Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Underlying Factors of Word Reading Rate

  • Published:
Educational Psychology Review Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The discovery of the “acceleration phenomenon” and the contribution of reading rate as an independent variable to the quality of the reading process brought about a systematic research project that examined the underlying factors of word reading rate. Word reading requires processing information in the visual and auditory modalities and relies on word recognition skills such as phonological and orthographic decoding. Therefore, it is believed that speed of processing of some subset of the above sub-processes affects word-reading rate. By using experimental manipulations relying on both electrophysiological (ERPs) and behavioral measures, the sub-processes that are activated in word reading can be distinguished and shown to differentiate between the early perceptual, the central cognitive, and the motoric stages of activation. Results indicate that word reading rate is related to basic speed of processing in the modalities activated during the reading process. However, the processing level within each modality that contributes to self-paced and fast word reading rate differs according to age and the efficiency of reading skills.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adams, M. J. (1990). Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning About Print, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barker, T. A., Torgesen, J. K., and Wagner, R. K. (1992). The role of orthographic processing skills on five different reading tasks. Read. Res. Q. 27(4): 334-335.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barnea, A., Lamm, O., Epstein, R., and Pratt, H. (1994). Brain potentials from dyslexic children recorded during short-term memory tasks. Int. J. Neurosci. 74: 227-237.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barron, R. W. (1991). Proto-literacy, literacy, and the acquisition of phonological awareness. Learn. Individ. Differ. 31: 243-255.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ben-Dror, I. and Shani, M. (1997). The Working Memory Test. Mofet, Tel Aviv.

  • Ben-Dror, I., Shani, M., and Doeitch, A. (1997). Word Recognition Test. Mofet, Tel-Aviv.

  • Bentin, S. (1989). Electrophysiological studies of visual word perception, lexical organization, and semantic processing: A tutorial review. Lang. Speech 32: 205-220.

    Google Scholar 

  • Birnboim, S., Breznitz, Z., Pratt, H., and Aharon, Y. (2002). Automatic and controlled verbal-information processing in patients with frontal lobe lesions. Genetic, Social and general Psychology Monographs, 128(1): 29-46.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berninger, V. W. (1990). Multiple orthographic codes: Key to alternative instructional methodologies for developing orthographic-phonological connections underlying word identification. Sch. Psychol. Rev. 19: 518-533.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowers, P. G., and Swanson, L. B. (1991). Naming speed deficits in reading disability: Multiple measures if a singular process. J. Exp. Child Psychol. 51: 195-219.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowers, P. G., and Wolf, M. (1993). Theoretical links among naming speed, precise timing mechanisms and orthographic skill in dyslexia. Read.Writing 5: 69-85.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brecelj, J., Strucl, M., and Raic, V. (1996). Do visual neurophysiological tests reflect magnocellular deficit in dyslexic children? Pflüegers Arch. 431(Suppl. 2): R299-300.

    Google Scholar 

  • Breznitz, Z. (1987). Increasing first-graders' reading accuracy and comprehension by accelerating their reading rates. J. Educ. Psychol. 79: 236-242.

    Google Scholar 

  • Breznitz, Z. (1988). Reading performance of first graders: The effects of pictorial distracters. J. Educ. Res. 82: 47-52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Breznitz, Z. (1997a). Enhancing the reading of dyslexics by reading acceleration and auditory masking. J. Educ. Psychol. 89: 103-113.

    Google Scholar 

  • Breznitz, Z. (1997b). The effect of accelerated reading rate on memory for text among dyslexic readers. J. Educ. Psychol. 89: 287-299.

    Google Scholar 

  • Breznitz, Z. (1998). Word Reading in Context Battery, Unpublished test, University of Haifa.

  • Breznitz, Z. (2001). The determinants of reading fluency: A comparison of dyslexic and average readers. In: Wolf, M. (ed.), Dyslexia, Fluency and the Brain, M. Wolf (Ed). York Press: Timonium, Maryland, pp. 245-276.

    Google Scholar 

  • Breznitz, Z. (2002). Asynchrony of visual-orthographic and auditory-phonological word recognition processes: An underlying factor in dyslexia. Read. Writing 15(1–2): 15-42.

    Google Scholar 

  • Breznitz, Z., and Leiken, M. (1999). Syntactic processing in Hebrew sentences: Electrophysiological aspects.Genet. Soc. Gen. Psychol. Monogr. 125(2): 173-191.

    Google Scholar 

  • Breznitz, Z., and Leiken, M. (2000). Effects of Accelerated Reading Rate on Processing Words' Syntactic Funcations by Normal and Dyslexic Readers: Event Related Potentials Evidence. J. Genet. Psychol. 162(3): 276-296.

    Google Scholar 

  • Breznitz, Z., and Norman, G. (1998). Differences in concentration ability among low-and high-SES Israeli pupils: A follow-up study. J. Genet. Psychol.

  • Breznitz, Z., and Share, D. L. (1992). The effect of accelerated reading rate on memory for text. J. Educ. Psychol. 84: 193-200.

    Google Scholar 

  • Breznitz, Z., DeMarco, T., and Hakerem, G. (1993). Topographic measures of cerebral activity during reading of text at fast-and-slow paced rates. Brain Topogr. 6(2): 117-121.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carver, R. P. (1990). Reading Rate: A Review of Research and Theory, Academic Press, San Diego, CA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, J., and Polich, J. (1997). On the number of trials needed for P300. Int. J. Psychophysiol. 25(3): 249-255.

    Google Scholar 

  • Compton, D. L., and Carlisle, J. F. (1994). Speed of word recognition as a distinguishing characteristic of reading disabilities. Educ. Psychol. Rev. 6: 115-140.

    Google Scholar 

  • Corcos, E., and Willows, D. M. (1993). The processing of orthographic information. In Willows, D. N., Kruk, R. S., and Corcos, E. (eds.), Visual Processing in Reading and Reading Disabilities, Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ, pp. 163-190.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cunningham, A. E., and Stanovich, K. E. (1990). Assessing print exposure and orthographic processing skill in children: A quick measure of reading experience. J. Educ. Psychol. 82: 733-740.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cycowicz, Y., Friedman, D., and Rothstein, M. (1996). An ERP developmental study of repetition priming by auditory novel stimuli. Psychophysiology 33(6): 680-690.

    Google Scholar 

  • Denckla, M. B., and Rudel, R. G. (1976). Rapid automatized naming (R.A.N.): Dyslexia differentiated from other learning disabilities. Neuropsychologia 14: 576-589.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duncan, C. C., Rumsey, J. M., Wilkniss, S. M., Denckla, M. B., Hamburger, H., and Odou-Pokin, M. (1994). Developmental dyslexia and attention dysfunction in adults: Brain potential indices of information processing. Psychophysiology 31(4): 386-401.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunn, B. R., Dunn, D. A., Languis, M., and Andrews, D. (1998). The relation of ERP components to complex memory processing. Brain Cogn. 36(3): 355-376.

    Google Scholar 

  • Erez, A., and Pratt, H. (1992). Auditory event related potentials among dyslexic and normal reading children: 3CLT and midline comparisons. Int. J. Neurosci. 63: 247-264.

    Google Scholar 

  • Farmer, M. E., and Klein, R. K. (1993). Auditory and visual temporal processing in dyslexic and normal readers. Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 682: 339-341.

    Google Scholar 

  • Farmer, M. E., and Klein, R. M. (1995). The evidence for a temporal processing deficit linked to dyslexia: A review. Psychon. Bull. Rev. 2: 460-493.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fawcett, A. J., Chattopadhyay, A. K., Kandler, R. H., and Jarratt, J. A., Nicolson, R. I., and Proctor, M. (1993). Event-related Potentials and Dyslexia. In: Tallal, P., Galaburda, A. M., Llinas, R. R., and Von Euler, C. (eds.), Temporal Information Processing in the Nervous System: Special Reference to Dyslexia and Dysphasia, New York Academy of Sciences, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foorman, B. (1999). Why Direct Spelling Instruction Is Important. Consortium on Reading Excellence (CORE). Reading Research: Anthology: The Why? of Reading Instruction, Arena Press, Novato, CA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gough, P., and Tunmer, W. (1986). Decoding and reading disability. Remedial Spec. Educ. 7: 6-10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hackley, S. A., and Valle-Inclan, F. (1998). Automatic alerting does not speed late motoric processes in a reaction-time task. Nature 391(6669): 786-788.

    Google Scholar 

  • Halgren, E. (1990). Insights from evoked potentials into the neuropsychological mechanisms of reading. In: Scheibel, A. B., and Wechsler, A. F. (eds.), Neurobiology of Higher Cognitive Function, Guilford Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Halgren, E., Marinkovic, K., and Chauvel, P. (1998). Generators of the late cognitive potentials in auditory and visual oddball tasks. Electroencephalogr. Clin. Neurophysiol. 106(2): 156-164.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harpas and Breznitz (1999). The Effect of the Acceleration Phenomenon on ADHD Children. Unpublished MA thesis. University of Haifa, Israel.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harter, M. R., Deiring, S., and Wood, F. B. (1988a). Separate brain potential characteristics in children with reading disability and attention deficit disorder: Relevance-independent effects. Brain Cogn. 7: 54-86.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harter, M. R., Anllo-Vento, L., Wood, F. B., and Schroeder, M. M. (1988b). Separate brain potential characteristics in children with reading disability and attention deficit disorder: Color and letter-relevance effects. Brain Cogn. 7: 115-140.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heil, M., Rolke, B., Engelkamp, J., Roesler, F., Oezcan, M., and Hennighausen, E. (1999). Event-related brain potentials during recognition of ordinary and bizarre action phrases following verbal and subject-performed encoding conditions. Eur. J. Cogn. Psychol. 11(2): 261-280.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holcomb, P. J., Ackerman, P. T., and Dykman, R. A. (1985). Cognitive event-related brain potentials in children with attention and reading deficits. Psychophysiology 22: 656-667.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holcomb, P. J., Ackerman, P. T., and Dykman, R. A. (1986). Auditory event-related potentials in attention and reading disabled boys. Int. J. Psychophysiol. 3: 263-273.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hyde, M. (1997). The N1 response and its applications. Audiol. Neuro-Otol. 2(5): 281-307.

    Google Scholar 

  • Isreal, J. B., Wickens, C. D., Chesney, G. L., and Donchin, E. (1980). The event-related brain potential as an index of display-monitoring workload. Hum. Factors 22(2): 211-224.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johannes, S., Mangun, G. R., and Muente, T. F. (1994). Developmental dyslexia and cerebral lateralization: Electrophysiological findings. Nervenarzt 65(12): 859-864.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnstone, S. T., Barry, R. J., Anderson, J. W., and Coyle, S. F. (1996). Age-related changes in child and adolescent event-related potential component morphology, amplitude and latency to standard and target stimuli in an auditory oddball task. Int. J. Psychophysiol. 24(3): 223-238.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kramer, A. F., Strayer, D. L., and Buckley, J. (1991). Task versus component consistency in the development of automatic processing: A psychophysiological assessment. Psychophysiology 28(4): 425-437.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lehmkuhle, S., Garzia, R. P., Turner, L., and Hash, T. (1993). A defective visual pathway in children with reading disability. N. Engl. J. Med. 328(14): 989-996.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leiken, M., and Breznitz, Z. (1999). Syntactic processing in Hebrew sentences: Electrophysiological aspects.Genet. Soc. Gen. Psychol. Monogr. 125(2): 173-191.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leiken, M., and Breznitz, Z. Contribution of the word syntactic functions to sentence processing in reading with developmental dyslexics: Electrophysiological evidence. J. Dev. Neuropsychol. in press

  • Leppänen, P. H. T., and Lyytinen, H. (1997). Auditory event-related potentials in the study of developmental language-related disorders. Audiol. Neuro-Otol. 2(5): 308-340.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liberman, I. Y., and Shankweiler, D. (1991). Phonology and beginning to read. In: Reiben, L., and Perfetti, C. A. (eds.), Learning to Read, Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ.

    Google Scholar 

  • Livingstone, M. S., Rosen, G. D., Drislane, F. W., and Galaburda, A. M. (1991). Physiological and Anatomical Evidence for A Magnocellular Defect in Developmental Dyslexia. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88: 7943-7947.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lovett, M. W., Borden, S. L., DeLuca, T., Lacerenza, L., Benson, N. J., and Brackstone, D. (1994). Treating the core deficits of developmental dyslexia: Evidence of transfer of learning after phonologically-and strategy-based reading training programs. Dev. Psychol. 30: 805-822.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luck, S. J., and Hillyard, S. A. (1994). Electrophysiological correlates of feature analysis during visual search. Psychophysiology 31(3): 291-308.

    Google Scholar 

  • Naylor, C. E., Wood, F. B., and Harter, M. R. (1995). Event related potentials in adults diagnosed as reading disabled in childhood. Int. J. Neurosci. 80: 339-352.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neville, H. J., Coffey, S. A., Holcomb, P. J., and Tallal, P. (1993). The neurobiology of sensory and language processing in language-impaired children. J. Cogn. Neurosci. 5: 235-253.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nicolson, R. I., and Fawcett, A. J. (1993). Children with dyslexia classify pure tones slowly. Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 682: 387-389.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nicolson, R. I., and Fawcett, A. J. (1994). Reaction times and dyslexia. Q. J. Exp. Psychol. 47A: 29-48.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nobre, A. C., and McCarthy, G. (1995). Language-related field potentials in the anterior-medial temporal lobe: II. Effects of word type and semantic priming. J. Neurosci. 15(2): 1090-1099.

    Google Scholar 

  • Norman and Breznitz (1992). Differences in the ability to concentrate among low and high SES Israeli first-grade pupils. J. Genet. Psychol. 253: 5-19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Novak, G., Ritter, W., and Vaughan, H. G. (1992). Mismatch detection and the latency of temporal judgments. Psychophysiology 29(4): 398-411.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oades, R. D., Dittmann-Balcar, A., and Zerbin, D. (1997). Development and topography of auditory event-related potentials (ERPs): Mismatch and processing negativity in individuals 8–22 years of age. Psychophysiology 34(6): 677-693.

    Google Scholar 

  • Palmer, B., Nasman, V. T., and Wilson, G. F. (1994). Task decision difficulty: Effects on ERPs in a same/different letter classification task. Biol. Psychol. 38: 199-214.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perfetti, C. A. (1985). Reading Ability, Oxford University Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perfetti, C. (1986). Continuities in Reading Acquisition, Reading Skill and Reading Disability. Remedial Spec. Educ. 7(1): 11-21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Polich, J. (1987). Task difficulty, probability, and inter-stimulus interval as determinants of P300 from auditory stimuli. Electroencephalogr. Clin. Neurophysiol. 68(4): 311-320.

    Google Scholar 

  • Polich, J., and Heine, M. R. D. (1996). P300 topography and modality effects from a single-stimulus paradigm. Psychophysiology 33(6): 747-752.

    Google Scholar 

  • Regan, D. (1989). Human Brain Electrophysiology: Evoked Potentials and Evoked Magnetic Fields in Science and Medicine, Elsevier, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reitsma, P. (1989). Orthographic memory and learning to read. In: Aaron, P. G., and Joshi, R. M. (eds.), Reading and Writing Disorders in Different Orthographic Systems, Kluwer Academic, The Netherlands.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmolesky, M. T., Wang, Y., Hanes, D. P., Thompson, K. G., Lentgeb, S., Schall, J. P., (1998). Signal Timing Across Macaque Visual System. J. Neurophysiol. 79(6): 3272-3278.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seidenberg, M. S. (1990). Dyslexia in a computational model of word recognition in reading. In: Gough, P. B., Ehri, L. C., and Trieman, R. (eds.), Reading Acquisition, Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ, pp. 243-273.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, M. E. (1993). Neurophysiological manifestations of recollective experience during recognition memory judgments. J. Cogn. Neurosci. 5(1): 1-13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Snowling, M. J. (1995). Phonological processing and developmental dyslexia. J. Res. Read. 18(2): 132-138.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stanovich, K. E., and West, R. F. (1989). Exposure to print and orthographic processing. Read. Res. Q. 24: 402-433.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stelmack, R. M., and Miles, J. (1990). The effect of picture priming on event related potentials of normal and disabled readers during word recognition memory tasks. J. Clin. Exp. Neuropsychol. 12: 887-903.

    Google Scholar 

  • Swanson, H. L. (1987). Verbal coding deficits in the recall of pictorial information by learning disabled readers: The influence of a lexical system. Am. Educ. Res. J. 24: 143-170.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tallal, P. (1993). Neurobiological basis of speech: A case for the preeminence of temporal processing. Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 682: 421-423.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, M. J., and Keenan, N. K. (1999). ERPs to orthographic, phonological, and semantic tasks in dyslexic children with auditory processing impairment. Dev. Neuropsychol. 15(2): 307-326.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, M. T., and Keenan, N. K. (1990). Event related potentials to visual and language stimuli in normal and dyslexic children. Psychophysiology 27: 318-327.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tonnquist-Uhlen, I. (1996). Topography of auditory evoked cortical potentials in children with severe language impairment. Scand. Audiol. 25(44 Suppl. 1-44

    Google Scholar 

  • Tzeng, O., and Wang, W. S. (1984). Search for a common neurocognitive mechanism for language and movements. Am. J. Physiol. 246: 904-911.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vellutino, F. R., and Scanlon, D. M. (1987). Phonological coding, phonological awareness, and reading ability: Evidence from a longitudinal and experimental study. Merrill-Palmer Q. 33: 321-363.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vellutino, F. R., Scanlon, D. M., and Tanzman, M. S. (1994). Components of reading ability: Issues and problems in operationalizing word identification, phonological coding, and orthographic coding. In: Lyon, G. R. (ed.), Frames of Reference for the Assessment of Learning Disabilities: New Views on Measurement Issues, Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co., Baltimore, MD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wagner, R. K., and Barker, T. A. (1994). The development of orthographic processing ability. In: Berninger, V. W. (ed.), The Varieties of Orthographic Knowledge, 1: Theoretical and Developmental Issues. Neuropsychology and Cognition Vol.(8), Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wagner, R. K., and Torgesen, J. K. (1987). The nature of phonological processing and its causal role in the acquisition of reading skills. Psychol. Bull. 101: 192-212.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, G. F., Swain, C. R., and Ullsperger, P. (1998). ERP components elicited in response to warning stimuli: The influence of task difficulty. Biol. Psychol. 47(2):137-158.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolach, I., and Pratt, H. (2001). The mode of short-term memory encoding as indicated by event-related potentials in a memory scanning task with distractions. Clinical Neurophysiology, 112(1): 186-197.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolf, M., Bally, H., and Morris, R. (1986). Automaticity, retrieval processes, and reading: A longitudinal study in average and impaired readers. Child Dev. 57: 988-1005.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolff, P. H., Michel, G. F., and Ovrut, M. (1990). The timing of syllable repetitions in developmental dyslexia. J. Speech Hear. Res. 33: 281-289.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yap, R., and van der Leij, A. (1993). Word processing in dyslexics. Read. Writing 5: 261-279.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zecker, S. G. (1991). The orthographic code: Developmental trends in reading-disabled and normally-achieving children. Ann. Dyslexia 41: 178-192.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Neurocognitive Research Laboratory, Brain and Behavior Center, Faculty of Education, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel

    Zvia Breznitz & Lauren Berman

Authors
  1. Zvia Breznitz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Lauren Berman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zvia Breznitz.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Breznitz, Z., Berman, L. The Underlying Factors of Word Reading Rate. Educational Psychology Review 15, 247–265 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024696101081

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024696101081

Search

Navigation