Autores: Eric Siéroff; Riadh Dahmen; Jacqueline Fagard.
Resumen
The rigth visual field superitory (RVFS) for words may be explained by the cerebral lateralization for lenguage, the scanning habits in relation to script direction, and spatial attetion. The present study explored the influence of spatial attetion on the RVFS in relation to scanning habits in school-age children. Methods: French second- and fourth-graders identified briefly presented French parafoveal words. Tunisian second- and fourth- graders identifed. Arabic words, and Tunisian Fourth- graders identified French words. The distribution of spatial attetion was evaluated by using a distracter in the visual field opposite the world. Results: The results of the correct identification score showed that reading direction had only a partial effect on the identification of parafoveral words and the distribution of attetion, with a clear RVFS and larger effect of the distracter in the left visual field in French children reading French words, and a absence of asymmetry when reading French words without an asymmetric distribution of attetion, suggesting that their native language may have partially influeced reading strategies in the newly learned lenguage. Homewever, the mode of letter processing, evaluted by a qualitative error score, was only influenced by reading direction, with more squential processing in the visual field where reading "begins". Conclusion: The distribution of attention when reading parafoveal words is better explained by the interaction between left hemisphere activation and strategies related to reading direction. We discuss these results in light of an attentional theory that dissociates selection and preparation.
