Baddeley and Hitch (Baddeley & Hitch, 1974) have described a model of working memory which explains how information can be temporarily held `on-line' in order to carry out everyday cognitive tasks such as learning, reasoning, and comprehension. One component of this model, the visuospatial sketchpad (VSSP), has not been as well described as other components of the model and there is some debate over its structure. Furthermore, the everyday cognitive importance of the VSSP has not been well researched. A battery of visual and spatial measures was developed to investigate the structure of the VSSP and its potential role in reading. A principal component analysis on a group of normal, undergraduate participants did not reveal the expected dissociation of visual from spatial processing. However, a dissociation was found in a group of dyslexic individuals. A series of multiple regressions revealed that while neither visual nor spatial processing reliably contributed to reading ability in normals, spatial processing contributed to reading fluency in the dyslexic sample. These findings suggest that while shared variance techniques fail to reveal the visual vs. spatial dissociation in working memory in normals, the dissociation can be revealed by clinical samples. In general, it appears that the ability to maintain visual vs. spatial information in working memory requires distinct cognitive processes. Furthermore, there is a relationship between VSSP processing and reading. This study has opened many doors for future research on the structure of the model and its importance for reading.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVIV.1828/988 |
| Date | 10 June 2008 |
| Creators | Royan, Jodie |
| Contributors | Graves, Roger |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | Available to the World Wide Web |
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