The memory‐span deficit in children with specific reading disability: Is speech rate responsible?

Avons, S. E.; Hanna, Colleen

doi:10.1111/j.2044-835x.1995.tb00681.x

Cited by 25 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…This task, although typically used with clinical populations, is particularly appropriate for children with dyslexia, because it removes the memory component that clouds interpretation of the nonsense word and polysyllabic word repetition data. It is not clear to what extent deficits in complex tasks such as these reflect phonological components, memory demands, or some combination of the two (Nicolson et al, 1991;Nicolson and Fawcett, 1992;see Rack et al, 1992 for a review; Avons and Hanna, 1995;Edwards and Lahey, 1998;Joanisse and Seidenberg, 1998 for further links between articulation and memory). In earlier research, problems have been identified in pre-paced repetition of lengthy sequences, using a technique where errors have been specifically included (Wolff et al, 1984;Wolff et al, 1990;Snyder and Downey, 1995).…”

Section: Rapid Repetitive Articulation and Dyslexiamentioning

confidence: 97%

Children with dyslexia are slow to articulate a single speech gesture

Fawcett

Nicolson

2002

Dyslexia

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In addition to their well-established problems in phonological processing, children with dyslexia show reduced speed of articulation. Two groups of children with dyslexia, mean ages 13 and 16 years, participated together with two groups of normally achieving children matched for age and IQ, with 33 participants in total. Participants were asked to articulate repeatedly, as fast as they could, either a single articulatory gesture /p/ /t/ or /k/ or the sequence 'putuku'. The waveforms generated were analysed in two ways; the time per gesture excluding inter-articulatory pauses (articulatory duration); and the mean time including the pauses (gesture duration). No age effects were found, but dyslexic groups were significantly slower on all tests. Deficits were greater in relative magnitude for gesture duration than articulatory duration. The results suggest that children with dyslexia have significant problems in articulation, not only in gesture planning, but also in the speeded production of single articulatory gestures.

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Section: Rapid Repetitive Articulation and Dyslexiamentioning

confidence: 97%

Children with dyslexia are slow to articulate a single speech gesture

Fawcett

Nicolson

2002

Dyslexia

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“…Several studies reported normal word length effects in poor readers with auditory presentation (Avons & Hanna, 1995;Johnston & Anderson, 1998, Experiment 2b;McDougall & Donohoe, 2002;McDougall, Hulme, Ellis, & Monk, 1994). However, with visual presentation, inconsistent results have been reported.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Phonological working memory in German children with poor reading and spelling abilities

Steinbrink

Klatte

2007

Dyslexia

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Deficits in verbal short-term memory have been identified as one factor underlying reading and spelling disorders. However, the nature of this deficit is still unclear. It has been proposed that poor readers make less use of phonological coding, especially if the task can be solved through visual strategies. In the framework of Baddeley's phonological loop model, this study examined serial recall performance in German second-grade children with poor vs good reading and spelling abilities. Children were presented with four-item lists of common nouns for immediate serial recall. Word length and phonological similarity as well as presentation modality (visual vs auditory) and type of recall (visual vs verbal) were varied as within-subject factors in a mixed design. Word length and phonological similarity effects did not differ between groups, thus indicating equal use of phonological coding and rehearsal in poor and good readers. However, in all conditions, except the one that combined visual presentation and visual recall, overall performance was significantly lower in poor readers. The results suggest that the poor readers' difficulties do not arise from an avoidance of the phonological loop, but from its inefficient use. An alternative account referring to unstable phonological representations in long-term memory is discussed.

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Section: Central Executive Functioning In Developmental Dyslexiamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This has led to debate concerning the amount of group variance attributable to deficits in phonological or memory processes (e.g., Gathercole, 1994; Gathercole, Willis, Emslie, & Baddeley, 1991; Snowling, Chiat, & Hulme, 1991). For example, it has been suggested that memory span differences between dyslexics and controls can be accounted for in terms of phonological processes, such as slow articulation rate (Avons & Hanna, 1995; Hulme, Roodenrys, Brown, & Mercer, 1995; McDougall & Donohoe, 2002) or deficits in learning, encoding, or using phonological representations (Carroll & Snowling, 2004; Kramer, Knee, & Delis, 2000; Rack, 1994; Tijms, 2004).Interesting differences between dyslexics and non-dyslexics have also emerged on working memory span tasks (e.g., Ransby & Swanson, 2004; Swanson, Ashbaker, & Lee, 1996; Wolff & Lundberg, 2003). In contrast to the passive storage requirement of simple span tasks, working memory span tasks involve the simultaneous processing of information.…”

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confidence: 99%

Working memory functioning in developmental dyslexia

Smith‐Spark

Fisk

2007

Memory

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Working memory impairments in dyslexia are well documented. However, research has mostly been limited to the phonological domain, a modality in which dyslexics have a range of problems. In this paper, 22 adult student dyslexics and 22 age-and IQ-matched controls were presented with both verbal and visuospatial working memory tasks. Performance was compared on measures of simple span, complex span (requiring both storage and processing), and dynamic memory updating in the two domains. The dyslexic group had significantly lower spans than the controls on all the verbal tasks, both simple and complex, and also on the spatial complex span measure. Impairments remained on the complex span measures after controlling statistically for simple span performance, suggesting a central executive impairment in dyslexia. The novelty of task demands on the initial trials of the spatial updating task also proved more problematic for the dyslexic than control participants. The results are interpreted in terms of extant theories of dyslexia. The possibility of a Supervisory Attentional System deficit in dyslexia is also raised. It seems clear that working memory difficulties in dyslexia extend into adulthood, can affect performance in both the phonological and visuospatial modalities, and implicate central executive dysfunction, in addition to problems with storage.Working memory and dyslexia 3 Author NoteWe are grateful to Dr Viv Moore, Dr David Glasspool, and Andy Velarde for their support in producing this paper and would also like to thank Prof. Martin Conway, Prof.Susan Gathercole, and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on earlier versions of this manuscript.Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Jamie Smith-Spark, Department of Psychology, London South Bank University, 103 Borough Road, London, SE1 0AA, UK.Working memory and dyslexia 4 Central Executive Functioning in Developmental DyslexiaDyslexia is the most prevalent developmental disorder, affecting some 5% of the population of the western world (Badian, 1984), despite adequate intelligence, education, and socioeconomic status. It is most commonly defined as a problem with the decoding of the written word, with such processing difficulties leading to the formulation of the phonological core deficit hypothesis of dyslexia (e.g., Frith, 1985;Ramus, 2003;Ramus, Pidgeon, & Frith, 2003; Snowling, 2000; Snowling & Griffiths, 2003; Stanovich, 1988; Vellutino, 1979; Vellutino, Fletcher, Snowling, & Scanlon, 2004). However, impairments in a number of other domains have been reported in both the laboratory and in everyday life. These wide ranging problems have led to the formulation of rival explanations of dyslexia that, whilst consistent with phonological deficits, view the condition from a broader theoretical perspective (e.g., Goswami, 2002; Nicolson & Fawcett, 1990; Nicolson, Fawcett, & Dean, 1995, 2001 Stein & Walsh, 1997; Tallal, Miller, & Fitch, 1993; Wolf & Bowers, 1999; for a review of these theories and the genetic basi...

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The memory‐span deficit in children with specific reading disability: Is speech rate responsible?

Cited by 25 publications

References 16 publications

Children with dyslexia are slow to articulate a single speech gesture

Children with dyslexia are slow to articulate a single speech gesture

Phonological working memory in German children with poor reading and spelling abilities

Working memory functioning in developmental dyslexia

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