Working Memory, Short-Term Memory, and Reading Disabilities

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to synthesize research that compares children with and without reading disabilities (RD) on measures of short-term memory (STM) and working memory (WM). Across a broad age, reading, and IQ range, 578 effect sizes (ESs) were computed, yielding a mean ES across studies of -.89 (SD = 1.03). A total of 257 ESs were in the moderate range for STM measures (M = -.61, 95% confidence range of -.65 to -.58), and 320 ESs were in the moderate range for WM measures (M = -.67, 95% confidence range of -.68 to -.64). The results indicated that children with RD were distinctively disadvantaged compared with average readers on (a) STM measures requiring the recall of phonemes and digit sequences and (b) WM measures requiring the simultaneous processing and storage of digits within sentence sequences and final words from unrelated sentences. No significant moderating effects emerged for age, IQ, or reading level on memory ESs. The findings indicated that domain-specific STM and WM differences between ability groups persisted across age, suggesting that a verbal deficit model that fails to efficiently draw resources from both a phonological and executive system underlies RD.

Behavioral inhibition in children with learning disabilities

“…The evidence for the modality specificity hypothesis in children with MD and RD is mixed. Some studies reported modality-specific impairments in children with RD (e.g., Swanson, Zheng, & Jerman, 2009) and in children with MD (e.g., Bull & Scerif, 2001;Passolunghi et al, 2005;van der Sluis et al, 2004), whereas others reported domain-general impairments (e.g., Booth, Boyle, & Kelly, 2010;Zhang & Wu, 2011). …”

How phonological awareness mediates the relation between working memory and word reading efficiency in children with dyslexia

“…This apparent difference in phonological awareness impairments may partly be due to the increased demand on working memory in more complex phonological awareness tasks (Berninger, 2008). Children with dyslexia show deficits in their working memory, phonological awareness, and word reading efficiency (Berninger, Raskind, Richards, Abbott, & Stock, 2008; Brosnan et al, 2002; Swanson, Zheng, & Jerman, 2009). Working memory predicts both phonological awareness and word reading efficiency (de Abreu, Gathercole, & Martin, 2011; Berninger, Abbott, Vermeulen, & Fulton, 2006; Christopher et al, 2012; Locascio, Mahone, Eason, & Cutting, 2010; Ramscar & Gitcho, 2007).…”

“…In typically developing children, working memory has indeed been found to predict phonological awareness (de Abreu et al, 2011; Oakhill & Kyle, 2000) and word reading efficiency (Berninger, Abbott, Vermeulen, et al, 2006; Christopher et al, 2012; Locascio et al, 2010). Children with dyslexia generally show deficits in working memory and having phonological awareness and word reading efficiency problems (Berninger, Raskind, et al, 2008; Brosnan et al, 2002; Swanson et al, 2009). …”

The modality and redundancy effects in multimedia learning in children with dyslexia

“…Due to a phonological deficit and accompanying working memory problems, children with dyslexia have problems with learning from text (e.g., Berninger, Raskind, Richards, Abbott, & Stock, 2008; Swanson, Zheng, & Jerman, 2009). Multimedia may support their learning by replacing written text with audio or by adding audio to the written text.…”