Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-pftt2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-13T10:58:47.961Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The impact of reading and writing skills on a visuo-motor integration task: A comparison between illiterate and literate subjects

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2007

INÊS BRAMÃO ,
ALEXANDRA MENDONÇA ,
LUÍS FAÍSCA ,
MARTIN INGVAR ,
KARL MAGNUS PETERSSON  and
ALEXANDRA REIS
INÊS BRAMÃO
Affiliation:
Departamento de Psicologia, Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group, Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais, Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal CSI, Center for Intelligent Systems, Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal
ALEXANDRA MENDONÇA
Affiliation:
Departamento de Psicologia, Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group, Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais, Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal CSI, Center for Intelligent Systems, Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal
LUÍS FAÍSCA
Affiliation:
Departamento de Psicologia, Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group, Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais, Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal CSI, Center for Intelligent Systems, Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal
MARTIN INGVAR
Affiliation:
Cognitive Neurophysiology Research Group, Stockholm Brain Institute, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
KARL MAGNUS PETERSSON
Affiliation:
Departamento de Psicologia, Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group, Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais, Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal CSI, Center for Intelligent Systems, Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal Cognitive Neurophysiology Research Group, Stockholm Brain Institute, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden F.C. Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands
ALEXANDRA REIS
Affiliation:
Departamento de Psicologia, Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group, Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais, Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal CSI, Center for Intelligent Systems, Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal Cognitive Neurophysiology Research Group, Stockholm Brain Institute, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Previous studies have shown a significant association between reading skills and the performance on visuo-motor tasks. In order to clarify whether reading and writing skills modulate non-linguistic domains, we investigated the performance of two literacy groups on a visuo-motor integration task with non-linguistic stimuli. Twenty-one illiterate participants and twenty matched literate controls were included in the experiment. Subjects were instructed to use the right or the left index finger to point to and touch a randomly presented target on the right or left side of a touch screen. The results showed that the literate subjects were significantly faster in detecting and touching targets on the left compared to the right side of the screen. In contrast, the presentation side did not affect the performance of the illiterate group. These results lend support to the idea that having acquired reading and writing skills, and thus a preferred left-to-right reading direction, influences visual scanning. (JINS, 2007, 13, 359–364.)

Keywords

IlliteracySchoolingReading and writingNon-verbal skillsVisuoperceptual skillsVisual scanning
Type
BRIEF COMMUNICATIONS
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , March 2007 , pp. 359 - 364
Copyright
© 2007 The International Neuropsychological Society

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Byrd, D.A., Jacobs, D.M., Hilton, H.J., Stern, Y., & Manly, J.J. (2005). Source of errors on visuoperceptual tasks: Role of education, literacy, and search strategy. Brain and Cognition, 58, 251–257.Google Scholar
Castro-Caldas, A., Cavaleiro Miranda, P., Carmo, I., Reis, R., Leote, L., Ribeiro, C., & Ducla-Soares, E. (1999). Influence of learning to read and write on the morphology of the corpus callosum. European Journal of Neurology, 6, 23–28.Google Scholar
Chokron, S. & Imbert, M. (1993). Influence of reading habits on line bisection. Cognitive Brain Research, 1, 219–222.Google Scholar
Lafayette-Instrument-Company. (1985). Instructions and normative data for model 32020, Purdue Pegboard. Lafayette, IN: LIC.
Le Carret, N., Rainville, C., Lechevallier, N., Lafont, S., Letenneur, L., & Fabrigoule, C. (2003). Influence of education on the Benton Visual Retention Test performance as mediated by a strategic search component. Brain and Cognition, 53, 408–411.Google Scholar
Matute, E., Leal, F., Zarabozo, D., Robles, A., & Cedillo, C. (2000). Does literacy have an effect on stick construction tasks? Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 6, 668–672.Google Scholar
Mishking, M. & Forgays, D.G. (1952). Word recognition as a function of retinal locus. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 43, 43–48.Google Scholar
Morais, J., Cary, L., Alegria, J., & Bertelson, P. (1979). Does awareness of speech as a sequence of phones arise spontaneously? Cognition, 7, 323–331.Google Scholar
Oldfield, R.C. (1971). The assessment and analysis of handedness: The Edinburgh Inventory. Neuropsychologia, 9, 97–113.Google Scholar
Ostrosky-Solis, A., Efron, R., & Yund, E.W. (1991). Visual detectability gradients: Effect of illiteracy. Brain and Cognition, 17, 42–51.Google Scholar
Petersson, K.M. & Reis, A. (2006). Characteristics of illiterate and literate cognitive processing: Implications of brain-behavior co-constructivism. In P.B. Baltes, P. Reuter-Lorenz, & F. Rösler (Eds.), Lifespan Development and the Brain: The Perspective of Biocultural Co-constructivism (pp. 279–305). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Petersson, K.M., Reis, A., Askelöf, S., Castro-Caldas, A., & Ingvar, M. (2000). Language processing modulated by literacy: A network analysis of verbal repetition in literate and illiterate subjects. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 12, 364–382.Google Scholar
Petersson, K.M., Reis, A., & Ingvar, M. (2001). Cognitive processing in literate and illiterate subjects: A review of some recent behavioral and functional neuroimaging data. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 42, 251–267.Google Scholar
Reis, A., Faísca, L., Ingvar, M., & Petersson, K.M. (2006). Color makes a difference: Two-dimensional object naming skills in literate and illiterate subjects. Brain and Cognition, 60, 49–54.Google Scholar
Reis, A., Guerreiro, M., & Petersson, K.M. (2003). A socio-demographic and neuropsychological characterization of an illiterate population. Applied Neuropsychology, 10, 191–204.Google Scholar
Reis, A., Petersson, K.M., Castro-Caldas, A., & Ingvar, M. (2001). Formal schooling influences two- but not three-dimensional naming skills. Brain and Cognition, 47, 397–411.Google Scholar
Rosselli, M. & Ardila, A. (2003). The impact of culture and education on non-verbal neuropsychological measurements: A critical review. Brain and Cognition, 54, 326–333.Google Scholar
Rosselli, M., Ardila, A., & Rosas, P. (1990). Neuropsychological assessment in illiterates: II. Language and praxic abilities. Brain and Cognition, 12, 281–296.Google Scholar
Zivotofsky, A.Z. (2004). Choosing sides: Lateralization in line trisection and quadrisection as a function of reading direction and handedness. Cognitive Brain Research, 20, 206–211.Google Scholar