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This study aims to compare auditory temporal processing and phonological processing across locations and age levels and to test the direct and indirect effects of auditory temporal and phonological processing on proficiency in Chinese character reading. We recruited 108 typically developing children -- 25 and 24 kindergarteners from Taiwan and Hong Kong, respectively, and 34 and 25 primary school students from Taiwan and Hong Kong, respectively. Our findings showed that, before learning PCS, the languages' phonological complexity did not affect the importance of ATP in Chinese reading. Also, we found the use of PCS could lead to a direct effect from students' ATP to Chinese character reading as well as through phonological awareness. Our findings indicated that ways of learning to read influence children's patterns of cognitive and linguistic abilities, which should be considered in teaching designs for reading. [Translation from English by Mercè Rius.]

Background: Research has shown that paired associate learning (PAL) plays an important role in children's word reading across different languages. However, little is known about the construct of PAL and its relationship with word reading in Chinese children. Methods: A total of 204 second-year kindergarten children from Mainland China were assessed on measures of PAL, including the four mapping conditions of PAL -- visual-verbal, verbal-verbal, visual-visual and verbal-visual PAL. Tasks of working memory (WM), inhibitory control, visual-motor integration (VMI), phonological awareness, orthographic knowledge and Chinese word reading were also administered to these children. Results: Our results showed that WM, VMI and phonological awareness were unique predictors of PAL, whereas inhibitory control and orthographic knowledge were not. Furthermore, PAL showed an independent contribution to Chinese word reading after controlling for phonological awareness and orthographic knowledge. The mediation analysis showed that PAL was a significant mediator of the association between different cognitive-linguistic skills and Chinese word reading. Conclusion: Paired associate learning contributes to Chinese word reading over and above phonological awareness and orthographic knowledge. Findings underscore the potential importance of PAL, as distinct from other cognitive-linguistic skills, for understanding variability in early reading development.

This study examined the extent to which Chinese children with dyslexia show temporal processing deficits in addition to deficits in various forms of attention. In total, 104 Chinese children in primary school (Grades 3-6) were recruited in Taiwan. Half of the children were identified as having dyslexia, and the other half were typically developing children who were matched by gender, IQ, and age with the children with dyslexia. Our results indicated that Chinese children with dyslexia performed significantly worse on tasks of temporal processing, selective attention, and switching attention. Furthermore, both visual and auditory temporal processing, in addition to various attention types, could be significant distinguishing predictors between the two groups. Moreover, we found that visual temporal processing, but not auditory temporal processing, significantly contributed to Chinese character reading. This study was among the first to confirm the unique role of visual temporal processing in Chinese character reading.

This study aimed to examine the effects of temporal processing training on the reading abilities of Chinese children with dyslexia. In total, 69 Chinese children with dyslexia in grades three through six were recruited in Taiwan. The children were divided into the following three equal groups: (1) auditory temporal processing training group, (2) visual temporal processing training group, and (3) control group with no specific training. The participants in both training groups received instruction with identical durations (30-40 min), intensities (12 times in total), and frequencies (three to four times per week). The participants in the control group were asked to independently surf some specified websites using devices similar to those used by the two experimental groups for an identical duration, intensity, and frequency. Our results indicated that the two groups who received temporal processing training exhibited significant correlations among Chinese character reading, rapid naming, and corresponding reading-related abilities, while visual temporal processing served as a significant predictor of Chinese character reading ability even if all background data, reading-related abilities, and auditory temporal processing were introduced first. Additionally, significant interactions were found between the Groups and Tested sessions in all the measures, except for phonological awareness, confirming the distinct effects of different temporal processing on most measures involved in this study. Further simple main effects revealed that only those who received the visual temporal processing training gained benefits in the corresponding reading-related ability (i.e., orthographic knowledge) and far-transfer to Chinese character reading.

The present study examined whether temporal processing (TP) is associated with reading of a non-alphabetic script, that is, Chinese. A total of 126 primary school-aged Chinese children from Taiwan (63 children with dyslexia) completed cross-modal, visual, and auditory temporal order judgment tasks and measures of Chinese reading and literacy-related skills. The results showed that typically developing children and children with dyslexia differed in all TP skills. Structural equation modeling indicated that cross-modal TP contributed independently to character recognition in the entire sample if the significant effects of phonological awareness, orthographic knowledge, and rapid automatized naming were considered. The multi-sample analysis showed that TP did not predict reading in the typical group after controlling for literacy-related skills, but visual and cross-modal TP skills independently contributed to reading in the group with dyslexia in addition to literacy-related skills. Finally, the path analysis indicated that in the typical group, separate TP skills affected reading through literacy-related skills, but visual and cross-modal TP skills had direct effects on character reading in the group with dyslexia. These findings suggest that TP is more important for reading in children with dyslexia than in typically developing children, and the roles of TP in dyslexia require further examination.

This study aimed to investigate the development of visual and auditory temporal processing among children with and without dyslexia and to examine the roles of temporal processing in reading and reading-related abilities. A total of 362 Chinese children in Grades 1-6 were recruited from Taiwan. Half of the children had dyslexia, and the other half were typically developing children who matched the dyslexic group on age, intelligence, and gender. Our results indicate that for typically developing children, the visual and auditory modalities follow the same developmental trend: The children in first and second grades performed significantly worse than the older children. Among the children with dyslexia, however, significant improvements in the visual modality were observed with increasing age. Furthermore, although both modalities were important for all reading-related abilities and for Chinese character reading in first and second grades, the visual modality significantly predicted only orthographic knowledge and Chinese character reading in third and fourth grades. In contrast, the auditory modality affected only phonological awareness. In fifth and sixth grades, only visual temporal processing slightly contributed to the orthographic knowledge and Chinese character reading of the dyslexic group. Also, the relationship between temporal processing and Chinese character reading is strongly influenced by age.