ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to isolate possible sources of learning ability differences in distinctive encoding of item-specific and relational information. Two mechanisms postulated as underlying ability group differences were attentional capacity (as inferred from the magnitude and direction of correlations between primary and secondary recall) and resource monitoring strategies (as reflected in measures of selective attention and laterality). In Experiment 1, learning disabled and nondisabled childrens' word recall was compared on dichotic listening recall tasks that included nonorienting instructions, and orienting instructions that directed children's attention toward semantic, phonemic, or structural word features. Disabled children showed lower recall and more diffuse selective attention to word features than nondisabled children. Reciprocity (negative correlations) between targeted and background words within and between ability groups was comparable, except when targeted word features were phonemically organized. Experiment 2 indicated that disabled childrens' cued recall was inferior to that of nondisabled children, even though both ability groups produced comparable symmetrical recall patterns related to ear presentations. Taken together, the results suggest that the locus of disabled childrens' distinctive encoding deficiencies is related to resource monitoring strategies during interhemispheric processing.
Subject(s)
Dominance, Cerebral , Learning Disabilities/diagnosis , Mental Recall , Attention , Child , Dichotic Listening Tests , Dyslexia/diagnosis , Dyslexia/psychology , Humans , Learning Disabilities/psychology , Male , Phonetics , Reaction Time , Retention, Psychology , Semantics , Wechsler ScalesABSTRACT
This study assumes that children of various academic abilities may be characterized by different patterns of memory function. To test this assumption, subgroups of children were identified through a hierarchical cluster analysis based upon a test battery of sentence span, preload, and concurrent memory demand tasks. One subtype presented a profile of children with learning disabilities showing severe memory performance deficits, while another subgroup yielded high memory and high academic performance. Four additional subtypes had variations in memory performance, which in turn reflected variations in external criteria related to reading, mathematics, and spelling performance. For each subtype, performance strengths and weaknesses were characterized within Baddeley's (1986) working memory model. The study provides partial validation for the classification of children with learning disabilities on psychometric measures according to patterns of memory performance.
Subject(s)
Learning Disabilities/diagnosis , Memory, Short-Term , Achievement , Adolescent , Child , Factor Analysis, Statistical , Female , Humans , Imagination , Male , Models, PsychologicalABSTRACT
This study assessed skilled and less skilled readers' working memory performance. Fifty skilled and less skilled readers at two age levels were presented with sentence span and concurrent memory tasks. The span task results indicated that working memory differences exist between reading groups. The concurrent task revealed performance deficits for less skilled readers across verbal and nonverbal conditions, suggesting a central processing deficiency. Age differences were isolated to skilled readers. It was concluded that less skilled readers' working memory deficiencies were pervasive in the sense that they involve deficiencies in memory components related to central executive processing.
