This study investigates facial recognition and the role of theory of mind in Chinese children with dyslexia, addressing a significant gap in research on nonalphabetic dyslexia. Participants were 174 children (85 with dyslexia, 89 typically developing) in Grades 4–6 in Taiwan. Facial recognition, theory of mind, and visual perception were assessed using standardized tests and a researcher-made task. Results revealed that children with dyslexia performed significantly worse on facial recognition tasks than their typically developing peers, even when controlling for visual perception. Furthermore, visual perception emerged as a strong predictor of facial recognition in both groups. Theory of mind also associated significantly with facial recognition, but only for the dyslexia group. These findings underscore the importance of the role social-cognitive skills play in visual perception for this population. The findings suggest that interventions for Chinese children with dyslexia should address both visual and social-cognitive skills to improve facial recognition and social interactions.
AaronP. G. (1978). Dyslexia, an imbalance in cerebral information-processing strategies. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 47(3), 699–706. https://doi.org/10.2466/pms.1978.47.3.699
2.
AdolphsR. (2002). Recognizing emotion from facial expressions: Psychological and neurological mechanisms. Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience Reviews, 1(1), 21–62. https://doi.org/10.1177/1534582302001001003
3.
ApperlyI. A. (2012). What is “theory of mind”? Concepts, cognitive processes and individual differences. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 65(5), 825–39. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470218.2012.676055
4.
BaumingerN.Kimhi-KindI. (2008). Social information processing, security of attachment, and emotion regulation in children with learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 41(4), 315–32. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022219408316095
5.
BockR. D. (1975). Multivariate statistical methods in behavioral research. McGraw-Hill.
CalderA. J.YoungA. W. (2005). Understanding the recognition of facial identity and facial expression. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 6(8), 641–51. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn1724
8.
CappelliG.NoccettiS.ArcaraG.BambiniV. (2018). Pragmatic competence and its relationship with the linguistic and cognitive profile of young adults with dyslexia. Dyslexia, 24(3), 294–306. https://doi.org/10.1002/dys.1588
9.
CappsL.YirmiyaN.SigmanM. (1992). Understanding of simple and complex emotions in non-retarded children with autism. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 33(7), 1169–82. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.1992.tb00936.x
10.
CardilloR.GarciaR. B.MammarellaI. C.CornoldiC. (2018). Pragmatics of language and theory of mind in children with dyslexia with associated language difficulties or nonverbal learning disabilities. Applied Neuropsychology: Child, 7(3), 245–56. https://doi.org/10.1080/21622965.2017.1297946
11.
ChanD. W.HoC. S. H.TsangS.LeeS.ChungK. K. (2007). Prevalence, gender ratio and gender differences in reading-related cognitive abilities among Chinese children with dyslexia in Hong Kong. Educational Studies, 33(2), 249–65. https://doi.org/10.1080/03055690601068535
12.
ChenJ. H.ChenH. Y. (2006). Raven’s progressive matrices-parallel manual. Chinese Behavioral Science Corporation.
CollinsE.DundasE.GabayY.PlautD. C.BehrmannM. (2017). Hemispheric organization in disorders of development. Visual Cognition, 25(4–6), 416–29. https://doi.org/10.1080/13506285.2017.1370430
15.
DuchaineB.NakayamaK. (2006). The Cambridge face memory test: Results for neurologically intact individuals and an investigation of its validity using inverted face stimuli and prosopagnosic participants. Neuropsychologia, 44(4), 576–85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2005.07.001
16.
FuR.ChenX.WangL.YangF. (2016). Developmental trajectories of academic achievement in Chinese children: Contributions of early social-behavioral functioning. Journal of Educational Psychology, 108(7), 1001–12. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000100
17.
GabayY.DundasE.PlautD.BehrmannM. (2017). Atypical perceptual processing of faces in developmental dyslexia. Brain and Language, 173, 41–51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandl.2017.06.004
18.
GoswamiU. (2002). Phonology, reading development, and dyslexia: A cross-linguistic perspective. Annals of Dyslexia, 52, 139–63. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11881-002-0010-0
19.
GreenS. B. (1991). How many subjects does it take to do a regression analysis?Multivariate Behavioral Research, 26(3), 499–510. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327906mbr2603_7
20.
HairJ. F.BlackW. C.BabinB. J.AndersonR. E. (2010). Multivariate data analysis (7th ed.). Pearson Prentice Hall.
21.
HaxbyJ. V.HoffmanE. A.GobbiniM. I. (2000). The distributed human neural system for face perception. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 4(6), 223–33. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1364-6613(00)01482-0
22.
HoC. S. H.ChanD. W. O.LeeS. H.TsangS. M.LuanV. H. (2004). Cognitive profiling and preliminary subtyping in Chinese developmental dyslexia. Cognition, 91(1), 43–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0010-0277(03)00163-x
JhuoR. A.YangH. M.TsaiH. J.WangL. C. (2024). How does visual temporal processing affect Chinese character reading in children with dyslexia? From the perspective of inhibition. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 57(5), 317–32. https://doi.org/10.1177/00222194231207549
25.
KorkmanM.KirkU.KempS. (2007). NEPSY-II: A developmental neuropsychological assessment. Pearson.
26.
LecceS.BiancoF.HughesC. (2021). Reading minds and reading texts: Evidence for independent and specific associations. Cognitive Development, 57, 101010. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogdev.2021.101010
LiuD.WellmanH. M.TardifT.SabbaghM. A. (2008). Theory of mind development in Chinese children: A meta-analysis of false-belief understanding across cultures and languages. Developmental Psychology, 44(2), 523–31. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.44.2.523
29.
LiuS.LiuD.PanZ.XuZ. (2018). The association between reading abilities and visual–spatial attention in Hong Kong Chinese children. Dyslexia, 24(3), 263–75. https://doi.org/10.1002/dys.1584
30.
LiuS.WangL. C.LiuD. (2019). Deficits of visual search in Chinese children with dyslexia. Journal of Research in Reading, 42(2), 454–68. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9817.12277
MarkusH. R.KitayamaS. (1991). Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review, 98(2), 224–53. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.98.2.224
33.
MaxwellS. E.KelleyK.RauschJ. R. (2008). Sample size planning for statistical power and accuracy in parameter estimation. Annual Review of Psychology, 59(1), 537–63. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.59.103006.093735
34.
McGuginR. W.RichlerJ. J.HerzmannG.SpeegleM.GauthierI. (2012). The Vanderbilt expertise test reveals domain-general and domain-specific sex effects in object recognition. Vision Research, 69(15), 10–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.visres.2012.07.014
35.
MierD.LisS.NeutheK.SauerC.EsslingerC.GallhoferB.KirschP. (2010). The involvement of emotion recognition in affective theory of mind. Psychophysiology, 47(6), 1028–39. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8986.2010.01031.x
MollK.HulmeC.NagS.SnowlingM. J. (2015). Sentence repetition as a marker of language skills in children with dyslexia. Applied Psycholinguistics, 36(2), 203–21. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716413000209
38.
NisbettR. E.PengK.ChoiI.NorenzayanA. (2001). Culture and systems of thought: Holistic versus analytic cognition. Psychological Review, 108(2), 291–310. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295x.108.2.291
RamusF.RosenS.DakinS. C.DayB. L.CastelloteJ. M.WhiteS.FrithU. (2003). Theories of developmental dyslexia: Insights from a multiple case study of dyslexic adults. Brain, 126(4), 841–65. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awg076
41.
RichardsonJ. T. E. (2011). Eta squared and partial eta squared as measures of effect size in educational research. Educational Research Review, 6(2), 135–47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2010.12.001
42.
SigurdardottirH. M.FridriksdottirL. E.GudjonsdottirS.KristjánssonÁ. (2018). Specific problems in visual cognition of dyslexic readers: Face discrimination deficits predict dyslexia over and above discrimination of scrambled faces and novel objects. Cognition, 175(5), 157–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2018.02.017
43.
SigurdardottirH. M.HjartarsonK. H.GudmundssonG. L.KristjánssonÁ. (2019). Own-race and other-race face recognition problems without visual expertise problems in dyslexic readers. Vision Research, 158, 146–56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.visres.2019.02.010
44.
SigurdardottirH. M.ÍvarssonE.KristinsdóttirK.KristjánssonÁ. (2015). Impaired recognition of faces and objects in dyslexia: Evidence for ventral stream dysfunction?Neuropsychology, 130, 66–77. https://doi.org/10.1037/neu0000188
45.
SiokW. T.PerfettiC. A.JinZ.TanL. H. (2004). Biological abnormality of impaired Reading is constrained by culture. Nature, 431(7004), 71–6. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02865
46.
SiokW. T.SpinksJ. A.JinZ.TanL. H. (2009). Developmental dyslexia is characterized by the co-existence of visuospatial and phonological disorders in Chinese children. Current Biology, 19(19), R890–2. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2009.08.014
47.
SnowlingM. J.MuterV.CarrollJ. (2007). Children at family risk of dyslexia: A follow-up in early adolescence. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 47(6), 600–10. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2006.01725.x
StevensonH. W.StiglerJ. W.LuckerG. W.LeeS.HsuC.KitamuraS. (1982). Reading disabilities: The case of Chinese, Japanese, and English. Child Development, 53(5), 1164–81. https://doi.org/10.2307/1129005
50.
TarkiainenA.HeleniusP.SalmelinR. (2003). Category-specific occipitotemporal activation during face perception in dyslexic individuals: An MEG study. NeuroImage, 19(3), 1194–204. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1053-8119(03)00161-7
51.
TongX.McBride-ChangC.WongA. M. Y.ShuH.ReitsmaP.RispensJ. (2011). Longitudinal predictors of very early Chinese literacy acquisition. Journal of Research in Reading, 34(3), 315–32. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9817.2009.01426.x
52.
TsaiH.-J.ChenJ.-K.WangL.-C. (2024). The impact of early picture book interaction experience on Chinese character reading of children with dyslexia: The perspective of visual temporal processing. Cognitive Development, 71, 101477. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogdev.2024.101477
53.
VidyasagarT. R.PammerK. (2010). Dyslexia: A deficit in visuo-spatial attention, not in phonological processing. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 14(2), 57–63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2009.12.003
54.
WangL.-C.ChungK. K.-H.JhuoR.-A. (2024). The relationships among working memory, state anxiety, and academic performance in Chinese undergraduates with SLD. Reading and Writing, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-024-10520-z
55.
WangL.-C.LiuD.ChenJ.-K.WuY.-C. (2018). Processing speed of dyslexia: The relationship between temporal processing and rapid naming in Chinese. Reading and Writing, 31(7), 1645–68. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-018-9857-2
56.
WangL.-C.LiuD.XuZ. (2019). Distinct effects of visual and auditory temporal processing training on reading and reading-related abilities in Chinese children with dyslexia. Annals of Dyslexia, 69, 166–85. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11881-019-00176-8
WellmanH. M.FangF.LiuD.ZhuL.LiuG. (2006). Scaling of theory-of-mind understandings in Chinese children. Psychological Science, 17(12), 1075–1081. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01830.x
59.
WellmanH. M.FangF.PetersonC. C. (2011). Sequential progressions in a theory-of-mind scale: Longitudinal perspectives. Child Development, 82(3), 780–92. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2011.01583.x
