Time-based prospective memory in adults with developmental dyslexia

Abstract

Prospective memory (PM) is memory for delayed intentions. Despite its importance to everyday life, the few studies on PM function in adults with dyslexia which exist have relied on self-report measures. To determine whether self-reported PM deficits can be measured objectively, laboratory-based PM tasks were administered to 24 adults with dyslexia and 25 age- and IQ-matched adults without dyslexia. Self-report data indicated that people with dyslexia felt that time-based PM (TBPM; requiring responses at certain times in the future) was most problematic for them and so this form of PM was the focus of investigation. Whilst performing the ongoing task from which they were required to break out every 3 min to make a PM-related response, the participants were allowed to make clock checks whenever they wished. The cognitive demands made on ongoing behaviour were manipulated to determine whether loading executive resources had a mediating role in dyslexia-related deficits in PM, resulting in three tasks with varying working memory load. A semi-naturalistic TBPM task was also administered, in which the participants were asked to remind the experimenter to save a data file 40 min after being given this instruction. Dyslexia-related differences were found across all three computerized tasks, regardless of cognitive load. The adults with dyslexia made fewer correct PM responses and also fewer clock checks. On the semi-naturalistic task, the participants with dyslexia were less likely to remember to remind the experimenter to save the file. This is the first study to document PM deficits in dyslexia using objective measures of performance. Since TBPM impairments were found under more naturalistic conditions as well as on computerized tasks, the results have implications for workplace support for adults with dyslexia.

A review of prospective memory impairments in developmental dyslexia: evidence, explanations, and future directions

“…These arguments provided the rationale for a recent program of research into PM in adults with dyslexia. Full details of the background characteristics of the samples tested are reported in Smith-Spark, Zięcik, and Sterling (2016a, 2016b, 2017a, 2017b.…”

“…Whilst the effects of dyslexia on PM have only been explored directly very recently (Khan, 2014;Smith-Spark, Zięcik et al, 2016a, 2016b, 2017a, 2017b, earlier research has identified dyslexia-related difficulties in areas of cognition which could be argued to draw on similar cognitive abilities to those involved in PM. Problems in the areas of organization, time-keeping, and planning have been reported in dyslexia and the relevance of these abilities to PM has recently been highlighted by Waldum and McDaniel (2016) in relation to performing complex everyday PM tasks.…”

“…The first direct empirical observation of PM deficits in dyslexia was reported by Smith-Spark, Zięcik, and Sterling (2016b). Three computerized TBPM tasks were administered to adults with and without dyslexia.…”

“…They, thus, provide an additional source of evidence to feed into supporting adults with dyslexia appropriately in education and the workplace, highlighting areas where reasonable adjustments to practices and procedures should be made. Smith-Spark, Zięcik et al (2016b) embedded a semi-naturalistic task within their computerized TBPM testing session. The participants were instructed to remind the experimenter to save a file 40 minutes later as, if they did not, the data would be lost.…”

Dyslexia and Specific Learning Disorders: New International Diagnostic Criteria

“…Recent findings in the study of intellective and neuropsychological assessment of individuals with learning disorders describe impairments on different cognitive and neuropsychological functions related to learning, like working memory, long term memory (implicit memory and explicit memory), attention (selective and sustained), linguistic abilities, praxic abilities, visuospatial abilities, problem solving abilities, executive abilities [38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45] and other cognitive functions more directly related to the learning of reading, as phonological abilities [46,47]. Executive functions and their relationship with learning is nowadays a key point in this field, mainly during adolescence and adult life, where they seem to have a crucial role in learning difficulties [42,[48][49][50][51][52]. This brief overview of research findings highlights both the heterogeneity of the functional profiles of individuals with learning disorders and the need to study the functional profile of each individual in a deeper way.…”