Phonemic Dyslexia: Errors of Meaning and the Meaning of Errors

Most paralexic errors made by phonemic dyslexic patients in reading single words aloud are classifiable as derivational (marriage → “married”), semantic (projector → “camera”), or visual (pivot → “pilot”) errors. A study of two such patients’ assessment of their own reading showed differences as a function of error type, with the patients generally identifying semantic paralexias as errors but classifying derivational and visual paralexias as correct readings. This pattern was confirmed in a test of the patients’ ability to select one of three spoken words to match a printed word. The results are discussed in terms of a theoretical account of the processing of written words by normal readers and by phonemic dyslexics.