Data from: Visuo-spatial cueing in children with differential reading and spelling profiles

Dyslexia has been claimed to be causally related to deficits in
visuo-spatial attention. In particular, inefficient shifting of visual
attention during spatial cueing paradigms is assumed to be associated with
problems in graphemic parsing during sublexical reading. The current study
investigated visuo-spatial attention performance in an exogenous cueing
paradigm in a large sample (N = 191) of third and fourth graders with
different reading and spelling profiles (controls, isolated reading
deficit, isolated spelling deficit, combined deficit in reading and
spelling). Once individual variability in reaction times was taken into
account by means of z-transformation, a cueing deficit (i.e. no
significant difference between valid and invalid trials) was found for
children with combined deficits in reading and spelling. However, poor
readers without spelling problems showed a cueing effect comparable to
controls, but exhibited a particularly strong right-over-left advantage
(position effect). Isolated poor spellers showed a significant cueing
effect, but no position effect. While we replicated earlier findings of a
reduced cueing effect among poor nonword readers (indicating deficits in
sublexical processing), we also found a reduced cueing effect among
children with particularly poor orthographic spelling (indicating deficits
in lexical processing). Thus, earlier claims of a specific association
with nonword reading could not be confirmed. Controlling for ADHD-symptoms
reported in a parental questionnaire did not impact on the statistical
analysis, indicating that cueing deficits are not caused by more general
attentional limitations. Between 31 and 48 % of participants in the three
reading and/or spelling deficit groups as well as 32 % of the control
group showed reduced spatial cueing. These findings indicate a
significant, but moderate association between certain aspects of
visuo-spatial attention and subcomponents of written language processing,
the causal status of which is yet unclear.