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Manual dexterity predicts phonological decoding speed in typical reading adults

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Abstract

Manual dexterity and phonological decoding involve the posterior parietal cortex, which controls location coding for visually guided actions, as well as a large fronto-cerebellar network. We studied the relationship between manual dexterity and reading ability in adult typical readers. Two measurements of manual dexterity were collected to index the procedural learning effect. A linear regression model demonstrated that phonological short-term memory, manual dexterity at time 1 and procedural learning of manual dexterity predicted phonological decoding speed. Similar results were found when left-hand dexterity at time 1 and procedural learning dexterity were entered last. The better one’s phonological decoding skill was, the less fluent their manual dexterity was, suggesting a recycle from object–location to letter–location coding. However, the greater the procedural learning, the faster phonological decoding was, suggesting that larger plasticity of object–location coding was linked to better letter–location coding. An independent role of the interhemispheric connections or of the right posterior parietal cortex is also suggested.

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Funding

This work was funded with Grants from the CARIPARO Foundation (Borse di Dottorato CARIPARO 2015, to S.B.; Progetti di Eccellenza CARIPARO, 2011–2012 to A.F.), a grant from MIUR (Dipartimenti di Eccellenza DM 11/05/2017 n. 262) to the Department of General Psychology, University of Padua—CUP: C96C18000450005 to S.B, and a Grant from MIUR (Dipartimenti di Eccellenza DM 11/05/2017 n. 262) to the Department of General Psychology, University of Padua. Progetto di ateneo anno 2013-CPDA130437 to SF. Ateneo Research Project STaRs (Supporting Talented Researchers) azione 1 assegni di ricerca anno 2020 CUP F54I19000980001 a budget dell’Ateneo to S.B.

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Correspondence to Sandro Franceschini.

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Franceschini, S., Bertoni, S. & Facoetti, A. Manual dexterity predicts phonological decoding speed in typical reading adults. Psychological Research 85, 2882–2891 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-020-01464-4

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