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Event-related potentials reveal anomalous morphosyntactic processing in developmental dyslexia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 August 2012

CHIARA CANTIANI ,
MARIA LUISA LORUSSO ,
PAOLO PEREGO ,
MASSIMO MOLTENI  and
MARIA TERESA GUASTI
CHIARA CANTIANI*
Affiliation:
University of Milan–Bicoccaand Scientific Institute E. Medea, Bosisio Parini
MARIA LUISA LORUSSO
Affiliation:
Scientific Institute E. Medea, Bosisio Parini
PAOLO PEREGO
Affiliation:
Scientific Institute E. Medea, Bosisio Parini
MASSIMO MOLTENI
Affiliation:
Scientific Institute E. Medea, Bosisio Parini
MARIA TERESA GUASTI
Affiliation:
University of Milan–Bicocca
*
Chiara Cantiani, Unit of Cognitive Psychology and Neuropsychology, Scientific Institute E. Medea, Via Don Luigi Monza 20, 23842, Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italy. E-mail: chiara.cantiani@bp.lnf.it
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Abstract

In the light of the literature describing oral language difficulties in developmental dyslexia (DD), event-related potentials were used in order to compare morphosyntactic processing in 16 adults with DD (aged 20–28 years) and unimpaired controls. Sentences including subject–verb agreement violations were presented auditorily, with grammaticality and subject number as main factors. Electrophysiological data revealed differences between groups concerning both the latency of the P600 component and the additional presence in the DD group of a negativity broadly diffused all over the scalp. Moreover, these electrophysiological anomalies increased when plural sentences were processed. On the whole, the results support the hypothesis of a linguistic deficit and of different language processing modalities in DD participants.

Type
Articles
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 34 , Issue 6 , November 2013 , pp. 1135 - 1162
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012 

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