Rotation of mental images and asymmetries in word recognition in disabled readers.

Two experiments with 72 right-handed children (9–11 yrs old) revealed marked dissimilarities in perceptual coding between impaired and fluent readers. In Exp I, 26 boys with reading disabilities and average intelligence were compared to 26 good readers on a test of visual–spatial, short-term memory. Both groups performed equally well in their spatial recall on transformed visual fields. However, poor readers coded the test stimuli differently, in a nonanalytic and synchronous fashion. In a follow-up experiment, 10 disabled readers compared with 10 good readers showed a lower right- over left-field advantage when reporting single words presented tachistoscopically. Taken together, results disconfirm the widely held ideas that poor readers are suffering from spatial disorientation, left–right confusion, mirror-image equivalence, or lack of cerebral dominance. Findings suggest that the perceptual "anormalies" often linked with reading disability may result from nonpathological variations in the structural operations used to encode visual information. This difference in the organization of encodings in visual memory may be related to asymmetries in brain functioning. (42 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive profiles of reading disability: Comparisons of discrepancy and low achievement definitions.

Examined the validity of distinguishing children with reading disabilities according to discrepancy and low-achievement definitions by obtaining 4 assessments of expected reading achievement and 2 assessments of actual reading achievement for 199 children (aged 7.5–9.5 yrs). These assessments were used to subdivide the sample into discrepancy and low-achievement definitional groups who were compared on 9 cognitive variables related to reading proficiency. Results did not support the validity of discrepancy vs low achievement definitions. Although differences between Ss with impaired reading and Ss without impaired reading were large, differences between Ss with impaired reading who met IQ-based discrepancy definitions and those who met low reading achievement definitions were small or not significant. Measures of phonological awareness were robust indicators of differences between Ss with impaired reading and Ss without impaired reading regardless of how reading disability was defined. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Phonological coding in prereaders.

Examined whether the use of phonetic coding changed over the preschool years by showing 40 42–50 mo old and 40 60–68 mo old Ss rhyming and nonrhyming letter sets and testing their oral free recall (item memory) and serial reconstruction (order memory). Results show a large phonetic similarity effect in both age groups and in both oral free recall and serial reconstruction. It is suggested that preschoolers use a phonetic code at an early stage and that item and order memory are sensitive to the use of phonetic strategy. Neither a cross-sectional nor longitudinal comparison of the 2 age groups showed any evidence of a developmental change in the magnitude of the phonetic similarity effect. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Visual short-term memory in the hearing and the deaf.

Tested 9 deaf and 9 normal 15-27 yr olds on their ability to report letters, shapes, and nonsense figures from a tachistoscopic presentation. Deaf Ss performed worse than hearing Ss on recall of figural information, thereby supporting a linguistic coding hypothesis. However, there was no difference between the groups on position information, and letter confusions were primarily visual in both groups. Findings suggest that more attention should be given to visual short-term memory in theoretical models of memory. Formation of the icon was apparently not affected by a linguistic deficit, since effects of stimulus duration and type of viewing (continuous vs interrupted) were similar in both hearing and deaf Ss. Significant positive correlations which were found between deaf Ss' school reading scores and their tachistoscopic scores were not interpreted as support for a linguistic coding hypothesis, but rather as support for the notion that the memory skills tested in the experiment may underlie reading ability. (French summary) (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age differences in everyday memory: Laboratory analogues of telephone number recall.

Three experiments were conducted to examine age differences in memory for telephone numbers by adults ranging from 18 to 85 yrs of age. In the 1st 2 studies, using visual simultaneous presentation, age declines in immediate recall were evident on 10-digit numbers but not on 3-digit numbers. With 7-digit numbers, the youngest group performed significantly better than the oldest (aged 70–85 yrs) group. In the 2nd study, more marked age declines occurred when Ss had to redial a number after a busy signal. The 3rd experiment replicated the observed aging pattern with auditory sequential presentation. Also, chunked presentation of local telephone numbers resulted in high performance for old and young in sequential recall. The findings were discussed in relation to task processing demands and practical issues related to telephone number recall. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparative analysis of attentional deficits in hyperactive and learning-disabled children.

Compared 14 boys (aged 7–9 yrs) with attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity (ADDH), 12 with learning disability (LD), 12 with ADDH-LD, and 13 normal boys on measures of sustained attention, selective attention, and span of apprehension. Unique patterns of attentional deficits were associated with each of the diagnostic groups. The ADDH Ss with and without learning disabilities exhibited sustained attention deficits. The LD Ss evidenced selective attention deficits on a speeded classification task. The LD and ADDH-LD Ss evidenced recall difficulties on a paired-associate task, regardless of distractor presence. The 3 clinical groups performed more poorly than did the normal group on the span of apprehension measure. Although attentional deficits were most pervasive in the ADDH-LD group, multivariate composites of attentional variables were sensitive to the ADDH and LD dimensions. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Verbal encoding effects on the visual short-term memory of learning disabled and normal readers.

Investigated the hypothesis that reading difficulties of learning disabled children are attributable to deficiencies in verbal encoding. Adopting a probe-type serial memory task, 60 normal and learning disabled readers matched on CA (9 yrs old), IQ, and sex were compared on recall performance after pretraining of named and unnamed stimulus conditions. The named condition for normal readers was superior in terms of recall performance. Consistent with the findings of F. Vellutino et al (1972, 1973, 1975), no difference was found in recall of nonverbal stimuli between normal and learning disabled readers. These data suggest that primary reading deficits in learning disabled children are related to verbal encoding deficiencies (visual–verbal integration) and not to deficiencies of visual memory, as suggested by the perceptual deficit hypothesis. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Auditory short-term memory and digit span: Normal versus poor readers.

Investigated the relationship between reading comprehension level, digit span, and short-term memory for Morse codelike temporal patterns in 3 experiments. Consistent with previous research on children, Exp I using 60 undergraduates demonstrated that Ss performed better when the 1st pattern was auditory than when it was visual or tactual. In Exps II and III with 36 undergraduates and 98 5th graders, respectively, no relationship was found between digit span and accuracy in comparing patterns of tones presented a few seconds apart. However, both tasks discriminated between children with normal and poor reading comprehension scores on a standardized test (Reading Comprehension subtest of the California Achievement Tests). It appears that these 2 tasks index fundamental processes that underlie reading comprehension. Digit span seems to assess an individual's ability to rapidly develop meaningful codes in memory for incoming verbal stimuli. The auditory pattern comparison procedure appears to measure ability to maintain information in short-term memory. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Speech perception in severely disabled and average reading children.

Tested the hypothesis that children with specific disabilities in reading may have subtle auditory and/or speech perception deficits by comparing the performance of 14 severely disabled readers (aged 8–14 yrs) with 14 normal readers in 4 speech perception tasks. Results indicate that perception was significantly less categorical among the severely disabled readers in 3 of the 4 speech perception tasks. The possible implications of this small, but significant, difference are discussed in relation to previous conflicting findings concerning reading performance in dyslexia. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evidence that IQ scores are irrelevant to the definition and analysis of reading disability.

250 reading disabled and 719 nondisabled Ss (aged 7–16 yrs) with IQs ranging primarily from 80 to 110 were divided into groups based on scores from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Revised (WISC—R), the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, and Vocabulary and Block Design subtests. Ss were assessed, using the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Ability, the Goldman-Fristoe-Woodcock Sound-Symbol Test, the Gilmore Oral Reading Test, and subtests of other measures. Results show that the presence or absence of reading disability was a better predictor of performance than IQ test scores on tasks involving reading, spelling, understanding of syntax, and short-term and working memory. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perception of disability labels: Effect of attitude and stimulus presentation.

60 undergraduates aged (18–25 yrs) were classified as having high or low attitudes toward disabled persons based on responses to the Scale to Measure Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons. Ss made all possible comparisons between pairs of disabilities; half the Ss completed a general disability label matrix, and half completed a specific disability label matrix. Results suggest an interaction between attitude and type of disability label. High attitude Ss generated a perceptual space different from low attitude Ss when the disability labels were specific. When the disability labels were general, the perceptual space generated between the 2 attitude conditions was similar. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The development of ADHD boys: A 12-year follow-up.

12 yrs after initial assessment, 33 male attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) Ss (aged 14.4–24.9 yrs) were compared with 52 normal controls. Controls (selected at follow-up) were sex-, SES-, language-, and age-matched. According to childhood scores from the IOWA Conners Teacher Rating Scale, 24 ADHD Ss were inattentive/overactive (IO) and 9 were aggressive plus inattentive/overactive (A–IO). Ss and parents were interviewed and Ss completed a battery of tests. Core deficits of the disorder persisted in more than half of the ADHD group. IO Ss did not differ significantly from the controls in psychiatric functioning, except for their persistent ADHD. A–IO Ss had received the most individual and residential treatment for their behavior problems. ADHD Ss experienced significantly more problems in high school and displayed significantly poorer spelling, arithmetic, and reading comprehension skills than did controls. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of directed attention on cerebral asymmetries in normal and learning-disabled children.

Using a dichotic listening task employing both undirected and directed attention conditions, cerebral asymmetries were examined in matched populations of 32 normal and 32 learning-disabled (LD) children (ages 7 yrs 6 mo–13 yrs 2 mo). The analysis of recall performance indicated that development was not a significant factor in either group; both the normal and LD Ss showed a right-ear effect, although the LD Ss performed at a degraded level and were unable to demonstrate a right-ear advantage (REA) when attention was directed to the left ear, unlike normal Ss, who produced the REA despite the directed attention conditions. Results suggest that LD children probably do not suffer from developmental delays but rather from a defect in callosal functioning that interferes with their ability to process verbal information simultaneously. (41 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Media differences in children's story synopses: Radio and television contrasted.

Evaluated the relative effectiveness of 2 media for conveying narrative information by presenting 44 young children (aged 3–6 yrs) and 44 adults with the same story via either TV or radio. Ss then retold the story to an adult from memory. Media differences were found, with children in the radio condition showing significantly more errors in comprehension and memory than children in the TV condition. Both the inclusion of inaccurate story content and the distortion of actual story characteristics occurred more frequently for the purely aural than for the aural and visual. Although Ss in the radio condition showed greater recall of dialog and sound effects than did Ss in the TV condition, the actual events recalled with dialog or other auditory features tended not to be highly important to the overall theme. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Nursery rhymes and prose passages: Preschoolers' liking and short-term retention of story events.

In Exps I–IV, 128 3–5 yr old preschoolers listened to stories told in either prose or verse form and then answered recognition or recall questions about each narrative's content. Ss also indicated their liking of the story on a 3-point scale. Even though Ss reported liking stories better in verse than in prose form, results demonstrate that Ss' overall short-term retention of story events was significantly higher for prose than for verse presentations. Although 40 college students in Exp V showed higher recall of the rhyming than prose passages, no overall facilitation for rhyme was found with preschoolers, even when recognition of only the rhyming facets of a narration was tested. Results are discussed in terms of a levels-of-processing approach to memory functioning. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of visual and auditory distractors on learning disabled and normal children's recognition memory performance.

Investigated whether distractibility in learning disabled (LD) children could be predicted on the basis of diagnosed visual and auditory learning deficits. 26 children in Grades 2–4 were classified as having visual or auditory reading disorders on the basis of the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities. They and 17 normally achieving children from the same grades performed visual and auditory recognition memory tasks with visual or auditory distractors presented on 80% of the trials. Analysis of error frequencies revealed that with distractors, Ss in the 2 LD groups made more errors and did not improve over trials as much as control Ss. However, the predicted interaction between learning disability modality and task or distractor modality did not obtain. Rather, all 3 S groups made more errors when task and distractor were in the same modality. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Within- and between-modality associations in probed recall: A test of the separate-streams hypothesis.

Tested the separate-streams hypothesis that short-term processing of verbal information is functionally separated according to presentation modality. Lists of 10 digits were presented to 32 university students such that presentation modality (auditory or visual) changed after every 2nd digit. One digit was repeated at the end of each list as a recall probe. In 1 condition (next-item), Ss were instructed to recall the item that had immediately followed the probe in the original list regardless of presentation modality. In the 2nd condition (next item in the same modality), Ss were instructed to recall the item after the probe and in the same modality. The combination of instructions and positions of the probe and target within the list created 3 main conditions: (1) The probe immediately preceded the target item and was in the same presentation modality (same-mode probe). (2) The probe immediately preceded the target but was in a different presentation modality (different-mode probe). (3) The probe was in the same modality as the target but was separated from it by 2 items in the other modality (temporally distant probe). For both auditory and visual targets, highest recall was obtained with same-mode probes, next highest with temporally distant probes, and lowest with different-mode probes. The results support the hypothesis that auditory and visual information is processed separately in short-term verbal memory. (French abstract) (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sparing of semantic memory in Alzheimer's disease.

A number of investigators have suggested that unlike the normal elderly population, patients with Alzheimer's disease have a severe semantic-memory deficit. However, the semantic-memory tasks used in previous studies have been confounded by the heavy demands they placed on effortful processing. In the present study, 20 demented (mean age 71 yrs) and 20 normal (mean age 69.8 yrs) elderly Ss were given a battery of episodic-memory tasks and 3 tasks that examined how intact and accessible their semantic memory was under conditions that did not require effortful processing. Although the demented Ss were greatly inferior to the normal Ss on the episodic-memory tests, they performed equally well on the semantic-memory test: The naming latency of both groups was equally facilitated by a semantic prime, the recall accuracy of both normal and demented elderly for a string of letters was similarly affected by the degree to which the string approximated English orthography, and recall accuracy for a string of words was affected equally in the 2 groups by the degree to which the word string obeyed syntactic and semantic rules. (42 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Transfert d'une stratégie de mémorisation chez des enfants de 10 ans: étude des différences individuelles.

Studied spontaneous or induced use of an organization strategy on free recall tasks by children differing with regard to perceptual field dependence–field independence (i.e., global vs analytic perceptual style). Human Ss: 72 normal male and female school-age children (mean age 10 yrs). In a 2 by 2 by 2 experimental design, Ss were divided into 8 groups according to gender, perceptual style (global vs analytic), and treatment (control vs experimental). The groups received a brief illustration of a semantic organization strategy designed to promote memorization of verbal material. Ss performed 3 successive and identical recall tasks followed by 2 different tasks requiring either a transfer of maintenance or a transfer of generalization. Intergroup differences in memorization strategies and recall performances were analyzed. Tests used: The Group Embedded Figures Test. (English abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)