Title Page

Abstract

Contents

Chapter Ⅰ. Introduction 17

1. Overview of the Present Study 17

2. Rationale and Objectives 18

3. Research Hypotheses 26

4. Research Questions 28

Chapter Ⅱ. Literature Review 29

1. Prevalence and Current Impact of Reading Disabilities 29

2. Historical Accounts of Reading Disabilities 31

2.1. Early Theories of Reading Disabilities 31

2.2. Major Theories of Reading Disabilities 33

3. Simple View of Reading and Its Limitations 38

3.1. Simple View of Reading 38

3.2. Limitations of the Simple View of Reading as an Underlying Framework 39

4. Underlying Mechanisms in Reading Comprehension Difficulties 40

4.1. Structure-Building Framework and Inhibitory Control Mechanisms 40

4.2. Inefficient Inhibitory Control Mechanisms and Lexical-Semantic Processing in Reading Comprehension Difficulties 45

4.3. Limitations of Previous Studies 49

Chapter Ⅲ. Inhibitory Control in Real-Time Lexical-Semantic Processing 54

1. Introduction 54

2. Methods 57

2.1. Participants 57

2.2. Materials 60

2.3. Procedure 66

3. Data Analyses 68

4. Results 71

4.1. Behavioral Task Analysis 71

4.2. Visual Inspection 71

4.3. Linear Mixed Models (LMMs) 73

4.4. Growth Curve Analysis (GCA) 79

5. Discussion 83

Chapter Ⅳ. Inhibitory Control of Nonverbal Distractor Interference 86

1. Introduction 86

2. Methods 88

2.1. Participants 88

2.2. Experimental Materials 88

2.3. Procedure 89

3. Data Analyses 90

4. Results 91

4.1. Accuracy Rate 91

4.2. Response Time 95

5. Discussion 98

Chapter Ⅴ. Inhibitory Control of Nonverbal Prepotent Response 101

1. Introduction 101

2. Methods 102

2.1. Participants 102

2.2. Experimental Materials 102

2.3. Procedure 104

3. Data Analyses 105

4. Results 105

4.1. Accuracy Rate 105

4.2. Response Time 107

5. Discussion 109

Chapter Ⅵ. Inhibitory Control of Nonverbal Proactive Interference 110

1. Introduction 110

2. Methods 111

2.1. Participants 111

2.2. Experimental Materials 112

2.3. Procedure 113

3. Data Analyses 114

4. Results 115

4.1. Accuracy Rate 115

4.2. Response Time 119

5. Discussion 124

Chapter Ⅶ. General Discussion and Conclusions 126

1. Empirical Findings and Implications 126

2. Potential Effects of Inhibitory Control on Reading Comprehension 133

3. Clinical Implications 135

4. Limitations of the Study and Future Directions 136

5. Conclusions 137

REFERENCES 139

APPENDICES 161

APPENDIX A. Examples of the Homonym Items 161

APPENDIX B. Examples of the Non-Nameable Images 162

국문초록 163

Table 1. Demographic Information of the Highly Skilled, Moderately Skilled, and Less Skilled Reader Groups (N＝74) 59

Table 2. Average Fixation Proportions on the Competitors and Distractors after the Critical Word Onset 74

Table 3. Parameter Estimates for Fixed Effects of Group and Difference Scores between the First- and Second-Time Windows 76

Table 4. Bonferroni-corrected Post hoc Comparisons for the Difference Scores 77

Table 5. Parameter Estimates for Fixed Effects of Time and Competitor on Fixation Proportions 80

Table 6. Descriptive Statistics for the Flanker Task (ACC) 91

Table 7. Results of the Two-way Repeated Measures ANOVA for the Flanker Task (ACC) 92

Table 8. Pairwise Comparisons for the Flanker Task (ACC) 93

Table 9. Descriptive Statistics for the Flanker Task (RT) 95

Table 10. Results of the Two-way Repeated Measures ANOVA for the Flanker Task (RT) 96

Table 11. Pairwise Comparisons for the Flanker Task (RT) 97

Table 12. Descriptive Statistics for the Simon Task (ACC) 106

Table 13. Results of the Two-way Repeated Measures ANOVA for the Simon Task (ACC) 106

Table 14. Descriptive Statistics for the Simon Task (RT) 107

Table 15. Results of the Two-way Repeated Measures ANOVA for the Simon Task (RT) 108

Table 16. Descriptive Statistics for the Directed-Forgetting Task (ACC) 115

Table 17. Results of Two-way Repeated Measures ANOVA for the Directed-Forgetting Task (ACC) 116

Table 18. Pairwise Comparisons for the Directed-Forgetting Task (ACC) 117

Table 19. Descriptive Statistics for the Directed-Forgetting Task (RT) 119

Table 20. Results of Two-way Repeated Measures ANOVA for the Directed-Forgetting Task (RT) 120

Table 21. Pairwise Comparisons for the Directed-Forgetting Task (RT) 121

Fig. 1. Architecture of the Comprehension with Suppression Model. 42

Fig. 2. Example of the Visual Scenes 65

Fig. 3. Schematic of Stimulus Timing in the VWP 67

Fig. 4. Mean Fixation Proportions over Time (50-ms bins) for Each Interest Area (i.e., item type). 72

Fig. 5. Average Fixation Proportions on the Competitors relative to the Distractors after the Critical Word Onset 74

Fig. 6. Growth Curve Analysis Model Fits. 80

Fig. 7. Examples of the Two Conditions in the Eriksen Flanker Task 89

Fig. 8. Schematic of the Eriksen Flanker Task 90

Fig. 9. Average Accuracy Rates by Group and Congruency for the Flanker Task 92

Fig. 10. Average Response Times by Group and Congruency in the Flanker Task 95

Fig. 11. Examples of the Two Conditions in the Simon Task. 103

Fig. 12. Schematic Representation of the Simon Task 104

Fig. 13. Average Accuracy Rates by Group and Congruency for the Simon Task 106

Fig. 14. Average Response Times by Group and Congruency for the Simon Task 108

Fig. 15. Schematic Representation of the Procedure in Experiment 4 114

Fig. 16. Average Accuracy Rates by Group and Probe Type in the Directed-Forgetting Task. 116

Fig. 17. Average Accuracy Rates in the Control and Lure Trials for the Three Groups. 118

Fig. 18. Average Response Times by Group and Probe Type in the Directed-Forgetting task. 120

Fig. 19. Average Response Times in the Control and Lure Trials for the Three Groups. 123