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Abstract:
In an investigation of the ERP waveform and brain-behavior
connections in beginning readers, first grade girls were shown
first presentations and immediate repetitions of known words (e.g.,
doll), unknown words (e.g., loll), difficult words (e.g., doubt),
and nonwords (e.g., lllo) in list form as ERPs were recorded.
Participants were divided into low-ability and high-ability reading
groups based on scores on standardized reading tests. High-ability
readers had larger N100s to unfamiliar stimuli than low-ability
readers, and low-ability readers had larger P200s overall.
Low-ability readers also lacked a substantial N400, while
high-ability readers evidenced a widely-distributed N400 to all
stimuli. During the 600-1000 ms epoch, repetitions were more
positive than first presentations for known and difficult words
across subjects, but only for known words for high-ability readers;
there was no late repetition effect for low-ability readers.
Overall, the fledgling word-processing system seems more open to
linguistic possibility than the fluent word-processing system, and
the N400 appears to index this developmental difference. Moreover,
the N400 may be an oblique index of the automaticity of the
lower-level processes that theoretically contribute to the
higher-level integration process which the N400 represents.
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