Development of information processing in normal and disabled readers.

8- and 11-yr-old reading-disabled children were compared in two experiments with controls matched on intelligence and age. Exp. 1 measured duration of visual information store by means of a separation threshold technique. Exp. II determined the rate of transfer from visual information store to short-term memory using a backward masking technique. Results from Exp. I showed that at each age specific reading-disabled children had significantly longer durations of visual information store than controls. The difference between the reading ability groups decreased with increasing age. Exp. II demonstrated that rate of transfer of information was significantly slower for specific reading-disabled children than for controls at both age levels. In contrast to Exp. I, this difference increased with increasing age. The results are considered in terms of their possible relevance to developmental lag theories. The evidence indicates that the development of visual information processing in reading-disabled children is similar to that in controls but occurs at a slower rate.