Investigating working memory and sustained attention in dyslexic adults Tracy Packiam Alloway a, *, Samantha Wootan a , Peter Deane b a University of North Florida, United States b University of Stirling, United Kingdom According to the British Dyslexia Association (BDA), dyslexia is a prevalent learning disability characterized by difficulties in reading and spelling, along with deficiencies in phonological awareness, verbal memory, and verbal processing speed. Dyslexia is considered a heterogeneous disorder (Berninger, 2004; Ramus et al., 2003) that has a genetic basis (Fisher & DeFries, 2002), and can be driven by a phonological deficit (Wagner & Torgesen, 1987), as well as a verbal memory deficit (Swanson & Siegel, 2001). As the effects of dyslexia often extend into adulthood and can potentially interfere with one’s daily activities such as job duties, this area demands further attention. Although there is an abundance of research on dyslexia in children, there is relatively little literature on adults with dyslexia. Thus, the present study extends existing research to adults and investigates the role of two key cognitive skills associated with reading—working memory and sustained attention. 1. Working memory and dyslexia Working memory is a higher-level skill that is linked to a range of cognitive activities from reasoning tasks to verbal comprehension (see Cowan and Alloway, 2008, for a review). In typically developing children, scores on working memory tasks predicted reading achievement independently of measures of phonological skills (Swanson & Beebe-Frankenberger, 2004). Working memory skills in kindergarten were an excellent predictor of reading skills six years later (Alloway & Alloway, 2010). Deficits in verbal working memory have been linked to reading difficulties characteristic of dyslexia (Jeffries & Everatt, 2004; Kibby, Marks, Morgan, & Long, 2004; Schuchardt, Maehler, & Hasselhorn, 2008; Smith-Spark, Fisk, Fawcett, & Nicolson, 2003), even in young adults (Palmer, 2000; Smith-Spark & Fisk, 2007). International Journal of Educational Research 67 (2014) 11–17 A R T I C L E I N F O Article history: Received 9 February 2014 Received in revised form 2 April 2014 Accepted 14 April 2014 Available online 8 May 2014 Keywords: Verbal working memory Visuo-spatial working memory dyslexia Sustained attention Automaticity deficit A B S T R A C T The aim of this pilot study was to investigate the profile of working memory and sustained attention skills in adults with dyslexia. Measures of verbal and visuo-spatial working memory functioning and sustained attention with stimulus presentation times of 1000– 2000 ms were used. The findings indicated that the adults with dyslexia performed similarly to the control group in working memory tests. However, a gender difference was found within the dyslexic group: males performed significantly better than females on both working memory tests. With respect to the sustained attention test, there was a switching cost in moving from one block of trials to another. However, both the dyslexic adults and the controls exhibited similar rates of accuracy and response times. This pattern of findings is interpreted in light of an automaticity deficit previously reported in dyslexia. ß 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. * Corresponding author at: Department of Psychology, University of North Florida, 1 UNF Drive, Jacksonville, FL 32224, United States. Tel.: +19046201614. E-mail address: t.alloway@unf.edu (T.P. Alloway). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect International Journal of Educational Research jo u r nal h o mep age: w ww.els evier.c o m/lo c ate/ijed ur es http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2014.04.001 0883-0355/ß 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.