greek readers, age 7 -9• Speech rate best predictor of later reading• Phoneme awareness predictor of later spelling• Efficiency of speech output system (naming) is critical for dyslexia

– In terms of behaviour – Fits with findings on brain anatomy

Nikolopoulos, Goulandris, Hulme and Snowling, 2006

Taking dyslexia seriously

• The underlying neurological problem persists as shown in brain imaging studies

• Compensation has a cost• Is naming speed the final barrier?

• Raising awareness of dyslexia

Dyslexia

Biological Unity• universal neuro-cognitive basis

– for reading (explicit and implicit)

Cultural diversity• diverse behavioural effects

– for reading accuracy and speed

Dyslexia less of a handicap when acquiring a shallow orthography

But hidden casesSlow reading and speech processing difficulties

Dyslexia’s problems are magnified when acquiring a deep orthography