Development of components of reading skill.

Verbal coding efficiency and listening comprehension ability were assessed in 100 skilled and less skilled readers in 2nd, 3rd, and 5th grades. Younger and less skilled readers differed from older skilled readers on both factors. However, as verbal coding speed increased, comprehension skill became the more important predictor of reading skill. Results are interpreted within a limited processing capacity model of reading. Verbal coding processes, which are slow, reduce the amount of attention available for other reading processes, thereby producing deficits in comprehension of what is read. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predictors of reading and spelling abilities in first- and second-language learners.

This study examined the basic literacy skills and related processes of 1st- through 4th-grade children speaking English as a 1st language (L1) and English as a 2nd language (ESL). The performances of the L1 and ESL children on phonological awareness, word and pseudoword reading, and word and pseudoword spelling tasks were highly similar. The ESL children were at an advantage with regard to lexical access but performed more poorly on verbal working memory and syntactic awareness tasks. The results suggest that the main processes underlying L1 children's basic reading ability in Grades 1 and 2, namely phonological awareness and lexical access, are of equal importance for ESL children. Phonological awareness remained the strongest predictor of word reading ability for L1 and ESL children in Grades 3 and 4. However, the processes involved in L1 and ESL word reading and spelling appeared to vary at other points. Verbal working memory and syntactic awareness were found to be of importance for the word reading and spelling abilities of L1 children but not for ESL children. Lexical access was found to be of more importance for ESL children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reading skill: Some adult comparisons.

Three groups of college readers were compared on several information-processing and language comprehension tasks that tap the cognitive components of reading. The groups were skilled readers with high verbal and nonverbal abilities, low-skilled readers with a disparity between verbal and nonverbal abilities, and low-skilled readers who were low in both verbal and nonverbal ability. Results confirm the importance of word processing and general language comprehension in distinguishing skilled from less skilled readers. Results also support the view that reading ability is best described as a continuous function and provide evidence of the reemergence of lower level processing skills in adults as a function of text difficulty. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Localization of prothymosin alpha in the nucleus

Age differences in processing resources seem salient to age-related declines in secondary (or "recent") memory. Community-dwelling adults (N = 90, ages 30-80) completed 4 memory tests: Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R) Logical Memory (LM), Cowboy Story (CS), WMS-R Visual Reproductions (VR), and Extended Complex Figure Test (ECFT; Fastenau, in press). Two space-capacity measures (WMS-R Digit Span and Visual Memory Span) and 4 processing speed measures (cancellation and mental-tracking tasks) assessed processing resources. A statistical control procedure was used to isolate retrieval efficiency and measures contributions of age and processing resources to retrieval. A negative relationship between age and retrieval efficiency emerged on all measures (p < .05). The age effect was reduced 60% on LM and CS when processing resources were controlled, eliminated for VR, and unchanged on ECFT. It is possible that visual-spatial retrieval requires fewer processing resources than does verbal retrieval.     

Reading achievement, IQ, and simultaneous-successive processing.

Administered the simultaneous–successive processing battery of tests and 4 measures of school achievement to 104 4th-grade boys. A series of 2?×?2 analyses of variance was performed, with simultaneous and successive processing abilities as the independent variables and reading achievement (vocabulary), reading achievement (comprehension), Lorge-Thorndike IQ (verbal), and Lorge-Thorndike IQ (nonverbal) as the dependent variables. All 4 dependent variables were significantly related to both simultaneous and successive processing level, and no interactions were found. Results suggest that high levels of simultaneous and successive processing are both necessary, though neither by itself is sufficient, for high achievement. Children high in either mode of processing and low in the other attain moderate levels of achievement. Results are discussed in terms of the Aptitude?×?Treatment interaction model. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Phonemic segmentation skill and beginning reading.

Investigated the relation of phonological awareness to learning to read in 63 1st-grade children (mean age 6 yrs 2 mo), who were administered tests of verbal intelligence, phonemic segmentation ability, and reading achievement. Verbal intelligence was measured using the PPVT—Form A. Results indicate that the relation of nondigraph word segmentation to reading achievement is greater than that of digraph word segmentation to reading achievement and that this relation is nonlinear. Consistent with the claim of a causal connection between phonological awareness and reading acquisition, a contingency analysis of the data revealed that phonemic segmentation ability is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for learning to read. The data were also subjected to a path analysis, which indicated that phonological awareness affects reading comprehension indirectly through phonological recoding and that the development of phonological awareness is not greatly affected by method of instruction. Implications of these findings for educational practice are briefly indicated. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Phonemes, rhymes, and intelligence as predictors of children's responsiveness to remedial reading instruction: evidence from a longitudinal intervention study

We present an analysis of data from a longitudinal intervention study with 7-year-old poor readers (Hatcher, Hulme, & Ellis, 1994). A battery of cognitive and phonological tasks administered before the intervention began revealed five separate factors: Phoneme Manipulation, Rhyme, Verbal Ability, Nonverbal Ability and Phonological Memory. We assessed the extent to which these factors were predictive of children's responsiveness to the teaching interventions they received. For reading accuracy, Verbal Ability, Nonverbal Ability, Phonological Memory, and Rhyme made no significant contribution to predicting responsiveness to teaching, while Phoneme Manipulation was a very strong predictor. However for reading comprehension, Verbal ability (but not nonverbal ability) made an additional unique contribution to predicting responsiveness to teaching. The results are discussed in the context of current theories of the role of intelligence and phonological skills in learning to read.     

Fluoride retention in human enamel after a single phosphoric acid and mixed phosphoric acid/SnF2 application in vitro

This paper presents evidence that the Snyder/Pope Visual Memory Technique utilizing the Bender-Gestalt Test is a useful predictor of reading ability for first grade children. Subjects were administered the Bender Visual Memory Technique, the Bender-Gestalt Test, and the Digit Span subtest of the WISC-R at the beginning of first grade. The same children were administered the Reading subtest of the Wide Range Achievement Test at the end of first grade. Category scores of the Visual Memory Technique were correlated with the reading achievement results. One category, Rcc (an error-free recall of an error-free original drawing), correlated significantly with later reading ability (r = .43, p = .01). The Digit Span and reading achievement relationship was not found to be significant. Short-term visual recall is probably highly related to the reading task at Grade 1 and should be assessed when children begin to learn to read. Diagnosticians are encouraged to use the technique with attention to the precision category, Recall correct from correct.     

Self-regulated reading in adulthood.

Young and older adults read a series of passages of 3 different genres for an immediate assessment of text memory (measured by recall and true/false questions). Word-by-word reading times were measured and decomposed into components reflecting resource allocation to particular linguistic processes using regression. Allocation to word and textbase processes showed some consistency across the 3 text types and was predictive of memory performance. Older adults allocated more time to word and textbase processes than the young adults did but showed enhanced contextual facilitation. Structural equation modeling showed that greater resource allocation to word processes was required among readers with relatively low working memory spans and poorer verbal ability and that greater resource allocation to textbase processes was engendered by higher verbal ability. Results are discussed in terms of a model of self-regulated language processing suggesting that older readers may compensate for processing deficiencies through greater reliance on discourse context and on increases in resource allocation that are enabled through growth in crystallized ability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences in working memory and complex cognition.

The relations among assessments of working memory (WM) and a range of complex cognitive abilities were examined. In 2 experiments participants completed 2 WM tasks designed to assess verbal and nonverbal WM, as well as assessments of verbal intelligence, nonverbal intelligence, and academic achievement. Verbal WM had no relationship with nonverbal intelligence, whereas nonverbal WM had no relationship with verbal intelligence and academic achievement. A reanalysis of P. C. Kyllonen & R. E. Christal (see PA, Vol 78:32248; Experiment 1) is reported in which multiple indicators of WM were used to identify verbal and nonverbal WM factors; both of these WM factors were heavily saturated with a second-order factor, g (61% and 69%, respectively). Convergent and discriminant validation of the multidimensionality of WM was found in the patterns of correlations among the first-order Working Memory, General Knowledge, and Speed factors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age differences in retrieval: Further support for the resource-reduction hypothesis.

Age differences in processing resources seem salient to age-related declines in secondary (or "recent") memory. Community-dwelling adults (N?=?90, ages 30–80) completed 4 memory tests: Wechsler Memory Scale—Revised (WMS-R), Logical Memory (LM), Cowboy Story (CS), WMS-R Visual Reproductions (VR), and Extended Complex Figure Test (ECFT; Fastenau, in press). Two space-capacity measures (WMS-R Digit Span and Visual Memory Span) and 4 processing speed measures (cancellation and mental-tracking tasks) assessed processing resources. A statistical control procedure was used to isolate retrieval efficiency and measure contributions of age and processing resources to retrieval. A negative relationship between age and retrieval efficiency emerged on all measures (p?     

Predictive ability of the General Ability Index (GAI) versus the Full Scale IQ among gifted referrals.

The General Ability Index (GAI) is a composite ability score for the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Fourth Edition (WISC–IV) that minimizes the impact of tasks involving working memory and processing speed. The goal of the current study was to compare the degree to which the Full Scale IQ (FSIQ) and the GAI predict academic achievement in math and reading among a group of 88 children tested for gifted programming. All students had significant variability among their index scores on the WISC–IV. Whereas both the FSIQ and GAI significantly predicted standardized achievement test scores in reading and math, the FSIQ explained more of the variance. In sequential regression analyses, both working memory and verbal comprehension scores explained significant, unique variance in reading and math scores. However, measures of processing speed and perceptual reasoning did not account for significant amounts of variance in achievement scores over and above measures of working memory and verbal comprehension. The inclusion of working memory scores in calculation of the FSIQ appears to account for the difference in prediction between the FSIQ and the GAI. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The structure of precocious reading ability.

The purpose of this study was to describe the cognitive correlates of precocious reading achievement and to identify the structure of individual differences in reading subskill patterns that are compatible with precocious achievement. Several oral reading tasks and selected subtests from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised were administered to 87 postkindergarten children whose Peabody Individual Achievement Test reading comprehension scores ranged from the second- to the fifth-grade level. Parents provided information about the children's reading histories. Factor analysis of 11 reading subskill scores yielded results consistent with a hierarchical modification of the hypothesized model. Three specific factors—Speed, Decoding Rule Use, and Graphic Precision—varied independently of superordinate differences in General Ability. Verbal ability, letter-naming speed, and forward and backward digit span each correlated moderately with one or more reading factors. Many aspects of the results were consistent with findings from studies of average, disabled, and autistic/hyperlexic readers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Phenotypic performance profile of children with reading disabilities: A regression-based test of the phonological-core variable-difference model.

Introduces a new analytic strategy for comparing the cognitive profiles of children developing reading skills at different rates: a regression-based logic analogous to the reading-level match design, but without some of the methodological problems of that design. It provides a unique method for examining whether the reading subskill profiles of poor readers with aptitude/achievement discrepancy differ from those without discrepancy. 907 children (aged 7–16 yrs) were compared on a varied set of phonological, orthographic, memory, and language processing tasks. The results indicated that cognitive differences between these 2 groups of poor readers all reside outside of the word recognition module. The results generally support the phonological-core variable-difference model of reading disability and demonstrate that degree of aptitude/achievement discrepancy is unrelated to the unique cognitive tradeoffs that are characteristic of the word recognition performance of children with reading disabilities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of word identification speed in skilled and less skilled beginning readers.

Three phases comprise the development of word reading skill: accuracy, automaticity, and speed. The 3rd phase is reached when components of the identification process (i.e., graphic, phonological, semantic) are unitized in memory for particular words. Attainment of this final phase was explored with 2 experiments. In Exp I with Ss from 1st-, 2nd-, and 4th-grade classes, skilled and less skilled readers identified familiar printed words, CVC nonwords, digits, and pictures. Attainment of unitized speeds to printed words was inferred if Ss identified words as rapidly as digits. This level was exhibited by skilled readers in all grades but by less skilled readers only in 4th grade. Unitized speed with CVCs was evident among 2nd- and 4th-grade skilled readers, but not among less skilled readers at any grade. In Exp II, 18 1st-grade and 19 2nd-grade poor readers practiced reading familiar words and CVCs. Practice boosted RTs to CVCs but not to words read accurately before training, and RTs to both remained slower than digit RTs, indicating that practice promotes the development of unitized speeds very slowly in less skilled readers. (45 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third and -Fourth Edition predictors of academic achievement in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

IQ and achievement scores were analyzed for 678 children with attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; 6-16 years of age, IQ≥80) administered the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition (WISC-III; n=586) and Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition (WISC-IV, n=92). Approximately 76% of children in both samples were identified with a learning disability (LD). LD in written expression was more common than in reading or math. For both the WISC-III and the WISC-IV, full-scale IQ was the strongest single predictor of achievement in all areas. The verbal subtests comprising the Freedom from Distractibility/Working Memory Index (FDI/WMI) and Verbal Comprehension Index were more highly correlated with achievement scores than the nonverbal subtests on both the WISC-III and WISC-IV. The most powerful predictors of LD, however, were the FDI/WMI and Processing Speed Index (PSI) subtests. These findings suggest that verbal intelligence is more influential in determining level of academic achievement, whereas cognitive abilities assessed by FDI/WMI and PSI are more important in determining LD in children with ADHD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cattell-Horn-Carroll cognitive abilities and their effects on reading decoding skills: g has indirect effects, more specific abilities have direct effects.

This study employed structural equation modeling to examine the effects of Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) abilities on reading decoding skills using five age-differentiated subsamples from the standardization sample of the Woodcock-Johnson III (Woodcock, McGrew, & Mather, 2001). Using the Spearman Model including only g, strong direct effects of g on reading decoding skills were demonstrated at all ages. Using the Two-Stratum Model including g and broad abilities, direct effects of the broad abilities Long-Term Storage and Retrieval, Processing Speed, Crystallized Intelligence, Short-Term Memory, and Auditory Processing on reading decoding skills were demonstrated at select ages. Using the Three-Stratum Model including g, broad abilities, and narrow abilities, direct effects of the broad ability Processing Speed and the narrow abilities Associative Memory, Listening Ability, General Information, Memory Span, and Phonetic Coding were demonstrated at select ages. Across both the Two-Stratum Model and the Three-Stratum Model at all ages, g had very large but indirect effects. The findings suggest that school psychologists should interpret measures of some specific cognitive abilities when conducting psychoeducational assessments designed to explain reading decoding skills. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessing print exposure and orthographic processing skill in children: A quick measure of reading experience.

In a study of 3rd- and 4th-grade children it was established that orthographic processing ability can account for variance in word recognition skill after the variance due to phonological processing has been partialed out. This independent orthographic variance was related to performance on a new measure of individual differences in exposure to print, the Title Recognition Test, that has a very brief administration time. Additionally, some of the orthographic processing variance linked to word recognition ability was not shared with either phonological processing measures or with print exposure. The results of the study were supportive of the idea that there are individual differences in word recognition ability caused by variation in orthographic processing abilities that are in part determined by print exposure differences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory failures in progressive idiopathic dementia.

14 patients with progressive idiopathic dementia (PID) were compared with 14 normal controls (average age 61.2 yrs) on psychometric and laboratory measures of cognitive processes. Patients had significantly lower scores than controls on the Wechsler Memory Scale and the WAIS Performance IQ, but not on WAIS Verbal or Full Scale IQ or Digit Span tests. Patients performed more poorly on learning and memory tasks than controls. Unlike the latter, patients' recall of categorized word lists was no better than their recall of unrelated words, and they did not consistently remember information that had been previously recalled. Patients also were unable to generate as many words that start with a given letter or that belong to a given category as controls did. Data show that while many intellectual functions are preserved, PID patients are unable to access structures in semantic memory and therefore fail to effectively encode episodic events so that they are memorable. Differences in cognitive dysfunction in PID and in depression are discussed. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reading, memory, and metacognition.

Investigated relations among reading skills, metareading (knowledge about reading), memory, and metamemory (knowledge about memory) as they relate to reading ability (good vs poor readers), operativity, and grade level. 40 2nd graders (aged 7.25–9.83 yrs) and 40 4th graders (aged 9.42–22.00 yrs) were interviewed to assess the reading–memory variables. Significant but low correlations were obtained between metareading and reading, metamemory and memory, metareading and metamemory, and reading and memory. Significant effects of operativity were revealed on all dependent measures. Operative Ss had higher scores on the metareading and metamemory tasks, read at higher levels, and remembered more items on the memory tasks than did nonoperative Ss. Effects of grade level were revealed on most dependent measures. Fourth-grade Ss received higher scores on the metareading and metamemory tasks and read at higher levels than did 2nd-grade Ss. An interaction between operativity and grade level revealed that operative 2nd-grade and both groups of 4th-grade Ss made fewer total reading errors than did nonoperative 2nd-grade Ss. The effects of operativity, experience, and metacognition on reading and memory skills are discussed. (43 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)