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Number Processing Dissociations: Evidence from a Case of Dyscalculia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 April 2014

Fernando Cuetos  and
Graciela Miera
Fernando Cuetos*
Affiliation:
University of Oviedo
Graciela Miera
Affiliation:
University of Oviedo
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Dr. Fernando Cuetos, Departamento de Psicología.Universidad de Oviedo. Plaza Feijoo, s/n. 33003 – Oviedo (Spain).
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Abstract

In this case study of an aphasic patient with difficulties in numerical processing, the patient responded to a series of linguistic and numerical tasks designed to assess efficiency levels in processing various linguistic components. In addition, the patient completed a series of transcoding tasks that were directed at isolating whether the problems were associated primarily with arabic numerals or with other modalities (spoken or written). Data were analyzed using chi-square goodness-of-fit tests. Statistically significant differences were obtained between spoken verbal and written verbal outputs and between arabic and spoken verbal outputs. Based upon an analysis of errors, it was tentatively concluded that the disorders were associated with two types of dissociation operating together, one between spoken verbal and written verbal outputs at the syntactical level and the other between lexical and syntactical components in the spoken verbal output. A revised model is proposed to provide a tentative explanation for these observations.

Los estudios realizados en los últimos años con pacientes discalcúlicos están sirviendo para comprobar, por una parte, cómo funcionan los módulos que componen el sistema de procesamiento numérico, y, por otra, la relación que existe entre procesamiento numérico y procesamiento lingüístico en general. En este artículo presentamos un paciente con dificultades en el procesamiento numérico al que se le pasaron varias tareas lingüísticas y numéricas destinadas a comprobar si sus problemas eran sólo numéricos o afectaban también a otras modalidades verbales. Las diferencias estadísticamente significativas (contrastadas mediante chi-cuadrado) entre producción verbal y escrita y entre producción verbal y arábiga y los tipos de errores que comete manifiestan la existencia de dos importantes disociaciones: una en producción arábiga entre los procesos léxico y sintáctico, y otra entre producción verbal y escrita a nivel léxico. Puesto que los modelos existentes no contemplan estas disociaciones, se propone un nuevo modelo derivado de los anteriores.

Keywords

dyscalculianumeral processingarabic numeral systemdiscalculiaprocesamiento numéricosistema numeral arábigo
Type
Articles
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 1 , May 1998 , pp. 18 - 31
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1998

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