Complex word processing in individuals with acquired dyslexia

One of the primary tools for uncovering the cognitive mechanisms that underlie our ability to read aloud has been the careful investigation of associations and dissociations with cognitive neuropsychological case studies of individuals with acquired dyslexia following brain damage. Making sense of how the reading system might be structured, so that it can be damaged in different ways to give rise to this diversity of reading impairments, has been a major contributor to theory development.

As useful as cognitive neuropsychology has been for developing theories of reading aloud, research has largely focused on uncovering the cognitive mechanisms involved in the reading of morphologically simple words (e.g., paint). Morphologically complex words (e.g., painter) have not bee studied as widely, and as a result, the cognitive underpinnings of complex word reading are still much less understood. The aim of the present project is to bridge this gap by conducting a series of case-studies to examine morphological processing in individuals with acquired dyslexia.