Multisensory letter integration and implicit learning of reading with 5-year-old children

Abstract Introduction Several studies have shown that adults can memorize an audio-visual association in response to an incidental presentation. Moreover, a motor experience of the letter-shape promotes letter knowledge and reading acquisition. Objective In order to develop optimal learning designs for children, we evaluate the effect of the implicit learning of grapho-phonemic correspondences on decoding abilities (study 1). The action performed on the letter-shape in this type of learning was then also investigated with regard to the emergence of multisensory knowledge (study 2). Methods A paradigm inspired by studies conducted with adults was tested in 5-year-old children (study 1). A classical design pre-test/learning/post-test was used in the study 2. During the learning, the child was asked to explore the letter shape. An incidental presentation of the corresponding sound was simultaneously proposed to the child. Results Results indicated that (1) implicit learning was efficient on the discrimination of grapho-phonemic correspondences in young children and (2) the motor action amplified audio-visual integration within a single memory trace. Conclusion These results are discussed in the light of knowledge emergence in long-term memory and the benefit of an implicit training at the beginning of reading acquisition.