Visual and Visual Association Abilities Predict Skilled Reading Performance: The Case of Music Sight-Reading

The role of visual shape processing in skilled reading is an understudied topic. This study focused on the role of visual and visual association skills in a type of skilled reading, music sight-reading, which refers to the ability to play a piece of music when one reads the score for the first time. One hundred and 43 intermediate-to-advanced musicians were assessed on their sight-reading performance as well as visual fluency for notes, general visual fluency, motor dexterity, visual-auditory association for notes, visual-motor association for numbers, working memory capacity, and executive function. Correlation and regression analyses showed that sight-reading performance can be largely explained by three abilities related to vision, including visual fluency for notes, visual-auditory association for notes, and visual-motor association for numbers (9.99, 10.11, and 4.62% respectively). The findings led to a better understanding of music sight-reading that takes into account the long-overlooked association between visual shape processing ability and sight-reading, which has clear educational implications. The importance of visual shape processing ability may also apply to other domains of skilled reading requiring visual perceptual extraction of visual codes, such as word reading.

Automated summary

This study investigates the role of visual and visual association skills in music sight-reading. The results show that visual fluency for notes, visual-auditory association for notes, and visual-motor association for numbers significantly contribute to sight-reading performance. The findings enhance our understanding of music sight-reading and have educational implications for other domains of skilled reading.