Suboptimal Reading Experience in Adulthood: Evidence From Readers With Dyslexia and Neurotypical Readers With Basic Literacy

This study investigated the weighting of phonological and orthographic processes in readers with two forms of suboptimal reading experience. Experiment 1 tested basic literacy (BL) in adults who acquired reading in childhood or adulthood (early vs. late literate: EL vs. LL). Experiment 2 examined developmental dyslexia (DYS) in college students relative to age-matched controls (AC). In both experiments, participants performed the same tasks: a reading fluency task on high- and low-frequency words and pseudowords, allowing the analysis of word frequency and lexicality (words vs. pseudowords), and a lexical decision task that orthogonally manipulated word frequency, lexicality, and length. In Experiment 1, relative to LL, EL showed stronger orthographic processing, reflected in larger lexicality effects and smaller length effects for words than pseudowords in the lexical decision task. In Experiment 2, readers with DYS showed larger word-frequency and length effects than AC, particularly in the lexical decision task. They also showed reliable length effects for both words and pseudowords, albeit smaller for words. The apparent behavioural similarity between EL and adults with DYS seems to reflect different mechanisms: relatively strong orthographic processing despite limited print exposure in EL, but fragile orthographic representations despite extensive print exposure in adults with DYS.