Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate the mechanics with which older adults activate and access different subdomains of their mental lexicons during word retrieval for picture naming. Method: Data were analyzed for 12 aging, native English speakers who performed a picture-word priming task. The auditory probe words were presented in the following conditions in relation to the picture stimuli: Identically related, strongly semantically related, weakly semantically related, strongly phonologically related, weakly phonologically related, semantically related to the strong phonological relative of the target picture label, or phonologically-related to the strong semantic relative of the target picture label. Event related potentials were used to measure picture-word priming effects. Results: Three main results were observed. First, our healthy aging adult participants evidenced strong activation of whole-word phonological representations as well as rhyme representations of target picture labels, but weakened activation of initial phoneme information. Second, they processed semantic information robustly. Finally, our participants appeared to experience phonological competition when accessing target picture labels. Conclusion: Results from this study suggest that healthy aging adults maintain efficient access to whole-word phonological representations, rhyme representations, and conceptual-semantic representations of target picture labels. However, in line with previously-reported findings, they do seem to evidence limited activation of initial phonological information on the path to picture naming.

The present thesis belongs to the research area disability research and deal with specific aspects of cognition in individuals with Usher syndrome type 1 and 2. The subject has been investigated and is discussed within an interdisciplinary framework, though the theories applied and described are derived from the area of cognitive psychology. Usher syndrome is a rare genetic condition causing a combination of visual and hearing impairment: deafblindness. There is a congenital hearing loss that is profound in type 1 and moderate to severe in type 2. During mid-childhood symptoms of visual impairment, e.g. light sensitivity, emerge and a progressive loss of visual field follows as a result of the genetically caused eye disease Retinitis Pigmentosa. The syndrome has previously been well described with respect to the genetical and medical aspects, but there has been very little research with a cognitive perspective on the population. Studies 1 and 2 in the present thesis focused on children with Usher syndrome type 1 with cochlear implants and investigated phonological skills, lexical access, working memory and reading skill in the group. Studies 3 & 4 investigated the same cognitive abilities and theory of mind in adults with Usher syndrome type 2. In study 4 the performance on theory of mind in the adults with Usher syndrome type 2 was also compared to that of another group with genetically caused deafblindness: individuals with Alström syndrome. The results were that both the children and adults with Usher syndrome had significantly poorer phonological processing than the control groups with normal hearing. There was a large variation on performance on lexical access, especially in the group of children, however several individuals performed at the same level as the control group. Reading skill was found to be at level with the control groups’. There was also great variation in performance on ToM, however the majority of individuals performed similar to the control group with normal hearing and vision. The present project has resulted in some new knowledge on cognitive performance in  individuals with Usher syndrome type 1 and type 2. Performance in the participants with Usher syndrome can to a large extent can be understood by application of the models developed in previous research on populations with hearing impairment or deafness for understanding the impact of hearing with a hearing aid or cochlear implant. However, individuals with Usher syndrome experience additional difficulties in accessing information due to the progressive visual loss and the impact this has on performance is still largely unknown. Hence, the present project would recommend that interventions and support would be designed specifically to each individuals’ needs, with consideration of both the visual impairment and the hearing impairment. / Föreliggande avhandling tillhör ämnet handikappvetenskap och beskriver specifika kognitiva förmågor hos personer med Ushers syndrom typ 1 och 2. Avhandlingens ämne har undersökts utifrån ett tvärvetenskapligt perspektiv, även om de teorier som tillämpas och beskrivs huvudsakligen härrör inom området kognitiv psykologi. Ushers syndrom är en ovanlig genetisk åkomma som leder till kombinationen av syn- och hörselnedsättning: dövblindhet. Individer med typ 1 av syndromet har medfödd dövhet medan individer med typ 2 har en medfödd måttlig till grav hörselnedsättning. Någon gång i åldrarna 6-10 år börjar de första symptomen, till exempel nedsatt mörkerseende, på den genetiskt betingade progressiva synnedsättningen Retinitis Pigmentosa att framträda. Syndromet är väl beskrivet i forskningen med avseende på genetiska och medicinska aspekter, men det finns extremt lite tidigare forskning med kognitivt perspektiv om populationen. Studierna 1 och 2 i föreliggande avhandling fokuserade på barn med Ushers syndrom typ 1 och cochleaimplantat. Dessa studier undersökte fonologisk förmåga, lexikal access, arbetsminne och läsning i gruppen. Studie 3 undersökte samma kognitiva förmågor hos vuxna med typ 2 av syndromet. I studie 4 undersöktes även den sammansatta förmågan Theory of Mind hos de vuxna med typ 2 och deras prestation jämfördes både mot en kontroll grupp med normal hörsel och syn och en kontrollgrupp med annan typ av dövblindhet; Alström syndrom. Resultaten visade att både barnen och de vuxna med Ushers syndrom hade signifikant sämre fonologisk förmåga än kontrollgruppen med normal hörsel. Nivån på prestation varierade stort inom grupperna, särskilt mellan barnen med typ 1, och flera av individerna (barn och vuxna) presterade trots hörselnedsättningen på samma nivå som de normalhörande. Läsfärdigheten befanns vara i nivå med kontrollgrupperna. I den vuxna gruppen var det stor variation i prestation även på Theory of Mind, men de flesta av individerna presterade liknande som kontrollgruppen med normal hörsel och syn. Föreliggande projekt har resulterat i lite mer kunskap om kognitiva färdigheter hos individer med Ushers syndrom typ 1 och 2. De resultat som individerna med Ushers syndrome presterade kan till stor del förstås och tolkas genom tillämpning av teorier och modeller utvecklade för att den inverkan på kognitiva förmågor det har att ha nedsatt hörsel och höra med hjälp av hörselapparat eller cochleaimplantat. Dock tyder fynden i detta projekt även på att individer med Ushers syndrom på grund av den allvarliga synnedsättningen har ytterligare svårigheter att få tillgodogöra sig information, men i vilken utsträckning och på vilket sätt är ännu inte beskrivet. Utifrån fynden i föreliggande studie blev rekommendation att interventioner och stöd till personer med Ushers syndrom utformas specifikt till varje individ, med hänsyn taget både till hens grad av synnedsättning och hörselnedsättning.

This research investigated the effect of frequency of language use on the production of consonant gradation by non-dominant speakers of Finnish in the immigrant community of Sointula, BC. Three types of frequency – word-frequency, suffix-frequency, and stem-frequency – were tested. It also investigated whether quantitative or qualitative gradation is more successful in producing gradation than the other and, finally, whether immigrant generation can explain the variation between participants. A translation task was administered to the six participants across three generations. Based on the framework of exemplar-driven cognitive grammar (Bybee 2001; Pierrehumbert 2001), the frequency-effects were assumed to be contingent upon the mode of lexical access; frequent complex words, presumably accessed as wholes thanks to frequent usage, would not exhibit as many gradation errors as infrequent words, which would be accessed via their composite parts due to infrequency. The anticipated frequency-effects were not found. Both frequent and infrequent words manifested some gradation loss as an analogical change. This suggests that all words are infrequent. While Bybee’s model assumes high-volume language use over time in dominant language contexts, lack of volume appears to suppress the differential behavior between frequent and infrequent words in Sointula. However, correct gradation was predictable based on suffix-use, which in turn was determined partly by semantics of suffixes; those Finnish suffixes that are semantically mappable to equivalent morphemes in English were better preserved than GEN object-markers, which do not have corresponding morpheme in English. With the atrophy of the GEN object-marker also gradation becomes redundant. This may arise from the tendency to mark syntactic constituency with word-order alone in English-influenced Finnish. Thus, semantics of suffixes proves to be a better predictor of gradation than frequency. Gradation loss increased with each generation born abroad; by G3, it has all but disappeared. Consonant gradation is not preserved through the generations. Qualitative gradation disappears before quantitative gradation. The above findings are sensible in a context of reduced language-functionality. Against expectation, little evidence for storing sub-word morphemes and decomposed access was found. Instead, the data suggests that most stored lexical items are whole words and that gradation is associated with whole complex forms.

Aquest estudi investiga la pèrdua (attrition) del castellà com a llengua estrangera en estudiants Erasmus holandesos i alemanys. S’investiguen tres tipus de dades: orals, lingüístiques i psicolingüístiques recollides de tres grups d’attriters i un grup de referència, a més de 5 persones de les quals s’han recollit dades longitudinals pel període d’un any. També s’ha explorat la importància de factors com el contacte amb la llengua, la longitud del període de pèrdua, l’actitud i la motivació i la competència inicial. Com a indicis de pèrdua de la llengua s’han trobat la reducció de la fluïdesa i de la diversitat lèxica i l’augment de les pauses plenes situades abans d’elements lèxics (substantius, verbs) en les dades orals; major temps de reacció i menor percentatge de respostes correctes en la tasca psicolingüística (picture naming). La competència inicial va ser la variable més important per a la predicció de retenció de llengua. / The present study explores the retention/attrition of Spanish as a foreign language in Dutch and German Erasmus students. Data from three different modes is analysed: oral, linguistic and psycholinguistic. In addition to cross sectional data, consisting of three attriting groups and a baseline group, it studies longitudinal data for 5 participants over the span of one year. The role of background and personal factors such as length of attrition, contact with the language, attitude and motivation and initial proficiency on the process of attrition is also investigated. Evidence for attrition is found at both linguistic (an increased number of disfluency markers, reduced lexical diversity and higher incidence of disfluency markers preceding lexical items in speech) and psycholinguistic level (slower reaction times and lower percent correct responses in a picture naming task). Although the results for the background variables are mixed, initial proficiency is established as the strongest predictor of retention/attrition.

Evidências sugerem que o bilinguismo possa atuar como reserva cognitiva e atenuar possíveis efeitos negativos do envelhecimento. Entretanto, há ainda muita divergência na literatura no que se refere aos mecanismos responsáveis por essa possível vantagem, sendo que a falta de um controle maior de variáveis de confusão pode explicar essa divergência. É nesse contexto que se insere a pesquisa relatada nesta tese, que teve como objetivo investigar a extensão do impacto do bilinguismo nas redes de atenção, no acesso lexical e na memória de trabalho em uma amostra composta por 136 indivíduos de duas faixas etárias (jovens de 40 a 55 anos e idosos de 60 a 71 anos), sendo 68 bilíngues (hunsrückisch-português) e 68 monolíngues (português), comparáveis em termos socioeconômicos, educacionais e funcionais. Bilíngues e monolíngues tiveram um desempenho similar em todas as tarefas; entretanto, a magnitude do efeito de envelhecimento em termos de tempo de reação geral na tarefa ANT, que avaliou as redes de atenção, na tarefa de fluência fonológica, que avaliou o acesso lexical, e na tarefa N-back, utilizada para avaliar a capacidade de memória de trabalho, foi menor para os bilíngues. Em outras palavras, nossos resultados sugerem que o bilinguismo atuou como uma espécie de reserva cognitiva. Esses resultados são discutidos com base no contexto cultural e de produção bilíngue desses participantes, chamando a atenção para a importância de se levar em consideração esses aspectos na avaliação neuropsicológica. / Evidence suggests that bilingualism can contribute to cognitive reserve. However, there have been some discrepancies in the literature regarding the mechanisms responsible for this advantage. A lack of control of possible confounding variables can explain these discrepancies. Therefore, in order to control possible confounding variables and to examine the extension of the impact of bilingualism on the attention networks, lexical access and working memory, we assessed the performance of 136 younger (40-55 years old) and older (60-71 years old) participants on the ANT task, verbal fluency tasks and N-back task. They were bilinguals (Hunsrückisch- Portuguese) and monolinguals (Portuguese) matched in terms of socioeconomic, educational and functionality levels. Bilinguals and monolinguals performed equivalently, but the magnitude of the effect of aging in the ANT test, in the N-back test and in the phonological fluency task was smaller for bilinguals. In other words, our results suggest that the bilingualism acted as a cognitive reserve. We discussed these results in terms of cultural and bilingual production contexts, calling attention to the importance of considering these aspects in the neuropsychological assessment.

Evidências sugerem que o bilinguismo possa atuar como reserva cognitiva e atenuar possíveis efeitos negativos do envelhecimento. Entretanto, há ainda muita divergência na literatura no que se refere aos mecanismos responsáveis por essa possível vantagem, sendo que a falta de um controle maior de variáveis de confusão pode explicar essa divergência. É nesse contexto que se insere a pesquisa relatada nesta tese, que teve como objetivo investigar a extensão do impacto do bilinguismo nas redes de atenção, no acesso lexical e na memória de trabalho em uma amostra composta por 136 indivíduos de duas faixas etárias (jovens de 40 a 55 anos e idosos de 60 a 71 anos), sendo 68 bilíngues (hunsrückisch-português) e 68 monolíngues (português), comparáveis em termos socioeconômicos, educacionais e funcionais. Bilíngues e monolíngues tiveram um desempenho similar em todas as tarefas; entretanto, a magnitude do efeito de envelhecimento em termos de tempo de reação geral na tarefa ANT, que avaliou as redes de atenção, na tarefa de fluência fonológica, que avaliou o acesso lexical, e na tarefa N-back, utilizada para avaliar a capacidade de memória de trabalho, foi menor para os bilíngues. Em outras palavras, nossos resultados sugerem que o bilinguismo atuou como uma espécie de reserva cognitiva. Esses resultados são discutidos com base no contexto cultural e de produção bilíngue desses participantes, chamando a atenção para a importância de se levar em consideração esses aspectos na avaliação neuropsicológica. / Evidence suggests that bilingualism can contribute to cognitive reserve. However, there have been some discrepancies in the literature regarding the mechanisms responsible for this advantage. A lack of control of possible confounding variables can explain these discrepancies. Therefore, in order to control possible confounding variables and to examine the extension of the impact of bilingualism on the attention networks, lexical access and working memory, we assessed the performance of 136 younger (40-55 years old) and older (60-71 years old) participants on the ANT task, verbal fluency tasks and N-back task. They were bilinguals (Hunsrückisch- Portuguese) and monolinguals (Portuguese) matched in terms of socioeconomic, educational and functionality levels. Bilinguals and monolinguals performed equivalently, but the magnitude of the effect of aging in the ANT test, in the N-back test and in the phonological fluency task was smaller for bilinguals. In other words, our results suggest that the bilingualism acted as a cognitive reserve. We discussed these results in terms of cultural and bilingual production contexts, calling attention to the importance of considering these aspects in the neuropsychological assessment.

Evidências sugerem que o bilinguismo possa atuar como reserva cognitiva e atenuar possíveis efeitos negativos do envelhecimento. Entretanto, há ainda muita divergência na literatura no que se refere aos mecanismos responsáveis por essa possível vantagem, sendo que a falta de um controle maior de variáveis de confusão pode explicar essa divergência. É nesse contexto que se insere a pesquisa relatada nesta tese, que teve como objetivo investigar a extensão do impacto do bilinguismo nas redes de atenção, no acesso lexical e na memória de trabalho em uma amostra composta por 136 indivíduos de duas faixas etárias (jovens de 40 a 55 anos e idosos de 60 a 71 anos), sendo 68 bilíngues (hunsrückisch-português) e 68 monolíngues (português), comparáveis em termos socioeconômicos, educacionais e funcionais. Bilíngues e monolíngues tiveram um desempenho similar em todas as tarefas; entretanto, a magnitude do efeito de envelhecimento em termos de tempo de reação geral na tarefa ANT, que avaliou as redes de atenção, na tarefa de fluência fonológica, que avaliou o acesso lexical, e na tarefa N-back, utilizada para avaliar a capacidade de memória de trabalho, foi menor para os bilíngues. Em outras palavras, nossos resultados sugerem que o bilinguismo atuou como uma espécie de reserva cognitiva. Esses resultados são discutidos com base no contexto cultural e de produção bilíngue desses participantes, chamando a atenção para a importância de se levar em consideração esses aspectos na avaliação neuropsicológica. / Evidence suggests that bilingualism can contribute to cognitive reserve. However, there have been some discrepancies in the literature regarding the mechanisms responsible for this advantage. A lack of control of possible confounding variables can explain these discrepancies. Therefore, in order to control possible confounding variables and to examine the extension of the impact of bilingualism on the attention networks, lexical access and working memory, we assessed the performance of 136 younger (40-55 years old) and older (60-71 years old) participants on the ANT task, verbal fluency tasks and N-back task. They were bilinguals (Hunsrückisch- Portuguese) and monolinguals (Portuguese) matched in terms of socioeconomic, educational and functionality levels. Bilinguals and monolinguals performed equivalently, but the magnitude of the effect of aging in the ANT test, in the N-back test and in the phonological fluency task was smaller for bilinguals. In other words, our results suggest that the bilingualism acted as a cognitive reserve. We discussed these results in terms of cultural and bilingual production contexts, calling attention to the importance of considering these aspects in the neuropsychological assessment.

Submitted by Aline Batista (alinehb.ufpel@gmail.com) on 2018-07-06T13:55:51Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Dissertacao_Aline_Behling_Duarte.pdf: 1944951 bytes, checksum: 33380a401205a3c3cb018dedc87e97ff (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Aline Batista (alinehb.ufpel@gmail.com) on 2018-07-11T11:44:49Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertacao_Aline_Behling_Duarte.pdf: 1944951 bytes, checksum: 33380a401205a3c3cb018dedc87e97ff (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-07-11T11:44:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertacao_Aline_Behling_Duarte.pdf: 1944951 bytes, checksum: 33380a401205a3c3cb018dedc87e97ff (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-02-28 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / Este estudo tinha por objetivo geral investigar o papel do priming grafo-fônicofonológico em uma tarefa de decisão lexical em multilíngues em português (L1), inglês (L2) e francês (L3). Os objetivos específicos da pesquisa foram: 1) verificar se as supostas semelhanças grafo-fônico-fonológicas entre palavras da L1, da L2 e da L3 influenciariam no tempo de reação durante uma tarefa de acesso lexical com priming; 2) apurar se o grau de proficiência em cada uma das línguas dos multilíngues influenciaria no processo de transferência, fazendo com que o escore e o tempo de reação variassem de acordo com a força atratora das línguas. No experimento, foram utilizados 90 pares de palavras, das quais a metade apresentava as supostas semelhanças grafo-fônico-fonológicas entre as línguas, enquanto a outra metade não apresentava as supostas semelhanças grafo-fônico-fonológicas entre as línguas. Para a construção e a aplicação do experimento, utilizamos o software E-Prime 2.0, por meio do qual foi possível capturar o tempo de reação e o número de acertos de cada participante. A tarefa de acesso lexical previa que os participantes receberiam dois estímulos, um prime e uma palavra-alvo, tendo que reagir ao segundo estímulo, de forma a apresentar resposta, indicando a qual língua pertencia a palavra-alvo. As hipóteses do estudo foram: 1) quando os primes exibissem as supostas semelhanças grafo-fônico-fonológicas com a palavra-alvo, o tempo de reação seria maior. No entanto, quando o prime não compartilhasse as supostas semelhanças grafo-fônico-fonológicas com a palavra-chave, o tempo de reação seria menor. Considerando que o conhecimento linguístico é interativo, defendemos que as supostas semelhanças grafo-fônico-fonológicas promoveriam a ativação de correspondências grafo-fônico-fonológicas distintas, acarretando uma competição lexical (VAN GELDER e PORT, 1995; ELMAN et al., 1996; ELMAN, 1998; DIJKSTRA et al.,1999; MACWHINNEY, 2002, 2005, 2007; DE BOT, 2004; RODRIGUEZ-FORNELLS et al., 2005; LARSENFREEMAN e CAMERON, 2008; DERAVI, 2009); soma-se a isso o fato de os pares de palavras apresentarem conteúdos semânticos diferentes; 2) os graus de proficiência que os multilíngues possuem em cada uma das três línguas influenciariam nos tempos de reação e na acurácia durante a tarefa de decisão lexical. Quando apresentadas na posição de prime, as línguas nas quais os informantes possuem maior fluência e maior frequência de exposição atrasariam os tempos de reação e afetariam a precisão com que os participantes atribuiriam resposta às palavras-alvo durante a tarefa. (WOUTERSEN, 1997; HERMANS et al., 1998; LEMHÖFER et al., 2004; BLANK e ZIMMER, 2010; PREBIANCA, 2014; KROLL et al., 2013) A partir da análise estatística realizada com o auxílio do software SPSS 22, confirmamos uma diferença estatística significativa na primeira hipótese. A segunda hipótese confirmamos apenas de forma parcial. / This study had as main goal to investigate the role of the grapho-phonicphonological priming in a lexical decision task in multilinguals in Portuguese (L1), English (L2) and French (L3). The specific goals for this research were: 1) to verify whether the possible grapho-phonic-phonological similarities among words of L1, L2 and L3 would influence the reaction time in a lexical access task with priming; 2) to investigate whether the level of proficiency on each of the multilinguals languages would influence on the transfer processes, making the score and the reaction time vary in accordance with the force of language attractor. In the experiment, there were 90-paired words, in which half presented the supposed grapho-phonic-phonological similarities among the languages, whilst the other half did not present the supposed grapho-phonic-phonological similarities among the languages. In order to build and test the experiment, the E-Prime 2.0 software was used, through which it was possible to capture the reaction time and the number of right answers provided by each participant. The lexical access task predicted that the participants would receive the two stimuli, a prime and a target word, having to react to the second stimulus, assigning an answer, pointing it out to each language the target word was part of. The hypothesis for the study were: 1) when the primes exhibited the supposed grapho-phonic-phonological similarities with the target word, the reaction time would be slower. However, when the prime and the target word did not share the supposed grapho-phonic-phonological similarities, the reaction time would be faster. Considering that the linguistic knowledge is interactive, it is supported that the supposed grapho-phonic-phonological similarities prompt the activation of distinct grapho-phonic-phonological correlations, resulting in lexical competition (VAN GELDER e PORT, 1995; ELMAN et al., 1996; ELMAN, 1998; DIJKSTRA et al.,1999; MACWHINNEY, 2002, 2005, 2007; DE BOT, 2004; RODRIGUEZFORNELLS et al., 2005; LARSEN-FREEMAN e CAMERON, 2008; DERAVI, 2009); add to that the fact that the paired words exhibit different semantic contents; 2) the levels of proficiency that the multilinguals have in each of the three languages would influence in the reaction times and in the accuracy during the lexical decision task. When presented on the prime position, the languages in which the informants have higher levels of fluency and more frequency of exposure would delay the reaction times and would affect the correctness with which the participants assign an answer to the target words during the task. (WOUTERSEN, 1997; HERMANS et al., 1998; LEMHÖFER et al., 2004; BLANK e ZIMMER, 2010; PREBIANCA, 2014; KROLL et al., 2013) Through the help of the statistical analysis made the software SPSS 22, it was corroborated a significant statistical difference in the first hypothesis. The second hypothesis was only partially corroborated.

No description available.

Dans cette thèse, nous avons examiné chez des apprentis lecteurs le traitement de l'information latérale en lecture de mots isolés et le comportement oculomoteur en lecture de texte. Dans un premier groupe d'expériences, nous montrons que les apprentis lecteurs présentent une sensibilité à l'information latérale. Cette sensibilité dépend des caractéristiques de cette information (linguistique versus non linguistique) mais elle varie également selon le degré de difficulté associée au traitement de l'information centrale (mots fréquents versus mots peu fréquents). Le contrôle des ressources attentionnelles serait moins efficace chez les apprentis lecteurs que chez les lecteurs experts. Un deuxième groupe d'expériences met en évidence une amélioration de la capacité à traiter l'information latérale au cours de l'apprentissage de la lecture. Les résultats montrent également des différences qualitatives entre les lecteurs débutants et les lecteurs experts dans l'initiation des traitements lexicaux à partir de l'information parafovéale. Dans notre troisième groupe d'expériences, les résultats montrent qu'en lecture de texte, les apprentis lecteurs fixent plus longtemps les mots et les refixent également plus souvent que les lecteurs experts. Au fur et à mesure de l'apprentissage de la lecture, la taille des saccades s'accroît. De plus, les effets de la longueur des mots et de la fréquence sont plus importants chez les lecteurs de CE2 que chez les lecteurs de CM2 ou les lecteurs experts. Les différences développementales mises en évidence sont principalement liées à des facteurs cognitifs plutôt qu'à des facteurs oculomoteurs. / This thesis explore in beginning readers processing of lateral information in isolated reading task and eye movement in text reading. In a first serie of experiments, we show that beginning readers are sensitive to the lateral information. This sensitivity depends upon the difficulty of the central word that is under processing, but also upon the nature of the lateral information (linguistic versus non linguistic). Control of the visual attention could be less developped in beginning readers that in expert readers. In a second serie of experiments, our results indicate that increased reading skill goes hand in hand with the ability to extract more information from lateral vision. Differance are also evidenced between beginning readers and expert readers in the way initiation of the lexical processing from lateral information is achieve. In a third serie of experiments, results show that in text reading, beginning readers make shorter saccades, had higher fixation durations and higher refixation probabilities than in older or expert readers. Developmental differences that are evidenced are mainly linked to cognitive processes than oculomotor processes.