Developmental Psychology in Memory (Dyslexia)

Question 1

What is dyslexia?

Answer 1

A reading disorder defined as a problem to learning to recognise and decoded printed words at a level that would be expected of the individual’s age.

Question 2

What % of children does dyslexia affect?

Answer 2

3-6% (sometime estimated at 10%)

More prevalent in boys

Question 3

How does dyslexia link to memory?

Answer 3

People with dyslexia have:

a poor auditory working memory (hard to keep all letter sounds in their phonological loop)

a poor verbal short term memory (hard to repeat unfamiliar vocab and remember information presented verbally)

Question 4

2 strengths of the cognitive explanation of dyslexia

Answer 4

Alloway et al - investigate 46 children (6-11) with a reading disability, found they showed short term working memory deficits that could cause the problem.

Smith-Spark et al - found that adults with dyslexia had unimpaired spatial working memory but impaired verbal working memory.

Question 5

2 weaknesses of the cognitive explanation of dyslexia

Answer 5

It is difficult to establish exactly what verbal memory plays in causing dyslexia because people with dyslexia present a range of sensory impairments in both auditory and visual systems.

Dyslexia exists with other learning disabilities. Makes it difficult to isolate phonological issues as a reason for reading impairments.