An investigation of the relationship between processing rate and memory span in learning disabled children

Slow rate of information processing has been offered as an explanation for the short-term memory problems of learning and/or reading disabled children (e.g., Spring & Capps, 1974). The present investigation used an item identification task and a memory span task to determine whether, when learning and/or reading disabled and non-disabled children are equated with regard to the speed with which they process information, their measured memory spans are also equal. It was hypothesized that the observed memory span differences would be eliminated by equating the two groups on a measure of processing rate