*Result*: Mirror invariance dies hard during letter processing by dyslexic college students.

Title:
Mirror invariance dies hard during letter processing by dyslexic college students.
Authors:
Fernandes T; CICPSI, Faculty of Psychology, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal. taniapgfernandes@gmail.com., Pascual M; CICPSI, Faculty of Psychology, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal., Araújo S; CICPSI, Faculty of Psychology, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.
Source:
Scientific reports [Sci Rep] 2025 Oct 27; Vol. 15 (1), pp. 37395. Date of Electronic Publication: 2025 Oct 27.
Publication Type:
Journal Article
Language:
English
Journal Info:
Publisher: Nature Publishing Group Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 101563288 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 2045-2322 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 20452322 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Sci Rep Subsets: MEDLINE
Imprint Name(s):
Original Publication: London : Nature Publishing Group, copyright 2011-
MeSH Terms:
Dyslexia*/physiopathology , Dyslexia*/psychology , Reading* , Pattern Recognition, Visual*/physiology, Humans ; Male ; Female ; Young Adult ; Students ; Adult ; Universities ; Reaction Time ; Adolescent
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Grant Information:
PTDC/PSI-GER/28184/2017 Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia; PTDC/PSI-GER/3281/2020 Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Contributed Indexing:
Keywords: Developmental dyslexia; Masked priming; Mirror image; Mirror invariance; Orthographic processing; Visual word recognition
Entry Date(s):
Date Created: 20251028 Date Completed: 20251028 Latest Revision: 20251031
Update Code:
20260130
PubMed Central ID:
PMC12559734
DOI:
10.1038/s41598-025-21092-5
PMID:
41145613
Database:
MEDLINE

*Further Information*

*Reversal errors (e.g., confusing b with d, or R with Я) are common in beginning readers and often persist in individuals with developmental dyslexia due to mirror invariance-an evolutionary-old perceptual tendency of processing mirror images as equivalent. This study investigated whether dyslexic adults still struggle with mirror-image discrimination when processing reversible letters (i.e., differing only by orientation; e.g., d, b, p) and nonreversible letters (i.e., differing also in shape; e.g., f, t, r). In a masked priming lexical decision task, one letter of the prime was manipulated by letter-type (reversible, nonreversible) and prime-condition: identity (e.g., judo, zero), control (judo, zero), mirrored-letter (jubo, zero), or rotated-letter (jupo, zero). Both dyslexic and neurotypical readers showed identity priming effects: faster recognition of target-words preceded by identity than control primes. Neurotypical readers also showed mirror and rotation costs, regardless of letter-type: slower word recognition after mirrored- or rotated-letter primes than an identity prime. In contrast, and for nonreversible letters only, dyslexics were as fast in recognizing target-words preceded by identity as by mirrored-letter primes (qualified by Bayesian statistics). These findings suggest that, despite extensive reading experience, orthographic processing by dyslexic college students remains residually sensitive to mirror invariance.
(© 2025. The Author(s).)*

*Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.*