Audiovisual Integration in Retarded Readers

Abstract

Sixteen retarded readers and an equal number of controls were compared with respect to their performances on four matching tasks: (1) visual-spatial/visual-spatial, (2) visual-temporal/visual-temporal, (3) auditory-temporal/auditory-temporal, and (4) auditory-temporal/visual-spatial. The results suggested that the visual-spatial/visual-spatial and the auditory-temporal/auditory-temporal tasks discriminated between the two groups while the others did not. These findings were discussed as not supporting the Birch and Belmont hypothesis that auditory-visual integration is a critical skill in which retarded readers are deficient. An alternative explanation offered for the present findings was that memory and/or perceptual factors may account for performance deficits in retarded readers.