Functional analyses of reading and short-term memory in dyslexic children.

    Student thesis: Doctor of Philosophy

    Abstract

    The research reported in this thesis provides a functional analysis
    of reading and short term memory in dyslexic children.
    Research into dyslexia is reviewed and the approach of Cognitive
    Psychology is explained. Twenty four experiments are then reported.
    These compare dyslexic and control children's abilities on a number
    of tasks which tap functions thought to be involved in language processing
    and reading. These functions are iconic coding, visual encoding,
    lexical encoding, and articulatory encoding. It is concluded
    that older developmental dyslexics behave as a uniform group with
    their common disability at lexical encoding. Further experiments
    investigate the internal mechanisms conceptualized to be involved in
    lexical encoding: the visual input lexicon, the auditory input lexicon
    and the output lexicon. While the primary disability in dyslexia
    is thought to be in the operation of the visual input lexicon, some
    residual deficiency is found in the operation of all lexical encoding
    mechanisms. These findings are related to a multifactorial view of
    the causation of dyslexia and to considerations of other dyslexic
    symptoms.
    The experimental evidence of good and poor readers' differing
    short-term memory spans is reviewed, and when this is considered in
    conjunction with the functional analyses reported here, there arise
    implications for a conceptualization of STM. Some of these implications
    are tested empirically, and a functional model of reading and
    STM is developed.
    Date of AwardApr 1980
    Original languageEnglish
    Awarding Institution
    • University College of North Wales, Bangor

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