Dyslexia Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Dyslexia, including details on learning, reading, education, teaching, treatment.

Serial order and consonant-vowel structure in a graphemic output buffer model.

Glasspool DW, Houghton G

Department of Psychology, University College London and Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, UK. dg@acl.icnet.uk

We review features of the spelling errors of dysgraphic patients with "Graphemic Buffer Disorder" (GBD). We argue that the errors made by such patients suggest the breakdown of a system used to generate serial order in the output stages of spelling production, and we develop a model for this system based on an existing theory of sequential behaviour--"Competitive Queuing." We show that constraints on response categories may be straightforwardly applied during sequence production in such a model, and this enables us to account for the preservation of consonant-vowel status in the spelling errors of GBD patients. When the sequence generation process is disrupted by the addition of random noise the model shows the major features of GBD. The results are compared in detail against data from a number of patients.

Published 15 August 2005 in Brain Lang, 94(3): 304-30.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2004-2008 Dyslexia Research Today. All Rights Reserved.