| Abstract: | This study compared the performance of normal, primary, and secondary reading groups on intersensory and intrasensory tasks requiring paired and serial recall. Auditory and visual stimulus pairs composed of digits from 1 to 9 were presented using a Bell and Howell Language Master. Eight experimental tasks (four intersensory and four intrasensory) that required paired and serial verbal recall with an alteration of the first recalled modality (auditory or visual) were used. Ten trials of each of the eight experimental conditions were used with three pairs of stimuli presented at 2-second intervals. Three types of recall errors were scored for each task: gross (omission or substitution of digits), order (digit out of sequence), and interchange (inversion of digits). A multivariate analysis of variance was carried out for the reading groups × tasks × error types. The level of recall errors on bisensory tasks (auditory and visual) was related to the reading diagnostic groups. All readers exhibit similar patterns in the processing of bisensory information; however, unique differences were found among normal, primary, and secondary readers. A summary profile is given of the effects of task parameters among the groups (normal, primary, and secondary readers) in the processing of bisensory tasks. |
