Sequential memory in relation to dyslexic children

A group of 48 dyslexic boys was compared with a group of 32 normal boys matched for age and I.Q. Dyslexia was operationally defined as two years reading retardation relative to other abilities in the absence of emotional disturbance, cultural deprivation or obvious physiological damage while maintaining a normal test intelligence. The two groups were compared on a temporally presented sequential memory test in both the visual and auditory modalities and using both pictures and words within the visual mode. The dyslexics performed significantly worse on the sequential memory test and on a recall test with the same stimuli. Moreover, both dyslexics and normals did better auditorally than visually, and pictures were easier than words. The pattern of response was parallel for the two groups with the dyslexic scores just dropped below the normals. A developmental lag theory of causation was strongly indicated by the data.Arts, Faculty ofPsychology, Department ofGraduat