title: Linking memory and language: Evidence for a serial-order learning impairment in dyslexia.
abstract: The present study investigated long-term serial-order learning impairments, operationalized as reduced Hebb repetition learning (HRL), in people with dyslexia. In a first multi-session experiment, we investigated both the persistence of a serial-order learning impairment as well as the long-term retention of serial-order representations, both in a group of Dutch-speaking adults with developmental dyslexia and in a matched control group. In a second experiment, we relied on the assumption that HRL mimics naturalistic word-form acquisition and we investigated the lexicalization of novel word-forms acquired through HRL. First, our results demonstrate that adults with dyslexia are fundamentally impaired in the long-term acquisition of serial-order information. Second, dyslexic and control participants show comparable retention of the long-term serial-order representations in memory over a period of 1 month. Third, the data suggest weaker lexicalization of newly acquired word-forms in the dyslexic group. We discuss the integration of these findings into current theoretical views of dyslexia.
authors.affiliation: Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium. Electronic address: louisa.bogaerts@UGent.be.
authors.forename: Louisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bogaerts
authors.affiliation: Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium.
authors.forename: Arnaud
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Szmalec
authors.affiliation: University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy.
authors.forename: Wibke M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Hachmann
authors.affiliation: University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, UK.
authors.forename: Mike P A
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Page
authors.affiliation: Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Wouter
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Duyck
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D004410:Dyslexia / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D007804:Language Development; D008568:Memory; D011214:Practice, Psychological; D012153:Retention, Psychology; D012691:Serial Learning; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Dyslexia; Language acquisition; Memory; Retention; Serial-order learning