Examination of intra vs. intersensory integration abilities in normal and retarded readers using linguistic materials

Weaver, Robert Augustus (1976) Examination of intra vs. intersensory integration abilities in normal and retarded readers using linguistic materials. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

The hypothesis under investigation poses that retarded readers, i.e., dyslexic children, would be characterized by deficits in their ability to integrate auditory and visual information when compared with normal readers. Twenty second and third grade retarded readers were compared with twenty adequate readers on four recognition tasks, requiring both intrasensory and intersensory processing of auditory and visual linguistic material. In the intersensory conditions, the subjects were presented with a three letter trigram in one mode and were required to recognize its equivalent from a set of four trigrams presented in the other mode, i.e., auditory to visual matching or visual to auditory matching. This condition required subjects to integrate auditory and visual information in order to make equivalence judgments across modalities. In the two intrasensory conditions all presentations were in the same mode, i.e., either auditory or visual. Fifteen trials in each condition were presented to all subjects. -- The results demonstrated highly significant deficiencies in retarded readers' ability to make auditory to visual and visual to auditory recognition responses. These deficiencies correlated with reading scores and appeared to be independent of (not significantly correlated with) IQ scores, rotational or sequential visual memory, auditory memory, or verbal coding abilities. -- The results indicated two types of retarded readers: 1) those that had difficulty in intrasensory tasks and, therefore, were deficient in intersensory tasks and 2) those with adequate abilities in intrasensory processing but were deficient in only the task requiring integration of the two modalities. It was suggested that in future research it would be instructive to differentiate these two populations before experimentation, in order to minimize confounded results found in previous studies in the field. -- This study represents extensive methodological improvements over previous research in the investigation of auditory-visual integration abilities in retarded readers. These improvements include - and are a result of criticisms concerning the lack of - controls over: 1) intrasensory processing; 2) temporal-spatial factors; 3) conceptual- mediational strategies; 4) verbal labeling abilities, and 5) the questionable relationship of previous AVI research to the reading process. Furthermore, the present study has supported the major contention of Birch and Belmont (1964) that, although not totally independent of perceptual processing (auditory and visual), inabilities in auditory-visual integration processing are a prevalent characteristic and probable causal factor in retarded readers.

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