Behavioral and neurophysiological aspects of working memory impairment in children with dyslexia

Abstract

The present study aimed to identify behavioral and neurophysiological correlates of dyslexia which could potentially predict reading difficulty. One hundred and three Chinese children with and without dyslexia (Grade 2 or 3, 7- to 11-year-old) completed both verbal and visual working memory (n-back) tasks with concurrent EEG recording. Data of 74 children with sufficient usable EEG data are reported here. Overall, the typically developing control group (N = 28) responded significantly faster and more accurately than the group with dyslexia (N = 46), in both types of tasks. Group differences were also found in EEG band power in the retention phase of the tasks. Moreover, forward stepwise logistic regression demonstrated that both behavioral and neurophysiological measures predicted reading difficulty uniquely. Dyslexia was associated with higher frontal midline theta activity and reduced upper-alpha power in the posterior region. This finding is discussed in relation to the neural efficiency hypothesis. Whether these behavioral and neurophysiological patterns can longitudinally predict later reading development among preliterate children requires further investigation.

Neurodiversity Positively Predicts Perceived Extraneous Load in Online Learning: A Quantitative Research Study

“…ADHD is most clearly associated with deficits in working memory [43,45] and also frequently affected in ASD [46]. Dyslexia also has welldocumented deficits in phonological measures of working memory [42,47,48]. These impairments exist independently of the learning setting and have been extensively studied in the context of neurodiversity, with multiple meta-analyses supporting the robust evidence base for the relationship between neurodiversity and altered working memory [46,[49][50][51].…”

Prismatic adaptation coupled with cognitive training as novel treatment for developmental dyslexia: a randomized controlled trial

“…In addition to the visuo-attentive and phonological deficit theories, other valuable contributions to the understanding of DD come from the cognitive level, where deficient information-processing mechanisms have been outlined. Current theoretical explanations in this regard include deficits in general processing speed 28 – 31 , weaker verbal working memory (WM), planning, and response inhibition 32 – 34 . Overall, the available evidence does not allow to set a unifying theory of the neuropsychology of dyslexia, and a variety of cognitive manifestations exist in the disorder and relate to the actual network of impairment 35 , 36 .…”

Neurophysiological measures and correlates of cognitive load in attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and dyslexia: A scoping review and research recommendations

“…Working memory is also often impaired in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), which has a global prevalence of 0.6%, though researchers have argued that the design of the working memory test itself can strongly affect the results for autistic participants (Nakahachi et al, 2006; Salari et al, 2022; Wang et al, 2017). Working memory impairments in dyslexia—where most estimates of prevalence fall in the range of 3%–7% but have been found to be as high as 17.4% (Wagner et al, 2020)—are well documented, and the deficits are most evident regarding phonological measures of working memory, where dyslexia is consistently associated with lower scores (Jeffries & Everatt, 2004; Smith‐Spark & Fisk, 2007; Wang et al, 2022). Multiple meta‐analyses also support a strong association between working memory impairments and neurodiversity (Alderson et al, 2013; Habib et al, 2019; Peng & Fuchs, 2016).…”