The Categorical Perception Deficit in Dyslexia: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Speech perception in dyslexia is characterized by a categorical perception (CP) deficit, demonstrated by weaker discrimination of acoustic differences between phonemic categories in conjunction with better discrimination of acoustic differences within phonemic categories. We performed a meta-analysis of studies that examined the reliability of the CP deficit in dyslexia. The results show a reliable CP deficit in individuals with dyslexia compared to both chronological-age and reading-level controls. The CP deficit is stronger for discrimination than for identification, suggesting that the latter may only reveal between-category differences that do not fully reflect the CP deficit. The implications of these findings for the allophonic theory of dyslexia are discussed.

Additional information

Funding

The research reported in this meta-analysis was supported by a public grant overseen by the French National Research Agency (ANR) as part of the “Investissements d’Avenir” program (reference: ANR-10-LABX-0083) to Willy Serniclaes.