Speaker
Description
Introduction. It has been shown that omission and substitution errors in reading single words and pseudowords in the acquired reading disorder of right brain-damaged patients can depend on at least two different mechanisms: the association of unilateral spatial neglect with altered eye movements (i.e., neglect dyslexia), which produce left-sided omissions (Primativo et al., 2015) or an enhancement of crowding phenomenon (i.e., crowding dyslexia), responsible for non-lateralized substitutions (Daini et al., 2025).
Objectives. We provide normative data for the Spacing Words And Pseudowords (SWAP) reading test for the Italian population. A new evaluation method based on the type of error was proposed (letter-based) and the effect of spacing condition on specific types of errors was investigated in a neurologically healthy population.
Methods. The test was administered to a sample of 199 neurologically intact Italian subjects (86 males), with an average age of 57.33 years (range 20-90) and an average education level of 14.07 years (range 5-18).
Results. Cut-off scores for both word-based and letter-based number of errors are provided. A significant effect of spacing on accuracy was observed, with a decrease in performance in the spaced condition; specifically, a significant difference between the two conditions was noted for substitutions and omissions.
Conclusions. The spaced and unspaced word reading test could be used as a clinical tool to investigate the visual-perceptual and attentional mechanisms involved in reading and affected by brain damage.
