Latency time and accuracy at reading and naming in school children: a pilot study

Abstract

The objective of this study was to observe the latency time and the number of right answers for equivalent stimuli in naming pictures and in the reading aloud of isolated words, considering the attributes of the written material (frequency of occurrence and word length). The participants were pupils from the 2nd to 4th grades of the fundamental education of a public municipal school of the City of São Paulo; pupils had no general alterations in their development, language or school performance. The reading test was composed of 32 words balanced for frequency of occurrence in the written material and word length. The naming test consisted of pictures with names equivalent to those of the reading test. The stimuli were presented individually on the screen of a computer by a piece of software specific for the analysis of the latency time and accuracy of answers. The number of right answers and the latency time for response were analyzed. For the latency time, it was observed the influence of the variables of the written material, namely, that longer or low frequency words were accessed more slowly by all children. As to the number of right answers, there was no statistical difference between the grades at the reading test. However, with age and schooling, pupils become quicker to initiate the reading of isolated words and to name equivalent pictures.