Paired associate learning deficits in poor readers: The contribution of phonological input and output processes.

It is well-established that poor readers exhibit deficits in paired associate learning (PAL), and there is increasing evidence for a phonological locus of these deficits. However, it remains unclear whether poor performance stems from difficulties specific to the phonological output system or difficulties that affect both phonological input and output processes. Understanding these deficits is important not only in the context of PAL but also for informing broader theories of typical and atypical reading development. We developed a novel paradigm that allowed us to assess PAL in the presence and absence of phonological output demands. In total, 14 poor readers and 14 age-matched controls were first trained to criterion in verbal-visual PAL before being tested in the visual-verbal direction. The results showed that poor readers learned at the same rate as controls in verbal-visual PAL, even when the nonword stimuli were phonologically confusable. Yet, despite having reached the same criterion as controls in verbal-visual PAL, poor readers exhibited robust impairments for those same paired associates in visual-verbal PAL. The overall pattern of results is most consistent with the conclusion that PAL deficits reflect impairments to the phonological output system; however, results that may challenge this interpretation are also discussed.

The attentional blink is related to phonemic decoding, but not sight-word recognition, in typically reading adults.

This research investigated the relationship between the attentional blink (AB) and reading in typical adults. The AB is a deficit in the processing of the second of two rapidly presented targets when it occurs in close temporal proximity to the first target. Specifically, this experiment examined whether the AB was related to both phonological and sight-word reading abilities, and whether the relationship was mediated by accuracy on a single-target rapid serial visual processing task (single-target accuracy). Undergraduate university students completed a battery of tests measuring reading ability, non-verbal intelligence, and rapid automatised naming, in addition to rapid serial visual presentation tasks in which they were required to identify either two (AB task) or one (single target task) target/s (outlined shapes: circle, square, diamond, cross, and triangle) in a stream of random-dot distractors. The duration of the AB was related to phonological reading (n=41, ß=-0.43): participants who exhibited longer ABs had poorer phonemic decoding skills. The AB was not related to sight-word reading. Single-target accuracy did not mediate the relationship between the AB and reading, but was significantly related to AB depth (non-linear fit, R(2)=.50): depth reflects the maximal cost in T2 reporting accuracy in the AB. The differential relationship between the AB and phonological versus sight-word reading implicates common resources used for phonemic decoding and target consolidation, which may be involved in cognitive control. The relationship between single-target accuracy and the AB is discussed in terms of cognitive preparation.