Preserved orthographic length and transitional probabilities in written spelling in a case of acquired dysgraphia

Authors: Chialant D.¹; Domoto-Reilly K.²; Proios H.³; Caramazza A.²

Source: Brain and Language, Volume 82, Number 1, July 2002 , pp. 30-46(17)

Buy & download fulltext article:

Price: $52.63 plus tax (Refund Policy)

Abstract:

We present the performance of a patient with acquired dysgraphia, DS, who has intact oral spelling (100% correct) but severely impaired written spelling (7% correct). Her errors consisted entirely of well-formed letter substitutions. This striking dissociation is further characterized by consistent preservation of orthographic, as opposed to phonological, length in her written output. This pattern of performance indicates that DS has intact graphemic representations, and that her errors are due to a deficit in letter shape assignment. We further interpret the occurrence of a small percentage of lexical errors in her written responses and a significant effect of letter frequencies and transitional probabilities on the pattern of letter substitutions as the result of a repair mechanism that locally constrains DS' written output.

Language: English

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Harvard Medical School, McLean Hospital and Brighton Allston Mental Health Association, 77B Warren Street, Brighton, MA 02135, USA 2: Cognitive Neuropsychology Laboratory, Harvard University Cambridge, MA 02138, USA 3: Neuropsychology Department, UniversitatSpital Zurich, Switzerland

Publication date: 2002-07-01