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The impact of reading and writing skills on a visuo-motor integration task: A comparison between illiterate and literate subjects

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2007

INÊS BRAMÃO ,
ALEXANDRA MENDONÇA ,
LUÍS FAÍSCA ,
MARTIN INGVAR ,
KARL MAGNUS PETERSSON  and
ALEXANDRA REIS
INÊS BRAMÃO
Affiliation:
Departamento de Psicologia, Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group, Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais, Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal CSI, Center for Intelligent Systems, Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal
ALEXANDRA MENDONÇA
Affiliation:
Departamento de Psicologia, Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group, Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais, Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal CSI, Center for Intelligent Systems, Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal
LUÍS FAÍSCA
Affiliation:
Departamento de Psicologia, Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group, Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais, Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal CSI, Center for Intelligent Systems, Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal
MARTIN INGVAR
Affiliation:
Cognitive Neurophysiology Research Group, Stockholm Brain Institute, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
KARL MAGNUS PETERSSON
Affiliation:
Departamento de Psicologia, Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group, Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais, Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal CSI, Center for Intelligent Systems, Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal Cognitive Neurophysiology Research Group, Stockholm Brain Institute, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden F.C. Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands
ALEXANDRA REIS
Affiliation:
Departamento de Psicologia, Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group, Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais, Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal CSI, Center for Intelligent Systems, Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal Cognitive Neurophysiology Research Group, Stockholm Brain Institute, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
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Abstract

Previous studies have shown a significant association between reading skills and the performance on visuo-motor tasks. In order to clarify whether reading and writing skills modulate non-linguistic domains, we investigated the performance of two literacy groups on a visuo-motor integration task with non-linguistic stimuli. Twenty-one illiterate participants and twenty matched literate controls were included in the experiment. Subjects were instructed to use the right or the left index finger to point to and touch a randomly presented target on the right or left side of a touch screen. The results showed that the literate subjects were significantly faster in detecting and touching targets on the left compared to the right side of the screen. In contrast, the presentation side did not affect the performance of the illiterate group. These results lend support to the idea that having acquired reading and writing skills, and thus a preferred left-to-right reading direction, influences visual scanning. (JINS, 2007, 13, 359–364.)

Keywords

IlliteracySchoolingReading and writingNon-verbal skillsVisuoperceptual skillsVisual scanning
Type
BRIEF COMMUNICATIONS
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , March 2007 , pp. 359 - 364
Copyright
© 2007 The International Neuropsychological Society

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