Working-memory training improves developmental dyslexia in Chinese children  

作　　者：Yan Luo Jing Wang Hanrong Wu Dongmei Zhu Yu Zhang 

机构地区：[1]Department of Child and Women Health Care, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology [2]Wuhan Mental Health Center

出　　处：《Neural Regeneration Research》2013年第5期452-460,共9页中国神经再生研究（英文版）

基　　金：supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 30872132

摘　　要：Although plasticity in the neural system underlies working memory, and working memory can be improved by training, there is thus far no evidence that children with developmental dyslexia can benefit from working-memory training. In the present study, thirty dyslexic children aged 8-11 years were recruited from an elementary school in Wuhan, China. They received working-memory training including training in visuospatial memory, verbal memory, and central executive tasks. The difficulty of the tasks was adjusted based on the performance of each subject, and the training sessions lasted 40 minutes per day, for 5 weeks. The results showed that working-memory training significantly enhanced performance on the nontrained working memory tasks such as the visuospatial, the verbal domains, and central executive tasks in children with developmental dyslexia. More importantly, the visual rhyming task and reading fluency task were also significantly improved by training. Progress on working memory measures was related to changes in reading skills. These experimental findings indicate that working memory is a pivotal factor in reading development among children with developmental dyslexia, and interventions to improve working memory may help dyslexic children to become more proficient in reading.Although plasticity in the neural system underlies working memory, and working memory can be improved by training, there is thus far no evidence that children with developmental dyslexia can benefit from working-memory training. In the present study, thirty dyslexic children aged 8-11 years were recruited from an elementary school in Wuhan, China. They received working-memory training including training in visuospatial memory, verbal memory, and central executive tasks. The difficulty of the tasks was adjusted based on the performance of each subject, and the training sessions lasted 40 minutes per day, for 5 weeks. The results showed that working-memory training significantly enhanced performance on the nontrained working memory tasks such as the visuospatial, the verbal domains, and central executive tasks in children with developmental dyslexia. More importantly, the visual rhyming task and reading fluency task were also significantly improved by training. Progress on working memory measures was related to changes in reading skills. These experimental findings indicate that working memory is a pivotal factor in reading development among children with developmental dyslexia, and interventions to improve working memory may help dyslexic children to become more proficient in reading.

关 键 词：neural regeneration NEUROREHABILITATION developmental dyslexia working memory training visuospatial memory verbal memory central executive task visual rhyming task reading fluency task Chinese children brain function grants-supported paper photographs-containing paper neuroregeneration 

分 类 号：R179[医药卫生—妇幼卫生保健]