Visual and auditory temporal processing, cross-modal transfer, and reading.
The present study reexamined the relevance of auditory and visual cross-modal matching to reading ability, an issue first addressed in a seminal study by Birch and Belmont (1964). By presenting all patterns to be matched as temporal sequences of tones and lights, including intramodal as well as cross-modal conditions, and covarying memory, three problems with the Birch and Belmont design were corrected. Results showed that poor readers had difficulty in perceiving temporal patterns generally: They did worse than good readers not only on cross-modal conditions but also on intramodal ones. These results were replicated in two tasks. Nonetheless, hierarchical regressions provided some indication that cross-modal abilities themselves are relevant to reading. For one of the two tasks, cross-modal performance contributed to the prediction of reading ability over and above intramodal performance. Poor readers also showed slower response times--a factor that contributed marginally to the prediction of reading independent of temporal processing.
Rose
S A
SA
Department of Pediatrics, Kennedy Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461, USA. SROSE@AECOM.YU.EDU
Feldman
J F
JF
Jankowski
J J
JJ
Futterweit
L R
LR
D001307:Auditory Perception; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D008606:Mental Processes; D008960:Models, Psychological; D011932:Reading; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D013998:Time Perception; D014796:Visual Perception