Perceptual Priming and Reading Speed among Fourth Grade Children

This study evaluated the perceptual priming in fourth grade primary school children using a word-fragment completion task. The children were classified into two categories according to their reading speed: high and low. Using several sub-scales of the WISC-IV, their working memory was measured, and their total IQ was estimated, in order to control for their effects on priming. The statistical analyses showed that children with high reading speed were significantly better at word-fragment completion and showed greater priming (p < .01); in other words, the prior processing of the words from which the fragments came produced a greater benefit in the performance of the word-fragment completion task. A regression model was developed to explain reading speed based on the following variables: perceptual priming, working memory and percentage of completed fragments belonging to words not previously processed (adjusted R-2 = 0.64).