STUDIES OF WORKING MEMORY IN DYSLEXIC CHILDREN

本项目的主要目的是进一步阐明 工作记忆在阅读技能的习得中的作用。三组 的小学生将被招募。两组 (每组40人)将是差读者；一组将符合标准 对于发展性阅读障碍和其他将是缓慢的 学习者。这些组将根据教师进行分层(两个级别) 注意力缺陷障碍(ADD)评分。一组对照 年龄正常的读者(N=40)将匹配两个较差的读者 注意问题(重大或轻微)的严重程度分组。而当 所有的小组都会在工作记忆中表现出损害， 预计各分项赤字的模式将有所不同。特别是 争论的焦点是为什么大约一半的ADD儿童学习阅读 并以与年龄相适应的速度拼写，尽管有证据表明 记忆功能障碍(例如，低于正常数字广度分数 WISC-R)。 受试者将在各种不同的任务中进行比较，以评估 阅读技能与敲击不同成分和/或相关性 工作记忆(例如，清晰度、对抗性 命名速率、串行存储器跨度)。后面的每项任务都将是 在两种或两种以上条件下进行，以探索刺激的作用 打字和干扰对工作记忆的影响。电生理学 监测将在两个任务期间进行，允许评估 (1)事件相关电位对押韵和非押韵单词和 无意义词对与(2)心理过程中的脑电连贯 单词和字母串的算术和查看。 预计发音速度较慢且受损 语音敏感性将成为工作记忆的基础 阅读障碍组和学习迟缓组的功能障碍。这个 仅添加组的工作记忆缺陷将是 假设是天生的(有限的能力)或战略性的，而不是 如果激励条件不能改善他们的 性能。 所有这三个要研究的群体对教育工作者来说仍然是个麻烦； 调查结果可能会带来更有效的补救方法。

The major aim of this project is to elucidate further the role of working memory in the acquisition of reading skill. Three groups of elementary school students will be recruited. Two groups (N=40 in each) will be poor readers; one group will meet criteria for developmental reading disability and the others will be slow learners. These groups will be stratified (two levels) on teacher ratings of attention deficit disorder (ADD). A comparison group of normal for age readers (N=40) will match the two poor reader groups in severity of attentional problems (major or minor). While all groups will exhibit impairments in working memory, the pattern of sub-component deficits is expected to vary. Especially at issue is why approximately half of ADD children learn to read and spell at an age-appropriate rate despite evidencing working memory dysfunctions (e.g., below normal digit span scores on the WISC-R). Subjects will be compared on a wide variety of tasks that assess reading skill and that tap different components and/or correlates of working memory (e.g., articulation rate, confrontational naming rate, serial memory span). Each of the latter tasks will be done under two or more conditions to explore the role of stimulus type and distractors on working memory. Electrophysiological monitoring will be done during two tasks, allowing assessment of (1) event related potentials to rhyming and non-rhyming word and nonsense word pairs and (2) EEG coherence during mental arithmetic and viewing of word and letter strings. It is expected that slower articulation rates and impaired phonological sensitivity will underlie working memory dysfunctions in the dyslexic and the slow learner groups. The working memory deficits of the ADD only group will be hypothesized to be innate (limited capacity) or strategic and not motivational in origin if incentive conditions do not improve their performance. All three groups to be studied remain troublesome to educators; findings could lead to more efficient remedial approaches.