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Short‐term Memory in Childhood Dyslexia: Deficient Serial Order in Multiple Modalities
Author(s) -
Cowan Nelson,
Hogan Tiffany P.,
Alt Mary,
Green Samuel,
Cabbage Kathryn L.,
Brinkley Shara,
Gray Shelley
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
dyslexia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.694
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1099-0909
pISSN - 1076-9242
DOI - 10.1002/dys.1557
Subject(s) - dyslexia , memory span , psychology , short term memory , mnemonic , cognitive psychology , working memory , specific language impairment , recall , baddeley's model of working memory , reading (process) , phonology , audiology , developmental psychology , cognition , linguistics , medicine , philosophy , neuroscience
In children with dyslexia, deficits in working memory have not been well‐specified. We assessed second‐grade children with dyslexia, with and without concomitant specific language impairment, and children with typical development. Immediate serial recall of lists of phonological (non‐word), lexical (digit), spatial (location) and visual (shape) items were included. For the latter three modalities, we used not only standard span but also running span tasks, in which the list length was unpredictable to limit mnemonic strategies. Non‐word repetition tests indicated a phonological memory deficit in children with dyslexia alone compared with those with typical development, but this difference vanished when these groups were matched for non‐verbal intelligence and language. Theoretically important deficits in serial order memory in dyslexic children, however, persisted relative to matched typically developing children. The deficits were in recall of (1) spoken digits in both standard and running span tasks and (2) spatial locations, in running span only. Children with dyslexia with versus without language impairment, when matched on non‐verbal intelligence, had comparable serial order memory, but differed in phonology. Because serial orderings of verbal and spatial elements occur in reading, the careful examination of order memory may allow a deeper understanding of dyslexia and its relation to language impairment. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.