Abstract
Reading is a cognitive skill that is unique to humans and is essential for living in modern society, yet learning to read is exceedingly difficult for roughly three million Italians. These individuals suffer from dyslexia (D), a complex neurodevelopmental condition that is the most frequent learning impairment and is commonly connected with phonological abnormalities and negative effects including reduced educational attainment and low self-esteem. Letter-to-speech sound integration is the foundation for learning to read. It is necessary to perform an effective auditory segmentation of previously stored spoken words into their phonological components. Beginner readers have to focus their visual attention along the string of letters in order to distinguish graphemes from irrelevant and cluttered letters. We have previously shown that dysfunctions in the dorsal ("action") pathway involving visual attention and visual motion processing are core deficits in D, and that these deficits, along with auditory-phonological and audio-visual binding abilities, are predictors of future reading acquisition skills. We have also discovered that training with action video games (AVG) improves reading speed in people with D. This improvement in reading was long-lasting, and it was not only due to skimming. AVG's ability to quickly coordinate sensorimotor responses through visual attention in a constantly changing visual context is likely to have a significant role. However, it is currently unknown how exactly this attentional benefit acts and how to properly leverage it. The goal of this project is to understand the sensorimotor mechanisms underlying reading improvements activated by different attentional training programs. To this purpose, we will study the changes induced by Phonics training, AVG training, and a novel Multiple-Object Collision Avoidance (MOCA) video game training in a large group of children with D. These trainings have different sensorimotor demands. Training-induced changes will be measured by using reading, psychophysical and oculomotor tasks. Specific motor and/or perceptual signatures and conditions capable of potentiating reading acquisition should be revealed by such a multimodal and integrative assessment of attentional training. The findings of this study might have far-reaching scientific implications as well as technical, social, and economic implications.
Dettagli del progetto
Responsabile scientifico: Andrea Pavan
Strutture Unibo coinvolte:
Dipartimento di Psicologia "Renzo Canestrari"
Coordinatore:
Università degli Studi di Bergamo(Italy)
Contributo totale Unibo: Euro (EUR) 39.600,00
Durata del progetto in mesi: 24
Data di inizio
05/10/2023
Data di fine:
28/02/2026
