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At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed2001

The roles of letter names and letter sounds in connecting print and speech.

Three experiments were carried out to examine the cues that are used in learning to read and spell new words. In a reading task (Experiment 1), even preschoolers who could not read simple real words were able to benefit from print-sound relationships that were based on letter names. They found it easier to learn that the made-up word TM was pronounced as 'team" (name condition) than that TM was pronounced as "tame" (sound condition) or as "wide" (visual condition). The letter-name strategy persisted among college students (Experiment 2). In a spelling task (Experiment 3), prereaders and novice readers again did better in the name condition than in the sound condition. The ability to use relationships based on letter sounds emerged later than the ability to use relationships based on letter names. However, sound-based relationships were used to a greater extent in spelling than in reading.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Can treatment for pure alexia improve letter-by-letter reading speed without sacrificing accuracy?

An experimental treatment study designed to improve both the accuracy and the speed of reading was administered to a patient with pure alexia and impaired letter naming. The study focused on the use of letter-by-letter reading. A two-stage approach was employed. The first stage implemented a tactile-kinesthetic strategy to improve accuracy. The second stage concentrated on speed. At the end of the treatment, patient DL was reading both trained and untrained words more accurately and with considerably greater speed than prior to treatment. Accuracy and speed of reading at the sentence level improved as well.

Aged↗
PubMed1997

Visual acuity scored by the letter-by-letter or probit methods has lower retest variability than the line assignment method.

PURPOSE: The optimal method for scoring visual acuity measures is unknown. Our goal was to determine, in a clinical setting, the method of scoring visual acuity with the lowest test-retest variability. METHODS: We investigated the effect of three different scoring methods using the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) visual acuity chart comparing 32 patients with macular disease and 38 age-matched normal subjects. All subjects completed six repetitions of ETDRS charts. Three scoring methods were then used (line assignment, ETDRS or letter-by-letter and probit), the results were converted to log MAR values and the test-retest variabilities analysed. RESULTS: We found significant differences in variability among the three scoring methods (p < 0.0001). The variability was greatest with the line assignment method and less with the ETDRS and probit methods. The ETDRS and probit methods had similar variabilities. The difference in variability between normals and patients was not statistically significant. There were no differences in the calculated visual acuities among the three methods, only the variabilities. Using the ETDRS or probit methods, the within-test standard deviation was about 0.04 log MAR units (two letters). CONCLUSION: Test-retest variability of visual acuity measurements is lower using the ETDRS or probit methods than the traditional line assignment method.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

A letter of consequence: referral letters from general practitioners to secondary mental health services.

The referral letter is a key instrument in moving patients from primary to secondary care services. Consequently, the circumstances in which a referral should be made and its contents have been the subject of clinical guidelines. This article is based on a project that demonstrated that physicians do not adhere to clinical guidelines when referring patients to secondary mental health services. This research supports earlier findings into noncompliance with guidelines by general practitioners (GPs). The authors briefly note possible reasons, which have been the subject of some debate. They also present a content analysis of referral letters to demonstrate the important ways in which they differ from guideline criteria. However, their central argument is that the role of the referral letter in relation to the GP's repertoire of treatments has not been understood fully. Such understanding implies the need for a reexamination of the support available for GPs.

Community Mental Health Services↗
PubMed1983

[Reaction time and eye movements in the recognition task of hand-written Katakana-letters: an experimental verification of the discriminant analysis of letter recognition by Hayashi's Quantification].

Hayashi's Quantification, model II, is a multivariate discriminant analysis for qualitative data. This method was applied to the quantitative indices about confusability of recognition of handwritten Japanese Katakana-letters. The experimental results of reaction time and eye movements in the recognition task corresponded well with indices computed by this statistical procedure. (a) The labels, given by the subjects to the letters, were in line with the prediction by the discriminant, (b) the reaction time and the number of fixations were bigger for highly confusable letters, and (c) those features, which were important according to the discriminant, were fixated more frequently. Thus, Hayashi's quantification procedure is valid for psychological experiments.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying reading and naming: evidence from letter-by-letter reading and optic aphasia.

We report detailed analysis of language performance in a patient, RMI, a 55-year-old man who presented with a homonymous hemianopsia, optic aphasia, and alexia without agraphia (with letter-by-letter reading) acutely after stroke. MRI showed infarct in the left occipital and medial temporal lobe and hypoperfusion of the entire posterior cerebral artery territory, including the splenium. Extensive language testing revealed severely impaired picture naming and oral reading, with relatively spared tactile naming and recognition of orally spelled words, consistent with impaired access to lexical and semantic representations from vision. In addition, he had a milder deficit in accessing lexical representations for output from all input modalities. RMI's execution of various language tasks provided considerable insight into the mechanisms that underlie oral reading. His performance indicated that both semantic access and orthographic to phonologic conversion mechanisms were partially intact. When information from these two impoverished systems was coupled (the picture of an object presented with its written name), his ability to read/name improved significantly, consistent with the hypothesis that partially accessed semantic information from vision can combine with partially accessed sublexical orthographic to phonologic conversion mechanisms to access phonological representations for output. Furthermore, his written word and picture recognition improved to normal at a time when magnetic resonance perfusion imaging demonstrated reperfusion of the splenium. We interpret these results, as well as results from previous studies in the literature, within a model of the neural regions critical for various cognitive processes underlying reading.

Aphasia↗
PubMed2005

Letter-by-letter reading: natural recovery and response to treatment.

The present investigation provides a longitudinal study of an individual (RB) with acquired alexia following left posterior cerebral artery stroke. At initial testing, RB exhibited acquired alexia characterized by letter-by-letter (LBL) reading, mild anomic aphasia, and acquired agraphia. Repeated measures of reading accuracy and rate were collected for single words and text over the course of one year, along with probes of naming and spelling abilities. Improvements associated with natural recovery (i.e., without treatment) were documented up to the fourth month post onset, when text reading appeared to be relatively stable. Multiple oral reading (MOR) treatment was initiated at 22 weeks post-stroke, and additional improvements in reading rate and accuracy for text were documented that were greater than those expected on the basis of spontaneous recovery alone. Over the course of one year, reading reaction times for single words improved, and the word-length effect that is the hallmark of LBL reading diminished. RB's response to treatment supports the therapeutic value of MOR treatment to in LBL readers. His residual impairment of reading and spelling one-year post stroke raised the question as to whether further progress was impeded by degraded orthographic knowledge.

Agraphia↗
PubMed1978

Letter discrimination as a function of culture, orthography and dimensionality of letters.

46 4-yr.-old children from the United States and 80 from Bangalore, India made fewer discrimination errors when letters were three- rather than two-dimensional. More errors were made on Kannada (Indian) than on English orthographic tasks, but there were relatively fewer errors made by Indian than American children. Younger subjects and boys made relatively more errors than other groups. The findings suggest visually perceived depth may activate the young child's enactive system dominant during the preoperational period and serve to increase accuracy of letter discrimination.

Age Factors↗