ERIC Number: ED249682
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1984-Apr
Pages: 16
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Verbal Deficit in Learning Disabilities: Electrophysiological Evidence for Visuospatial Processing Predominance.
Naour, Paul; Martin, Daniel
Twelve learning disabled (9-12 years old) boys were identified according to special class placement, WISC-R (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised) and performance measures. A group demonstrating a verbal WISC-R deficit was sex- and age-matched with a normal group. Electroencephalograms (EEGs) were collected while these individuals performed two verbal, one visuospatial, and one interfering verbal/visuospatial tasks. Several previous investigations suggested that the slow wave theta component of the EEG is more predominant during visuospatial processing. Results demonstrated that the learning disabled boys, in contrast to normal boys, show significantly higher levels of such brain electrical activity during performance of both verbal tasks and the one purely visuospatial task. Theta level activity in normal boys was enhanced only during the performance of the verbal/visuospatial interference task. The enhancement resulted from more right hemisphere activity, perhaps due to the interference. This was the only task in which differences between groups was not significant. The data suggest a predominant visuospatial processing mode in learning disabled boys during performance of both verbal and visuospatial tasks. The only enhancement in normals was in the task which has an interfering visuospatial direction. Findings support other performance related findings which suggested learning disabled individuals have a predominant visuospatial processing strategy. (Author/CL)
Publication Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Note: Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (68th, New Orleans, LA, April 23-27, 1984).