PNAS：增加字母间距能改善诵读困难者的阅读

一项刊登在PNAS上的研究报告指出，增加字母间距能显著改善诵读困难儿童的阅读速度和准确性。Marco Zorzi及其同事研究了8到14岁之间的54位意大利的和40位法国的诵读困难儿童，检测了字母间距对受试者阅读能力的影响。这些儿童被要求阅读含有24个短句的一个文本，这些短句以标准间距或者增加的字母间距加以呈现。这些发现表明特宽的字母间距让文本阅读的准确性加倍，并且增加了阅读速度20%以上，达到了大约每秒0.3个音节。

诵读困难者受到“拥挤”的非正常影响，这种现象是指当一个字母被其他字母包围而不是单独呈现的时候，它更让人难以辨认。拥挤阻碍了字母识别，而字母识别是所有字母语言阅读的最初的一步。这组科研人员发现，字母之间的额外间距为识别字母困难最大的儿童提供了最多的收益。意大利和法国诵读困难儿童所获得的类似的改善水平强化了一个观念，即增加了的间距影响字母的识别，这个过程被认为在各个语言中是相同的。

这组作者说，特宽的字母间距为改善诵读困难儿童的文本阅读能力提供一种简单有效的方法，而且可能鼓励诵读困难儿童去阅读，后者是矫正的一个关键性挑战。

doi:10.1073/pnas.1205566109
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Extra-large letter spacing improves reading in dyslexia

Marco Zorzia,1,2, Chiara Barbierob,1, Andrea Facoettia,c,1, Isabella Lonciarib, Marco Carrozzib, Marcella Monticod, Laura Bravarb, Florence Georgee, Catherine Pech-Georgele, and Johannes C. Zieglerf

Although the causes of dyslexia are still debated, all researchers agree that the main challenge is to find ways that allow a child with dyslexia to read more words in less time, because reading more is undisputedly the most efficient intervention for dyslexia. Sophisticated training programs exist, but they typically target the component skills of reading, such as phonological awareness. After the component skills have improved, the main challenge remains (that is, reading deficits must be treated by reading more—a vicious circle for a dyslexic child). Here, we show that a simple manipulation of letter spacing substantially improved text reading performance on the fly (without any training) in a large, unselected sample of Italian and French dyslexic children. Extra-large letter spacing helps reading, because dyslexics are abnormally affected by crowding, a perceptual phenomenon with detrimental effects on letter recognition that is modulated by the spacing between letters. Extra-large letter spacing may help to break the vicious circle by rendering the reading material more easily accessible.