ARABIC NUMBER READING DEFICIT - A SINGLE-CASE STUDY OR WHEN 236 IS READ (2306) AND JUDGED SUPERIOR TO 1258

This paper presents a single-case study of a patient (NR) showing a ve ry specific (though not isolated) disorder in Arabic number reading. T he type of reading errors and the pattern of the results observed in t asks tapping different components of the number processing system supp ort 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 add ition, 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 proces sing based on the expected verbal transcoded forms; this is easily int erpretable in the semantic transcoding model (e.g. McCloskey et al., 1 986), whereas in asemantic perspectives (e.g. Seron & Deloche, 1984; C ohen & Dehaene, 1991) no direct explanation is proposed. In this respe ct, a ''preferred entry code'' hypothesis is developed.