Arabic number reading deficit: A single case study or when 236 is read (2306) and judged superior to 1258

Abstract

This paper presents a single-case study of a patient (NR) showing a very specific (though not isolated) disorder in Arabic number reading. The type of reading errors and the pattern of the results observed in tasks tapping different components of the number processing system support the hypothesis of a deficit in the syntactic module of the Arabic comprehension system (in McCloskey, Sokol, & Goodman's [1986] model). NR's deficit is also examined in the light of two other number reading models: Seron and Deloche (1984) and Cohen and Dehaene (1991). In addition, the opposition beween semantic and asemantic transcoding models is discussed. In tasks based on a representation of the quantity, NR's errors with Arabic forms seem to result from correct semantic processing based on the expected verbal transcoded forms; this is easily interpretable in the semantic transcoding model (e.g. McCloskey et al., 1986), whereas in asemantic perspectives (e.g. Seron & Deloche, 1984; Cohen & Dehaene, 1991) no direct explanation is proposed. In this respect, a “preferred entry code” hypothesis is developed.