The aim of this project was to examine with event related potentials ventral (involved in expertise for print) and dorsal (involved in phonological and attentional processes) pathways implication in visual word recognition in dyslexic adults. The specificity of dyslexics was determined by comparing them to age-matched controls (i.e., expert readers) and reading-level matched controls (i.e., poor readers). Results showed impaired expertise for print, decoding abilities and conflict detection which were specific to dyslexics. Our data also revealed impaired expertise for familiar words and attention orienting in both dyslexics and poor readers. Results are discussed in the context of the LCD model, the phonological mapping theory and an early involvement of attention orienting in reading.
