Memory span for a list of phonologically similar words is generally worse than memory span for a list of phonologically dissimilar words, a finding that is called the phonological similarity effect. This finding has often been cited as evidence for the use of phonological coding in short-term memory and working memory. However, some studies have demonstrated a reversal of the phonological simil...

Despite the well-established involvement of both sensory ("bottom-up") and cognitive ("top-down") processes in literacy, the extent to which auditory or cognitive (memory or attention) learning transfers to phonological and reading skills remains unclear. Most research has demonstrated learning of the trained task or even learning transfer to a closely related task. However, few studies have re...

PURPOSE Crowding, the increased difficulty in recognizing a target due to the proximity of adjacent objects, is identified as the main sensory constraint for the size of the visual span (the number of letters recognized without moving the eyes) and reading speed in peripheral vision. The goal of the present study is to assess the impact of temporal modulation on crowding, visual span, and readi...

The purpose of this study was to compare the contribution of two different versions of working memory to word reading and reading comprehension in relation to phonological awareness and rapid naming speed. Fifty children were administered two measures of working memory, namely an adaptation of the Daneman and Carpenter sentence span task and Sentence Question, tests of phonological awareness, r...

We report three correlation studies, which investigate the hypothesis that individual differences in the capacity of a semantic short-term memory (STM) component in working memory (WM) predict performance on complex language tasks. To measure the capacity of semantic STM, we devised a storage-only measure, the conceptual span, which makes use of a category-cued recall procedure. In the first tw...

The visual attention (VA) span is defined as the amount of distinct visual elements which can be processed in parallel in a multi-element array. Both recent empirical data and theoretical accounts suggest that a VA span deficit might contribute to developmental dyslexia, independently of a phonological disorder. In this study, this hypothesis was assessed in two large samples of French and Brit...

The purpose of the study was to assess the validity of a new version of the Token Test (TT) which is aimed at detecting deficits in auditory verbal working memory (henceforth WMTT). Twenty eight young healthy adults, 14 with and 14 without dyslexia, all paid volunteers, took part in the study. The WMTT was found to be positively and significantly correlated with tests of digit span forward and ...

BACKGROUND Almost all cognitive functions decline with age. Results of previous studies have shown that cognitive training related to everyday life (reading aloud and solving simple arithmetic calculations), namely learning therapy, can improve two cognitive function (executive functions and processing speed) in elderly people. However, it remains unclear whether learning therapy engenders impr...