Abstract
Using an individual differences approach in children with and without dyslexia, this study investigated the hypothesized relationship between statistical learning ability and literacy (reading and spelling) skills. We examined the clinical relevance of statistical learning (serial reaction time and visual statistical learning tasks) by controlling for potential confounds at the participant level (e.g., non-verbal reasoning, attention and phonological skills including rapid automatized naming and phonological short-term memory). A 100 Dutch-speaking 8- to 11-year-old children with and without dyslexia participated (50 per group), see also van Witteloostuijn et al. (2019) for a study with the same participants. No evidence of a relationship between statistical learning and literacy skills is found above and beyond participant-level variables. Suggestions from the literature that the link between statistical learning and literacy attainment, and therefore its clinical relevance, might be small and strongly influenced by methodological differences between studies are not contradicted by our findings.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 168-186 |
| Number of pages | 19 |
| Journal | Dyslexia |
| Volume | 27 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - May 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We would first and foremost like to thank all children, their parents and the primary schools (De Bosmark, De Kemp, De Ludgerschool and De Ieme) that participated in our study. We are also grateful to Imme Lammertink for collaboration on the development of the statistical learning measures. Furthermore, we thank Iris Broedelet, Sascha Couvee and Darlene Keydeniers for help with testing the control group and Dirk Jan Vet for technical assistance in developing the tasks. This work was supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) through a personal Vidi grant awarded to Judith Rispens (grant number 276‐89‐005). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript. 1
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors. Dyslexia published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
Funding
We would first and foremost like to thank all children, their parents and the primary schools (De Bosmark, De Kemp, De Ludgerschool and De Ieme) that participated in our study. We are also grateful to Imme Lammertink for collaboration on the development of the statistical learning measures. Furthermore, we thank Iris Broedelet, Sascha Couvee and Darlene Keydeniers for help with testing the control group and Dirk Jan Vet for technical assistance in developing the tasks. This work was supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) through a personal Vidi grant awarded to Judith Rispens (grant number 276‐89‐005). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript. 1
Keywords
- dyslexia
- spelling
- statistical learning
- word reading