Psychophysical evidence for a general temporal processing deficit in children with dyslexia.
The hypothesis of a general (i.e. cross-modal) temporal processing deficit in dyslexia was tested by examining rapid processing in both the auditory and the visual system in the same children with dyslexia. Participants were 10- to 12-year-old dyslexic readers and age-matched normal reading controls. Psychophysical thresholds were estimated for auditory gap and visual double flash detection, using a two-interval, two-alternative forced-choice paradigm. Significant group differences were found for the auditory and the visual test. Furthermore, temporal processing measures were significantly related to word and pseudo-word reading skills. As 70% of the dyslexic readers had significantly higher thresholds than controls for both auditory and visual temporal processing, the evidence tends to support the hypothesis of a general temporal processing deficit in children with dyslexia.
Van Ingelghem
M
M
Section of Orthopedagogics, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Vesaliusstraat 2, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium.
van Wieringen
A
A
Wouters
J
J
Vandenbussche
E
E
Onghena
P
P
Ghesquière
P
P
D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology; D001308:Auditory Perceptual Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D004410:Dyslexia / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology