Abstract
The existence of a phonemic deficit that is predictive of, and probably causal to, many cases of reading difficulty is well established. Tallal (1984) has suggested that this phonemic deficit is in fact a symptom of an underlying auditory temporal processing deficit. Our purpose in this paper is to evaluate the plausibility of this hypothesis. The various components that might constitute sequential (or temporal) processing are described. Our review of the literature reveals considerable evidence for a deficit in dyslexics in stimulus individuation tasks (e.g., gap detection) and temporal order judgments in both the auditory and visual modalities. The possibility that a general temporal processing deficit is associated with dyslexia, as suggested by Tallal (1984), is explored, and possible etiologies for such a deficit are discussed. The possibility of a causal link between temporal processing deficits and some reading disabilities is demonstrated, and converging evidence from morphological studies is reviewed. It is concluded that a temporal processing deficit does appear to be present in many developmental dyslexics, and strategies are suggested for further research aimed at evaluating the hypothesis that this deficit may be the root cause of a number of cases of dyslexia itself.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aaron, P. G. (1985). The paradoxical relationship between intelligence and reading disability.Perceptual & Motor Skills,61, 1251–1261.
Aaron, P. G., Olsen, J., &Baker, C. (1985). The dyslexic college student: Is he also dysphasic?Cognitive Neuropsychology,2, 115–147.
Adams, M. J. (1990).Beginning to read: Thinking and learning about print. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Albert, M. L., &Bear, D. (1974). Time to understand: A case study of word deafness with reference to the role of time in auditory comprehension.Brain,97, 373–384.
Anthony, B. J., Zeigler, B. L., &Graham, F. K. (1987). Stimulus duration as an age-dependent factor in reflex blinking.Developmental Psychobiology,20, 285–297.
Aram, D. M., &Ekelman, B. L. (1988). Auditory temporal perception of children with left or right brain lesions.Neuropsychologia,26, 931–935.
Arnett, J. L., &DiLollo, V. (1979). Visual information processing in relation to age and to reading ability.Journal of Experimental Child Psychology,27, 143–152.
Auerbach, S. H., Allard, T., Naeser, M., Alexander, M. P., &Albert, M. L. (1982). Pure word deafness. Analysis of a case with bilateral lesions and a defect at the prephonemic level.Brain,105, 271–300.
Badcock, D., &Lovegrove, W. (1981). The effects of contrast, stimulus duration, and spatial frequency on visible persistence in normal and specifically disabled readers.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,7, 495–505.
Bakker, D. J. (1967). Temporal order, meaningfulness, and reading ability.Perceptual & Motor Skills,24, 1027–1030.
Bakker, D. J. (1970). Temporal order perception and reading retardation. In D. J. Bakker & P. Satz (Eds.),Specific reading disability: Advances in theory and method (pp. 81–96). Rotterdam: Rotterdam University Press.
Bakker, D. J. (1979). Hemispheric differences and reading strategies: Two dyslexias?Bulletin of the Orton Society,29, 84–100.
Beck, C. H. M. (1982). Processing of symbolic and nonsymbolic events: A review of comparisons in selected cognitive activities.International Journal of Neuroscience,17, 93–107.
Beitchman, J. H., &Inglis, A. (1991). The continuum of linguistic dysfunction from pervasive developmental disorders to dyslexia.Psychiatric Clinics of North America,14, 95–111.
Berne, R. M., &Levy, M. N. (1988).Physiology (2nd ed.). St. Louis, MO: C. V. Mosby.
Bernstein, L. E., &Stark, R. E. (1985). Speech perception development in language-impaired children: A 4-year follow-up study.Journal of Speech & Hearing Disorders,50, 21–30.
Bigler, E. D. (1992). The neurobiology and neuropsychology of adult learning disorders.Journal of Learning Disabilities,25, 488–506.
Bishop, D. V. M. (1992). The underlying nature of specific language impairment.Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry,33, 3–66.
Blackwell, S. L., McIntyre, C. W., &Murray, M. E. (1983). Information processed from brief visual displays by learning-disabled boys.Child Development,54, 927–940.
Boder, E. (1971). Developmental dyslexia: Prevailing diagnostic concepts and a new diagnostic approach. In H. Myklebust (Ed.),Progress in learning disabilities (Vol. 2, pp. 293–321). New York: Grune & Stratton.
Bowers, P. G., &Swanson, L. B. (1991). Naming speed deficits in reading disability: Multiple measures of a singular process.Journal of Experimental Child Psychology,51, 195–219.
Bradley, L., &Bryant, P. E. (1978). Difficulties in auditory organisation as a possible cause of reading backwardness.Nature,271, 746–747.
Bradley, L., &Bryant, P. E. (1983). Categorizing sounds and learning to read—A causal connection.Nature,301, 419–421.
Brady, S., Mann, V., &Schmidt, R. (1987). Errors in short-term memory for good and poor readers.Memory & Cognition,15, 444–453.
Brady, S., Shankweiler, D., &Mann, V. (1983). Speech perception and memory coding in relation to reading ability.Journal of Experimental Child Psychology,35, 345–367.
Brannan, J. R., &Williams, M. C. (1988). Developmental versus sensory deficit effects on perceptual processing in the reading disabled.Perception & Psychophysics,44, 437–444.
Breedin, S. D., Martin, R. C., &Jerger, S. (1989). Distinguishing auditory and speech-specific perceptual deficits.Ear & Hearing,10, 311–317.
Breitmeyer, B. G. (1980). Unmasking visual masking: A look at the “why” behind the veil of “how.”Psychological Review,87, 52–69.
Breitmeyer, B. G. (1989). A visually based deficit in specific reading disability.Irish Journal of Psychology,10, 534–541.
Breitmeyer, B. G., &Ganz, L. (1976). Implications of sustained and transient channels for theories of visual pattern masking, saccadic suppression, and information processing.Psychological Review,83, 1–36.
Bryden, M. P. (1972). Auditory-visual and sequential-spatial matching in relation to reading ability.Child Development,43, 824–832.
Byrne, B., &Shea, P. (1979). Semantic and phonetic memory codes in beginning readers.Memory & Cognition,7, 333–338.
Castles, A., &Coltheart, M. (1993). Varieties of developmental dyslexia.Cognition,47, 149–180.
Chase, C., &Jenner, A. R. (1993). Magnocellular visual deficits affect temporal processing of dyslexics. In P. Tallal, A. M. Galaburda, R. R. Llinás, & C. von Euler (Eds.),Temporal information processing in the nervous system: Special reference to dyslexia and dysphasia (Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. 682, pp. 326–329). New York: New York Academy of Sciences.
Cohen, S., Glass, D. C., &Singer, J. E. (1973). Apartment noise, auditory discrimination, and reading ability in children.Journal of Experimental Social Psychology,9, 407–422.
Cutting, J. E. (1974). Two left-hemisphere mechanisms in speech perception.Perception & Psychophysics,16, 601–612.
Davis, S. M., &McCroskey, R. L. (1980). Auditory fusion in children.Child Development,51, 75–80.
Denckla, M. B., &Rudel, R. G. (1976). Naming of object-drawings by dyslexic and other learning disabled children.Brain & Language,3, 1–15.
De Weirdt, W. (1988). Speech perception and frequency discrimination in good and poor readers.Applied Psycholinguistics,9, 163–183.
DiLollo, V., Arnett, J. L., &Kruk, R. V. (1982). Age-related changes in rate of visual information processing.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,8, 225–237.
DiLollo, V., Hanson, D., &McIntyre, J. S. (1983). Initial stages of visual information processing in dyslexia.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,9, 923–935.
Divenyi, P. L., &Efron, R. (1979). Spectral versus temporal features in dichotic listening.Brain & Language,7, 375–386.
Doehring, D. G., Trites, R. L., Patel, P. G., &Fiedorowicz, C. A. M. (1981).Reading disabilities: The interaction of reading, language, and neuropsychological deficits. New York: Academic Press.
Duara, R., Kushch, A., Gross-Glenn, K., Barker, W.W., Jallad, B., Pascal, S., Loewenstein, D. A., Sheldon, J., Rabin, M., Levin, B., &Lubs, H. (1991). Neuroanatomic differences between dyslexic and normal readers on magnetic resonance imaging scans.Archives of Neurology,48, 410–416.
Dykman, R. A., &Ackerman, P. T. (1991). Attention deficit disorder and specific reading disability: Separate but often overlapping disorders.Journal of Learning Disabilities,24, 96–103.
Enns, J.,Bryson, S., &Roes, C. (in press). Searching for letter identity and location by disabled readers.Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology.
Farmer, M. E. (1993).A comparison of the sequential processing abilities of dyslexic and normal readers, using visual and auditory tasks. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada.
Farmer, M. E., &Bryson, S. E. (1989).Reproduction of simultaneously or sequentially presented letter sets by dyslexic and normal readers. Unpublished manuscript. Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada.
Farmer, M. E., &Klein, R. (1993). Auditory and visual temporal processing in dyslexic and normal readers. In P. Tallal, A. M. Galaburda, R. R. Llinás, & C. von Euler (Eds.),Temporal information processing in the nervous system: Special reference to dyslexia and dysphasia (Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. 682, pp. 339–341). New York: New York Academy of Sciences.
Fawcett, A. J., &Nicholson, R. I. (1994). Naming speed in children with dyslexia.Journal of Learning Disabilities,27, 641–646.
Fay, W. H. (1966).Temporal sequence in the perception of speech. The Hague: Mouton.
Felton, R. H., &Wood, F. B. (1989). Cognitive deficits in reading disability and attention deficit disorder.Journal of Learning Disabilities,22, 3–13, 22.
Felton, R. H., Wood, F. B., Brown, I. S., Campbell, S. K., &Harter, M. R. (1987). Separate verbal memory and naming deficits in attention deficit disorder and reading disability.Brain & Language,31, 171–184.
Fisher, D. F., &Frankfurter, A. (1977). Normal and disabled readers can locate and identify letters: Where’s the perceptual deficit?Journal of Reading Behavior,9, 31–43.
Fletcher, J. M. (1985). External validation of learning disability typologies. In B. P. Rourke (Ed.),Neuropsychology of learning disabilities: Essentials of subtype analysis (pp. 187–211). New York: Guilford Press.
Foorman, B. R., &Liberman, D. (1989). Visual and phonological processing of words: A comparison of good and poor readers.Journal of Learning Disabilities,22, 349–355.
Freebody, P., &Byrne, B. (1988). Word-reading strategies in elementary school children: Relations to comprehension, reading time, and phonemic awareness.Reading Research Quarterly,23, 441–453.
Frith, U. (1986). A developmental framework for developmental dyslexia.Annals of Dyslexia,36, 69–81.
Galaburda, A. M. (1988). The pathogenesis of childhood dyslexia. In F. Plum (Ed.),Language, communication and the brain (pp. 127–137). New York: Raven Press.
Galaburda, A. M. (1992). Neurology of developmental dyslexia.Current Opinions in Neurology & Neurosurgery,5, 71–76.
Galaburda, A. M., Corsiglia, J., Rosen, G. D., &Sherman, G. F. (1987). Planum temporale asymmetry, reappraisal since Geschwind and Levitsky.Neuropsychologia,25, 853–868.
Galaburda, A. M., Menard, M. T., &Rosen, G. D. (1994). Evidence for aberrant auditory anatomy in developmental dyslexia.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,91, 8010–8013.
Galaburda, A. M., Sherman, G. F., Rosen, G. D., Aboitiz, F., &Geschwind, N. (1985). Developmental dyslexia: Four consecutive patients with cortical anomalies.Annals of Neurology,18, 222–233.
Gardiner, M. F. (1987). General temporal-sequential processing capability required for reading: New evidence from adults with specific reading difficulties. In S. H. Koslow, A. J. Mandell, & M. F. Schlesinger (Eds.),Perspectives in biological dynamics and theoretical medicine (Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. 504, pp. 283–285). New York: New York Academy of Sciences.
Geiger, G., &Lettvin, J. Y. (1987). Peripheral vision in persons with dyslexia.New England Journal of Medicine,316, 1238–1243.
Geschwind, N. (1984). Cerebral dominance in biological perspective.Neuropsychologia,22, 675–683.
Gibbs, D. P., &Cooper, E. G. (1989). Prevalence of communication disorders in students with learning disabilities.Journal of Learning Disabilities,22, 60–63.
Gladstone, M., Best, C. T., &Davidson, R. J. (1989). Anomalous bimanual coordination among dyslexic boys.Developmental Psychology,25, 236–246.
Godfrey, J. J., Syrdal-Lasky, A. K., Millay, K. K., &Knox, C. M. (1981). Performance of dyslexic children on speech perception tests.Journal of Experimental Child Psychology,32, 401–424.
Gordon, H. W. (1984). Dyslexia. In R. E. Tarter & G. Goldstein (Eds.),Advances in clinical neuropsychology (Vol. 2, pp. 181–205). New York: Plenum.
Goswami, U. (1990). A special link between rhyming skill and the use of orthographic analogies by beginning readers.Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry,31, 301–311.
Gross, K., &Rothenberg, S. (1979). An examination of methods used to test the visual perceptual deficit hypothesis of dyslexia.Journal of Learning Disabilities,12, 36–43.
Gross-Glen, K., &Rothenberg, S. (1984). Evidence for deficit in interhemispheric transfer of information in dyslexic boys.International Journal of Neuroscience,24, 23–35.
Haggerty, R., &Stamm, J. S. (1978). Dichotic auditory fusion levels in children with learning disabilities.Neuropsychologia,16, 349–360.
Hienz, R. D., &Brady, J. V. (1988). The acquisition of vowel discriminations by nonhuman primates.Journal of the Acoustical Society of America,84, 186–194.
Hill, R., &Lovegrove, W. [J.] (1992). One word at a time: A solution to the visual deficits in SRDs? In S. F. Wright, R. Groner, & R. Kaufmann-Hayoz (Eds.),Facets of dyslexia and its remediation (pp. 65–76). Amsterdam: Elsevier, North-Holland.
Hirsh, I. J., &Sherrick, C. E., Jr. (1961). Perceived order in different sense modalities.Journal of Experimental Psychology,62, 423–432.
Ho, H.-Z., &Decker, S. N. (1988). Cognitive resemblance in readingdisabled twins.Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology,30, 99–107.
Holmes, D. R., &McKeever, W. F. (1979). Material specific serial memory deficit in adolescent dyslexics.Cortex,15, 51–62.
Hoyt, C. S., III (1990). Irlen lenses and reading difficulties.Journal of Learning Disabilities,23, 624–626.
Hulme, C. (1988). The implausibility of low-level visual deficits as a cause of children’s reading difficulties.Cognitive Neuropsychology,5, 369–374.
Hynd, G. W. (1992). Neurological aspects of dyslexia: Comment on the balance model.Journal of Learning Disabilities,25, 110–112, 123.
Hynd, G. W., &Semrud-Clikeman, M. (1989). Dyslexia and brain morphology.Psychological Bulletin,106, 447–482.
Hynd, G. W., Semrud-Clikeman, M., Lorys, A. R., Novey, E. S., &Eliopulos, D. (1990). Brain morphology in developmental dyslexia and attention deficit disorder/hyperactivity.Archives of Neurology,47, 919–926.
Irwin, R. J., Ball, A. K. R., Kay, N., Stillman, J. A., &Rosser, J. (1985). The development of auditory temporal acuity in children.Child Development,56, 614–620.
Jernigan, T. L., Hesselink, J. R., Sowell, E., &Tallal, P. (1991). Cerebral structure on magnetic resonance imaging in language- and learning-impaired children.Archives of Neurology,48, 539–545.
Johnson, D. J., &Myklebust, H. R. (1967).Learning disabilities: Educational principles and practices. New York: Grune & Stratton.
Johnston, R. S. (1982). Phonological coding in dyslexic readers.British Journal of Psychology,73, 455–460.
Jorm, A. F. (1983). Specific reading retardation and working memory: A review.British Journal of Psychology,74, 311–342.
Jusczyk, P. W., Rosner, B. S., Reed, M. A., &Kennedy, L. J. (1989). Could temporal order differences underlie 2-month-olds’ discrimination of English voicing contrasts?Journal of the Acoustical Society of America,85, 1741–1749.
Kamhi, A. [G.], &Catts, H. W. (1986). Toward an understanding of developmental language and reading disorders.Journal of Speech & Hearing Disorders,51, 337–347.
Kamhi, A. G., &Catts, H. W. (1989).Reading disabilities: A developmental language perspective. Boston: Little, Brown.
Katz, R. B. (1986). Phonological deficiencies in children with reading disability: Evidence from an object-naming task.Cognition,22, 225–257.
Katz, R. B., Healy, A. F., &Shankweiler, D. (1983). Phonetic coding and order memory in relation to reading proficiency: A comparison of short-term memory for temporal and spatial order information.Applied Psycholinguistics,4, 229–250.
Katz, R. B., Healy, A. F., &Shankweiler, D. (1984). On accounting for deficiencies in order memory associated with reading difficulty: A reply to Tallal.Applied Psycholinguistics,5, 170–174.
Katz, R. B., &Shankweiler, D. (1985). Repetitive naming and the detection of word retrieval deficits in the beginning reader.Cortex,21, 617–625.
Katz, R. B., Shankweiler, D., &Liberman, I. Y. (1981). Memory for item order and phonetic recoding in the beginning reader.Journal of Experimental Child Psychology,32, 474–484.
Kinsbourne, M., Rufo, D. T., Gamzu, E., Palmer, R. L., &Berliner, A. K. (1991). Neuropsychological deficits in adults with dyslexia.Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology,33, 763–775.
Klein, R., Berry, G., Briand, K., D’Entremont, B., &Farmer, M. (1990). Letter identification declines with increasing retinal eccentricity at the same rate for normal and dyslexic readers.Perception & Psychophysics,47, 601–606.
Klicpera, C., Wolff, P. H., &Drake, C. (1981). Bimanual co-ordination in adolescent boys with reading retardation.Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology,23, 617–625.
Kluender, K. R., Kiehl, R. L., &Killeen, P. R. (1987, September 4). Japanese quail can learn phonetic categories.Science,237, 1195–1197.
Kuhl, P. K. (1986). Theoretical contributions of tests on animals to the special-mechanisms debate in speech.Experimental Biology,45, 233–265.
Kuhl, P. K. (1992, September).The perception of speech by infants: What is given by nature, what is gained by experience. Paper presented at the New York Academy of Sciences/Rodin Remediation Academy Conference, New York.
Larsen, J., Hoien, T., Lundberg, I., &Odegaard, H. (1990). MRI evaluation of the size and symmetry of the planum temporale in adolescents with developmental dyslexia.Brain & Language,39, 289–301.
Larsen, J. P., Hoien, T., &Odegaard, H. (1992). Magnetic resonance imaging of the corpus callosum in developmental dyslexia.Cognitive Neuropsychology,9, 123–134.
Lehmkuhle, S., Garzia, R. P., Turner, L., Hash, T., &Baro, J. A. (1993). A defective visual pathway in children with reading disability.New England Journal of Medicine,382, 989–996.
Lennartz, R. C., &Weinberger, N. M. (1992). Frequency selectivity is related to temporal processing in parallel thalamocortical auditory pathways.Brain Research,583, 81–92.
Liberman, I. Y. (1983). A language-oriented view of reading and its disabilities. In H. Myklebust (Ed.),Progress in learning disabilities (Vol. 5, pp. 81–101). New York: Grune & Stratton.
Liberman, I. Y. (1989). Phonology and beginning reading revisited. In C. von Euler, I. Lundberg, & G. Lennerstrand (Eds.),Brain and reading (pp. 207–220). New York: Stockton Press.
Liberman, I. Y., &Shankweiler, D. (1985). Phonology and the problems of learning to read and write.Remedial & Special Education,6, 8–17.
Livingstone, M. S., &Hubel, D. H. (1987). Psychophysical evidence for separate channels for the perception of form, color, movement, and depth.Journal of Neuroscience,7, 3416–3468.
Livingstone, M. S., Rosen, G. D., Drislane, F. W., &Galaburda, A. M. (1991). Physiological and anatomical evidence for a magnocellular defect in developmental dyslexia.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,88, 7943–7947.
Lovegrove, W. [J.], &Heddle, M. (1980). Visual persistence as a function of spatial frequency and age.Perception,9, 529–532.
Lovegrove, W. J., Heddle, M., &Slaghuis, W. (1980). Reading disability: Spatial frequency specific deficits in visual information store.Neuropsychologia,18, 111–115.
Lovegrove, W. [J.], Martin, F., &Slaghuis, W. (1986). A theoretical and experimental case for a visual defict in specific reading disability.Cognitive Neuropsychology,3, 225–267.
Lovegrove, W. [J.], Pepper, K., Martin, F., Mackenzie, B., &McNicol, D. (1989). Phonological recoding, memory processing and visual deficits in specific reading disability. In D. Vickers & P. I. Smith (Eds.),Human information processing: Measures, mechanisms and models (pp. 65–79). Amsterdam: Elsevier, North-Holland.
Lovegrove, W. [J.], Slaghuis, W., Bowling, A., Nelson, P., &Geeves, E. (1986). Spatial frequency processing and the prediction of reading ability: A preliminary investigation.Perception & Psychophysics,40, 440–444.
Lovett, M. W. (1984). A developmental perspective on reading dysfunction: Accuracy and rate criteria in the subtyping of dyslexic children.Brain & Language,22, 67–91.
Lovett, M. W. (1987). A developmental approach to reading disability: Accuracy and speed criteria of normal and deficient reading skill.Child Development,58, 234–260.
Ludlow, C. L., Cudahy, E. A., Bassich, C., &Brown, G. L. (1983). Auditory processing skills of hyperactive, language-impaired and reading-disabled boys. In E. Z. Lasky & J. Katz (Eds.),Central auditory processing disorders (pp. 163–184). Baltimore: University Park Press.
Lundberg, I., &Hoien, T. (1989). Phonemic deficits: A core symptom of developmental dyslexia?Irish Journal of Psychology,10, 579–592.
Lyon, G. R. (1985). Educational validation studies of learning disability subtypes. In B. P. Rourke (Ed.),Neuropsychology of learning disabilities: Essentials of subtype analysis (pp. 228–253). New York: Guilford Press.
Mann, V. A. (1984). Longitudinal prediction and prevention of early reading difficulty.Annals of Dyslexia,34, 117–136.
Mann, V. A. (1993). Phoneme awareness and future reading ability.Journal of Learning Disabilities,26, 259–269.
Mann, V. A., &Brady, S. (1988). Reading disability: The role of language deficiencies.Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology,56, 811–816.
Mann, V. A., Liberman, I. Y., &Shankweiler, D. (1980). Children’s memory for sentences and word strings in relation to reading ability.Memory & Cognition,8, 329–335.
Martin, F., &Lovegrove, W. J. (1988). Uniform-field flicker masking in control and specifically-disabled readers.Perception,17, 203–214.
Mason, M. (1980). Reading ability and the encoding of item and location information.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,6, 89–98.
May, J. G., Williams, M. C., &Dunlap, W. P. (1988). Temporal order judgements in good and poor readers.Neuropsychologia,26, 917–924.
McCroskey, R. L., &Kidder, H. C. (1980). Auditory fusion among learning disabled, reading disabled, and normal children.Journal of Learning Disabilities,13, 18–25.
McGivern, R. F., Berka, C., Languis, M. L., &Chapman, S. (1991). Detection of deficits in temporal pattern discrimination using the Seashore Rhythm Test in young children with reading impairments.Journal of Learning Disabilities,24, 58–62.
Merzenich, M. M., Schreiner, C., Jenkins, W., &Wang, X. (1993). Neural mechanisms underlying temporal integration, segmentation, and input sequence representation: Some implications for the origin of learning disabilities. In P. Tallal, A. M. Gallaburda, R. R. Llinás, & C. von Euler (Eds.),Temporal information processing in the nervous system: Special reference to dyslexia and dysphasia (Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. 682, pp. 1–22). New York: New York Academy of Sciences.
Morrongiello, B. A., &Trehub, S. E. (1987). Age-related changes in auditory temporal perception.Journal of Experimental Child Psychology,44, 413–426.
Nicolson, R. I., &Fawcett, A. J. (1990). Automaticity: A new framework for dyslexia research?Cognition,35, 159–182.
Nicolson, R. I., &Fawcett, A. J. (1993). Children with dyslexia automatise temporal skills more slowly. In P. Tallal, A. M. Gallaburda, R. R. Llinás, & C. von Euler (Eds.),Temporal information processing in the nervous system: Special reference to dyslexia and dysphasia (Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. 682, pp. 387–389). New York: New York Academy of Sciences.
O’Connor, P. D., Sofo, F., Kendall, L., &Olsen, G. (1990). Reading disabilities and the effects of colored filters.Journal of Learning Disabilities,23, 597–603, 620.
Ojemann, G., &Mateer, C. (1979, September 28). Human language cortex: Localization of memory, syntax, and sequential motor-phoneme identification systems.Science,205, 1401–1403.
Olson, R. K., Davidson, B. J., Kliegl, R., &Davies, S. E. (1984). Development of phonetic memory in disabled and normal readers.Journal of Experimental Child Psychology,37, 187–206.
Olson, R. K., Forsberg, H., &Wise, B. (1994). Genes, environment, and the development of orthographic skills. In V. W. Berginger (Ed.),The varieties of orthographic knowledge I: Theoretical and developmental issues (pp. 27–71). Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Olson, R. [K.], Wise, B., Conners, F., Rack, J., &Fulker, D. (1989). Specific deficits in component reading and language skills: Genetic and environmental influences.Journal of Learning Disabilities,22, 339–348.
O’Neill, G., &Stanley, G. (1976). Visual processing of straight lines in dyslexic and normal children.British Journal of Educational Psychology,46, 323–327.
Pennington, B. F., &Smith, S. D. (1988). Genetic influences on learning disabilities: An update.Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology,56, 817–823.
Phillips, D. P., &Farmer, M. E. (1990). Acquired word deafness, and the time frame of processing in the primary auditory cortex.Behavioural Brain Research,40, 85–94.
Poizner, H., &Tallal, P. (1987). Temporal processing in deaf signers.Brain & Language,30, 52–62.
Rack, J. (1985). Orthographic and phonetic coding in developmental dyslexia.British Journal of Psychology,76, 325–340.
Rapin, I., &Allen, D. A. (1988). Syndromes in developmental dysphasia and adult aphasia. In F. Plum (Ed.),Language, communication and the brain (pp. 57–75). New York: Raven Press.
Ravizza, R. J., &Belmore, S. M. (1978). Auditory forebrain: Evidence from anatomical and behavioral experiments involving human and animal subjects. In R. B. Masterton (Ed.),Handbook of behavioral neurobiology: Vol. 1. Sensory integration (pp. 459–501). New York: Plenum.
Rayner, K. (1975). The perceptual span and peripheral cues in reading.Cognitive Psychology,7, 65–81.
Rayner, K., &Pollatsek, A. (1987). Eye movements in reading: A tutorial review. In M. Coltheart (Ed.),Attention and performance XII: The psychology of reading (pp. 327–362). Hove, U.K.: Erlbaum.
Reed, M. A. (1989). Speech perception and the discrimination of brief auditory cues in reading-disabled children.Journal of Experimental Child Psychology,48, 270–292.
Ripps, H., &Weale, R. A. (1976). Temporal analysis and resolution. In H. Davison (Ed.),The eye (2nd ed., pp. 185–194). New York: Academic Press.
Robin, D. A., Tomblin, J. B., Kearney, A., &Hug, L. N. (1989). Auditory temporal pattern learning in children with speech and language impairments.Brain & Language,36, 604–613.
Robinson, G. L. W., &Conway, R. N. F. (1990). The effects of Irlen colored lenses on students’ specific reading skills and their perception of ability: A 12-month validity study.Journal of Learning Disabilities,23, 589–596.
Satz, P., &Morris, R. (1981). Learning disability subtypes: A review. In F. J. Pirozzolo & M. C. Wittrock (Eds.),Neuropsychological and cognitive processes in reading (pp. 109–141). New York: Academic Press.
Scarborough, H. S. (1989). Prediction of reading disability from familial and individual differences.Journal of Educational Psychology,81, 101–108.
Scarborough, H. S. (1990). Very early language deficits in dyslexic children.Child Development,61, 1728–1743.
Schwartz, J., &Tallal, P. (1980, March 21). Rate of acoustic change may underlie hemispheric specialization for speech perception.Science,207, 1380–1381.
Segalowitz, S., Wagner, W. J., &Menna, R. (1992). Lateral versus frontal ERP predictors of reading skill.Brain & Language,20, 85–103.
Seidenberg, M. S., &Manis, F. R. (1994, November).On the bases of the “surface” and “phonological” subtypes of developmental dyslexia. Paper presented at the meeting of the Psychonomic Society, St. Louis.
Seidenberg, M. S., &McClelland, J. L. (1989). A distributed, developmental model of word recognition and naming.Psychological Review,96, 523–568.
Seymour, P. H. K., &Elder, L. (1986). Beginning reading without phonology.Cognitive Neuropsychology,3, 1–36.
Shapiro, K. L., Ogden, N., &Lind-Blad, F. (1990). Temporal processing in dyslexia.Journal of Learning Disabilities,23, 99–107.
Share, D. L., Jorm, A. F., Maclean, R., &Matthews, R. (1984). Sources of individual differences in reading acquisition.Journal of Educational Psychology,76, 1309–1324.
Share, D. L., &Silva, P. A. (1987). Language deficits and specific reading retardation: Cause or effect?British Journal of Disorders of Communication,22, 219–226.
Siegel, L. S., &Linder, B. A. (1984). Short-term memory processes in children with reading and learning disabilities.Developmental Psychology,20, 200–207.
Slaghuis, W. L., &Lovegrove, W. J. (1985). Spatial-frequency-dependent visible persistence and specific reading disability.Brain & Cognition,4, 219–240.
Slaghuis, W. L., &Lovegrove, W. J., &Freestun, J. (1992). Letter recognition in peripheral vision and metacontrast masking in dyslexic and normal readers.Clinical Vision Science,7, 53–65.
Snowling, M. [J.] (1987).Dyslexia: A cognitive developmental perspective. Oxford, U.K.: Basil Blackwell.
Snowling, M. J. (1991). Developmental reading disorders.Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry,32, 49–77.
Snowling, M. [J.], Stackhouse, J., &Rack, J. (1986). Phonological dyslexia and dysgraphia—A developmental analysis.Cognitive Neuropsychology,3, 309–339.
Snowling, M. [J.], van Wagtendonk, B., &Stafford, C. (1988). Object-naming deficits in developmental dyslexia.Journal of Research in Reading,11, 67–85.
Solan, H. A. (1990). An appraisal of the Irlen technique of correcting reading disorders using tinted overlays and tinted lenses.Journal of Learning Disabilities,23, 621–623, 626.
Solman, R. T., &May, J. G. (1990). Spatial localization discrepancies: A visual deficiency in poor readers.American Journal of Psychology,103, 243–263.
Stanley, G., &Hall, R. (1973). A comparison of dyslexics and normals in recalling letter arrays after brief presentation.British Journal of Education Psychology,43, 301–304.
Stanovich, K. E. (1980). Toward an interactive-compensatory model of individual differences in the development of reading fluency.Reading Research Quarterly,16, 32–71.
Stanovich, K. [E.] (1986a). Cognitive processes and the reading problems of learning-disabled children: Evaluating the assumption of specificity. In J. Torgesen & B. Wong (Eds.),Psychological and educational perspectives on learning disabilities (pp. 87–131). New York: Academic Press.
Stanovich, K. E. (1986b). Matthew effects in reading: Some consequences of individual differences in the acquisition of literacy.Reading Research Quarterly,21, 360–406.
Stanovich, K. E. (1988a). Explaining the differences between the dyslexic and the garden-variety poor reader: The phonological-core variable-difference model.Journal of Learning Disabilities,21, 590–604.
Stanovich, K. E. (1988b). The right and wrong places to look for the cognitive locus of reading disability.Annals of Dyslexia,38, 154–177.
Stanovich, K. E., Cunningham, A. E., &Cramer, B. B. (1984). Assessing phonological awareness in kindergarten children: Issues of task comparability.Journal of Experimental Child Psychology,38, 175–190.
Stanovich, K. E., West, R. F., &Feeman, D. J. (1981). A longitudinal study of sentence context effects in second-grade children: Tests of an interactive-compensatory model.Journal of Experimental Child Psychology,32, 185–199.
Stark, R. E., Bernstein, L. E., Condino, R., Bender, M., Tallal, P., &Catts, H. (1984). Four-year follow-up study of language-impaired children.Annals of Dyslexia,34, 49–68.
Stark, R. E., &Tallal, P. (1981). Perceptual and motor deficits in language-impaired children. In R. W. Keith (Ed.),Central auditory and language disorders in children (pp. 121–144). Houston: College-Hill Press.
Stark, R. E., Tallal, P., &Mellits, E. D. (1985). Expressive language and perceptual and motor abilities in language-impaired children.Human Communication Canada,9, 23–28.
Stefanatos, G. A., Green, G. G. R., &Ratcliff, G. G. (1989). Neurophysiological evidence of auditory channel anomalies in developmental dysphasia.Archives of Neurology,46, 871–875.
Studdert-Kennedy, M., &Shankweiler, D. (1970). Hemispheric specialization for speech perception.Journal of the Acoustical Society of America,48, 579–594.
Tallal, P. (1976). Rapid auditory processing in normal and disordered language development.Journal of Speech & Hearing Research,19, 561–571.
Tallal, P. (1978). An experimental investigation of the role of auditory temporal processing in normal and disordered language development. In A. Caramazza & E. B. Zurif (Eds.),Language acquisition and language breakdown: Parallels and divergencies (pp. 25–61). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Tallal, P. (1980). Auditory temporal perception, phonics, and the reading disabilities in children.Brain & Language,9, 182–198.
Tallal, P. (1984). Temporal or phonetic processing deficit in dyslexia? That is the question.Applied Psycholinguistics,5, 167–169.
Tallal, P. (1985). Neuropsychological research approaches to the study of central auditory prcoessing.Human Communication Canada,9, 17–22.
Tallal, P. (1988). Developmental language disorders: Part 1—Definition.Human Communication Canada,12, 7–22.
Tallal, P., &Curtiss, S. (1990). Neurological basis of developmental language disorders. In A. Rothenberger (Ed.),Brain and behavior in child psychiatry (pp. 205–216). New York: Springer-Verlag.
Tallal, P., &Piercy, M. (1973). Developmental aphasia: Impaired rate of non-verbal processing as a function of sensory modality.Neuropsychologia,11, 389–398.
Tallal, P., &Piercy, M. (1975). Developmental aphasia: The perception of brief vowels and extended stop consonants.Neuropsychologia,13, 69–74.
Tallal, P., Sainburg, R. L., &Jernigan, T. (1991). The neuropathology of developmental dysphasia: Behavioral, morphological, and physiological evidence for a pervasive temporal processing disorder.Reading & Writing,3, 363–377.
Tallal, P., &Stark, R. E. (1982). Perceptual/motor profiles of read ing impaired children with or without concomitant oral language deficits.Annals of Dyslexia,32, 163–176.
Tallal, P., Stark, R. [E.], Kallman, C., &Mellits, D. (1981). A reexamination of some nonverbal perceptual abilities of languageimpaired and normal children as a function of age and sensory modality.Journal of Speech & Hearing Research,24, 351–357.
Tallal, P., Stark, R. E., &Mellits, E. D. (1985). Identification of language-impaired children on the basis of rapid perception and production skills.Brain & Language,25, 314–322.
Tallal, P., Townsend, J., Curtiss, S., &Wulfeck, B. (1991). Phenotypic profiles of language-impaired children based on genetic/family history.Brain & Language,41, 81–95.
Thatcher, R. W. (1980). Neurolinguistics: Theoretical and evolutionary perspectives.Brain & Language,11, 235–260.
Torgesen, J. K. (1985). Memory processes in reading-disabled children.Journal of Learning Disabilities,18, 350–357.
Tzeng, O. J. L., &Wang, W. S.-Y. (1984). Search for a common neurocognitive mechanism for language and movements.American Journal of Physiology,246, R904-R911.
Underwood, G., &Boot, D. (1986). Hemispheric asymmetries in developmental dyslexia: Cerebral structure or attentional strategies?Journal of Reading Behavior,18, 219–228.
Vellutino, F. R. (1987, March). Dyslexia.Scientific American,256, 34–41.
Vellutino, F. R., &Scanlon, D. M. (1987). Phonological coding, phonological awareness, and reading ability: Evidence from a longitudinal and experimental study.Merrill-Palmer Quarterly,33, 321–363.
Vellutino, F. R., Steger, J. A., Kaman, M., &De Setto, L. (1975). Visual form perception in deficient and normal readers as a function of age and orthographic-linguistic familiarity.Cortex,11, 22–30.
Wagner, R. K. (1986). Phonological processing abilities and reading: Implications for disabled readers.Journal of Learning Disabilities,19, 623–630.
Wagner, R. K., &Torgesen, J. K. (1987). The nature of phonological processing and its causal role in the acquisition of reading skills.Psychological Bulletin,101, 192–212.
Watkins, R. V. (1990). Processing problems and language impairment in children.Topics in Language Disorders,11, 63–72.
Watson, B. U. (1992). Auditory temporal acuity in normally achieving and learning-disabled college students.Journal of Speech & Hearing Research,35, 148–156.
Werker, J. (1989). Becoming a native listener.American Scientist,77, 54–59.
Werker, J. F., Bryson, S. E., &Wassenberg, K. (1989). Toward understanding the problem in severely disabled readers: Part II. Consonant errors.Applied Psycholinguistics,10, 13–30.
Werker, J. F., &Tees, R. C. (1987). Speech perception in severely disabled and average reading children.Canadian Journal of Psychology,41, 48–61.
Werner, L. A., Marean, G. C., Halpin, C. F., Spetner, N. B., &Gillenwater, J. M. (1992). Infant auditory temporal acuity: Gap detection.Child Development,63, 260–272.
Wickelgren, W. A. (1979).Cognitive psychology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Williams, M., &LeCluyse, K. (1990). Perceptual consequences of a temporal processing deficit in reading-disabled children.Journal of the American Optometric Association,61, 111–121.
Winters, R. L., Patterson, R., &Shontz, W. (1989). Visual persistence and adult dyslexia.Journal of Learning Disabilities,22, 641–645.
Wolf, M. (1986). Rapid alternating stimulus naming in the developmental dyslexias.Brain & Language,27, 360–379.
Wolf, M. (1991). Naming speed and reading: The contribution of the cognitive neurosciences.Reading Research Quarterly,26, 123–141.
Wolf, M., &Obregon, M. (1992). Early naming deficits, developmental dyslexia, and a specific deficit hypothesis.Brain & Language,42, 219–247.
Wolff, P. H., Cohen, C., &Drake, C. (1984). Impaired motor timing control in specific reading retardation.Neuropsychologia,22, 587–600.
Wolff, P. H., Michel, G. F., Ovrut, M., &Drake, C. (1990). Rate and timing precision of motor coordination in developmental dyslexia.Developmental Psychology,26, 349–359.
Wood, F., Flowers, L., Buchsbaum, M., &Tallal, P. (1991). Investigation of abnormal left temporal functioning in dyslexia through rCBF, auditory evoked potentials, and positron emission tomography.Reading & Writing,3, 379–393.
Zurif, E. G., &Carson, G. (1970). Dyslexia in relation to cerebral dominance and temporal analysis.Neuropsychologia,8, 351–361.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Portions of this work were included in a doctoral dissertation presented by the first author. The work was supported by a Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) grant to the second author, and by an NSERC Graduate Scholarship and a Killam Memorial Scholarship awarded to the first author. The authors gratefully acknowledge the ideas and discussions contributed by Susan Bryson early in this paper’s conception, as well as further helpful contributions by Dennis Phillips. The helpful and critical comments on earlier versions of this manuscript by Randi Martin, Richard Olsen, Paula Tallal, and several anonymous reviewers have been very much appreciated. Finally, the careful and constructive suggestions of Jim Neely were crucial in refining this paper and are acknowledged with gratitude.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Farmer, M.E., Klein, R.M. The evidence for a temporal processing deficit linked to dyslexia: A review. Psychon Bull Rev 2, 460–493 (1995). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03210983
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03210983