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Do children with developmental dyslexia have an implicit learning deficit?

¹ IRCCS, Children’s Hospital "Bambino Gesù", Santa Marinella, Rome, Italy
² IRCCS, Santa Lucia Foundation; Department of Psychology, University of Rome "La Sapienza", Rome, Italy

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr S Vicari
Servizio di Neurologia e Riabilitazione, IRCCS, Ospedale Pediatrico Bambino Gesù, Lungomare Guglielmo Marconi 36, I-00058, Santa Marinella, Rome (Italy); vicari{at}opbg.net

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of specific types of tasks on the efficiency of implicit procedural learning in the presence of developmental dyslexia (DD).

Methods: Sixteen children with DD (mean (SD) age 11.6 (1.4) years) and 16 matched normal reader controls (mean age 11.4 (1.9) years) were administered two tests (the Serial Reaction Time test and the Mirror Drawing test) in which implicit knowledge was gradually acquired across multiple trials. Although both tests analyse implicit learning abilities, they tap different competencies. The Serial Reaction Time test requires the development of sequential learning and little (if any) procedural learning, whereas the Mirror Drawing test involves fast and repetitive processing of visuospatial stimuli but no acquisition of sequences.

Results: The children with DD were impaired on both implicit learning tasks, suggesting that the learning deficit observed in dyslexia does not depend on the material to be learned (with or without motor sequence of response action) but on the implicit nature of the learning that characterises the tasks.

Conclusion: Individuals with DD have impaired implicit procedural learning.

Abbreviations: ANOVA, analysis of variance; DD, developmental dyslexia; MD (test), Mirror Drawing (test); SRT, Serial Reaction Time

Keywords: developmental dyslexia; implicit memory