Inhibition and Updating, but Not Switching, Predict Developmental Dyslexia and Individual Variation in Reading Ability

Abstract

To elucidate the core executive function profile (strengths and weaknesses in inhibition, updating, and switching) associated with dyslexia, this study explored executive function in 27 children with dyslexia and 29 age matched controls using sensitive z-mean measures of each ability and controlled for individual differences in processing speed. This study found that developmental dyslexia is associated with inhibition and updating, but not switching impairments, at the error z-mean composite level, whilst controlling for processing speed. Inhibition and updating (but not switching) error composites predicted both dyslexia likelihood and reading ability across the full range of variation from typical to atypical. The predictive relationships were such that those with poorer performance on inhibition and updating measures were significantly more likely to have a diagnosis of developmental dyslexia and also demonstrate poorer reading ability. These findings suggest that inhibition and updating abilities are associated with developmental dyslexia and predict reading ability. Future studies should explore executive function training as an intervention for children with dyslexia as core executive functions appear to be modifiable with training and may transfer to improved reading ability.

Identifying the risk of dyslexia in bilingual children: The potential of language-dependent and language-independent tasks

“…Lastly, we observed that the average scores of monolingual and bilingual poor readers were generally lower than good readers in RAN. Given that children with dyslexia have been shown to have a delay in timing anticipation ( Pagliarini et al, 2020 ), inhibition control ( Reiter et al, 2005 ; Doyle et al, 2018 ), and RAN ( Carioti et al, 2022a ), it will be worth examining these observed trends further. There were no differences between monolingual and bilingual children in the language-independent tasks.…”

“…Executive functioning, particularly inhibition control, has an essential role in anticipation. Children with dyslexia show impairments in inhibition control ( Reiter et al, 2005 ; Doyle et al, 2018 ; Barbosa et al, 2019 ). Some studies report higher levels of inhibition control in bilinguals than in monolinguals, whereas other studies document comparable performance ( Arizmendi et al, 2018 ).…”

“…Because these tasks involve minimal linguistic content, the effect of bilingualism on performance is expected to be minimal. Inhibition control impairments have been reported in children with dyslexia ( Reiter et al, 2005 ; Doyle et al, 2018 ). The bilingual advantage in school-aged Italian-speaking children is not robust in inhibition control tasks ( Bonifacci et al, 2011 ).…”

Neuro-Behavioral Correlates of Executive Dysfunctions in Dyslexia Over Development From Childhood to Adulthood

“…It is important to note that some studies exploring EF and reading comprehension have found no correlation between the two, or only between certain EFs ( Pennington et al, 1993 ; Nydén et al, 1999 ; Willcutt et al, 2001 , 2005 , 2010 ; Jeffries and Everatt, 2004 ; Cain, 2006 ; Bental and Tirosh, 2007 ; Altemeier et al, 2008 ; Tiffin-Richards et al, 2008 ; de Jong et al, 2009 ; Menghini et al, 2010 ; Gooch et al, 2011 ; Christopher et al, 2012 ; Peng et al, 2013 ; Varvara et al, 2014 ; Moura et al, 2015 , 2017 ; Wang and Yang, 2015 ). However, the inconsistency in the research has been hypothesized to be due to several factors, including group classification difficulties, theoretical definition inconsistencies, and task impurity ( Doyle et al, 2018 ). Lastly, although some developmental theories agree that speed of processing abilities is part of EF ( Anderson and Reidy, 2012 ), this view is still under debate in the scientific community ( Gordon et al, 2020 ).…”

The impact of reminiscence on autobiographical memory, cognition and psychological well-being in healthy older adults

“…We also assessed two aspects of executive function; response inhibition and verbal fluency. We assessed response inhibition using a computerised colour-naming Stroop task ( Balota et al, 2010 ; Doyle, Smeaton, Roche, & Boran, 2018 ), presented using E-prime ® . Participants were presented with a series of words and asked to name the colour of ink in which they were presented.…”