Skip to main content

Visual search deficits are independent of magnocellular deficits in dyslexia

Annals of Dyslexia volume 62, pages 53–69 (2012)Cite this article

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the theory that visual magnocellular deficits seen in groups with dyslexia are linked to reading via the mechanisms of visual attention. Visual attention was measured with a serial search task and magnocellular function with a coherent motion task. A large group of children with dyslexia (n = 70) had slower serial search times than a control group of typical readers. However, the effect size was small (η 2p  = 0.05) indicating considerable overlap between the groups. When the dyslexia sample was split into those with or without a magnocellular deficit, there was no difference in visual search reaction time between either group and controls. The data suggest that magnocellular sensitivity and visual spatial attention weaknesses are independent of one another. They also provide more evidence of heterogeneity in response to psychophysical tasks in groups with dyslexia. Alternative explanations for poor performance on visual attention tasks are proposed along with avenues for future research.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

References

  • Baddeley, A. (1986). Working memory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bednarek, D. B., Saldana, D., Quintero-Gallego, E., Garcia, I., Grabowska, A., & Gomez, C. M. (2004). Attentional deficit in dyslexia: a general or specific impairment? NeuroReport, 15, 1787–1790.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bonifacci, B., & Snowling, M. J. (2008). Speed of processing and reading disability: a cross-linguistic investigation of dyslexia and borderline intellectual functioning. Cognition, 107, 999–1017.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Breitmeyer, B. G. (1980). Unmasking visual masking: a look at the “why” behind the veil of “how”. Psychological Review, 87, 52–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Breitmeyer, B. G., & Ganz, L. (1976). Implications of sustained and transient channels for theories of visual patter making, saccadic suppression and information processing. Psychological Review, 83, 1–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buchholz, J., & Aimola Davies, A. M. (2005). Adults with dyslexia demonstrate space-based and object-based covert attention deficits. Brain and Cognition, 57, 30–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buchholz, J., & Aimola Davies, A. (2007). Attentional blink deficits observed in dyslexia depend upon task demands. Vision Research, 47, 1292–1302.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buchholz, J., & McKone, E. (2004). Adults with dyslexia show deficits on spatial frequency doubling and visual attention tasks. Dyslexia, 10, 24–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Casco, C., Tessoldi, P. E., & Dellantonio, A. (1998). Visual selective attention and reading efficiency are related in children. Cortex, 34, 531–546.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conlon, E. G., Sanders, M. A., & Wright, C. M. (2009). Relationships between global motion and global form processing, practice, cognitive and visual processing in adults with dyslexia or visual discomfort. Neuropsychologia, 47, 907–915.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conlon, E., Sanders, M., & Zapart, S. (2004). Temporal processing in poor adult readers. Neuropsychologia, 42, 142–157.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conlon, E. G., Wright, C. M., Norris, K., & Chekaluk, E. (2011). Does a sensory processing deficit explain counting accuracy on rapid visual sequencing tasks in adults with and without dyslexia? Brain and Cognition, 76, 197–205.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cornelissen, P., Richardson, A., Mason, A., Fowler, S., & Stein, J. (1995). Contrast sensitivity and coherent motion detection measured at photopic luminance levels in dyslexics and controls. Vision Research, 10, 1483–1493.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Jong, P. F. (1998). Working memory deficits of reading disabled children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 70, 75–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Demb, J. B., Boynton, G. M., Best, M., & Heeger, D. J. (1998). Psychophysical evidence for a magnocellular pathway deficit in dyslexia. Vision Research, 38, 1555–1559.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Demb, J. B., Boynton, G. M., & Heeger, D. J. (1998). Functional magnetic imaging of early visual pathways in dyslexia. The Journal of Neuroscience, 18, 6939–6951.

    Google Scholar 

  • Denckla, M. B., & Rudel, R. G. (1972). Color-naming in dyslexic boys. Cortex, 8, 164–176.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eden, G., VanMeter, J., Rumsey, J., Maisog, J., Woods, R., & Zeffiro, T. (1996). Abnormal processing of visual motion in dyslexia revealed by functional brain imaging. Nature, 382, 66–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Enns, J. T., & Rensink, R. A. (1992). V Scope: general purpose tachistoscope for Macintosh. Vancouver: Micropsych Software.

    Google Scholar 

  • Facoetti, A., Lorusso, M. L., Paganoni, P., Cattaneo, C., Galli, R., & Mascetti, G. G. (2003). The time course of attentional focusing in dyslexic and normally reading children. Brain and Cognition, 53, 181–184.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Facoetti, A., Paganoni, P., & Lorusso, M. L. (2000). The spatial distribution of visual attention in developmental dyslexia. Experimental Brain Research, 132, 531–538.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Facoetti, A., Turatto, M., Lorusso, M. L., & Mascetti, G. G. (2001). Orienting of visual attention in dyslexia: evidence for asymmetrical hemispheric control of attention. Experimental Brain Research, 138, 46–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Facoetti, A., Zorzi, M., Cestnick, L., Lurusso, M. L., Molteni, M., Paganoni, P., et al. (2006). The relationship between visuo-spatial attention and nonword reading in developmental dyslexia. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 23, 841–855.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fawcett, A. J., & Nicolson, R. I. (1994). Naming speed in children with dyslexia. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 27, 641–646.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fawcett, A. J., & Nicolson, R. I. (1996). The Dyslexia Screening Test. London: The Psychological Corporation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Felmingham, K. L., & Jakobson, L. S. (1995). Visual and visuomotor performance in dyslexic children. Experimental Brain Research, 106, 467–474.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fletcher, J. M., Francis, D. J., Morris, R. D., & Lyon, G. R. (2005). Evidence-based assessment of learning disabilities in children and adolescents. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 34, 506–522.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Friedmann, N., Kerbel, N., & Shvimer, L. (2010). Developmental attentional dyslexia. Cortex, 46, 1216–1237.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goulandris, N., McIntyre, A., Snowling, M. J., Bethel, J. M., & Lee, J. P. (1998). A comparison of dyslexic and normal readers using orthoptic assessment procedures. Dyslexia, 4, 30–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hansen, P. C., Stein, J. F., Orde, S. R., Winter, J. L., & Talcott, J. B. (2001). Are dyslexics’ visual deficits limited to measures of dorsal stream function? NeuroReport, 12, 1527–1530.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hari, R., Valta, M., & Uutela, K. (1999). Prolonged attentional dwell time in dyslexic adults. Neuroscience Letters, 271, 202–204.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hatcher, P. (2000). Sound linkage: an integrated program for overcoming reading difficulties. London: Whurr.

    Google Scholar 

  • Iles, J., Walsh, V., & Richardson, A. (2000). Visual search performance in dyslexia. Dyslexia, 6, 163–177.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaernbach, C. (1991). Simple adaptive testing with the weighted up-down method. Perception & Psychophysics, 49, 227–229.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kubova, Z., Kuba, M., Peregrin, J., & Novakova, V. (1996). Visually evoked potential evidence for magnocellular system deficit in dyslexia. Physiological Research, 45, 87–89.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lehmkuhle, S. M., Garzia, R. P., Turner, L., Hash, T., & Baro, J. A. (1993). A defective visual pathway in children with reading disability. The New England Journal of Medicine, 328, 989–996.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lovegrove, W. J., Martin, F., & Slaghuis, W. (1986). A theoretical and experimental case for a visual deficit in specific reading disability. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 3, 225–267.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lyon, G. R., Shaywitz, S. E., & Shaywitz, B. A. (2003). A definition of dyslexia. Annals of Dyslexia, 53, 1–14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nicolson, R. I., & Fawcett, A. J. (1994). Reaction times and dyslexia. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. A, Human Experimental Psychology, 47A, 29–48.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olson, R., Forsberg, H., Wise, B., & Rack, J. (1994). Measurement of word recognition, orthographic and phonological skills. In G. Reid Lyon (Ed.), Frames of reference for the assessment of learning disabilities: new views on measurement issues (pp. 243–278). Baltimore: Brookes.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ramus, F., Rosen, S., Dakin, S. C., Day, B. L., Catelotte, J. M., White, S., et al. (2003). Theories of developmental dyslexia: insights from a multiple case study of dyslexic adults. Brain, 126, 841–865.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raven, J. C., Court, J. H., & Raven, J. (1995). Coloured progressive matrices. Oxford: Oxford Psychologists Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roach, N. W., & Hogben, J. H. (2004). Attentional modulation of visual processing in adult dyslexia: a spatial cueing deficit. Psychological Science, 15, 650–654.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roach, N. W., & Hogben, J. H. (2007). Impaired filtering of behaviorally irrelevant visual information in dyslexia. Brain, 130, 771–785.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Savage, R. (2004). Motor skills, automaticity and developmental dyslexia. Reading and Writing, 17, 301–324.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Semrud-Clikeman, M., Biederman, J., Sprich-Buckminster, S., Lehman, B. K., Faraone, S. V., & Norman, D. (1992). Comorbidity between ADDH and LD: a review and report in a clinically referred sample. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 31, 439–448.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shanahan, M. A., Pennington, B. F., Yerys, B. E., Scott, A., Boada, R., Willcutt, E. G., et al. (2006). Processing speed deficits in attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and reading disability. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 34, 584–602.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shaywitz, S., Escobar, M., Shaywitz, B., Fletcher, J., & Makugh, R. (1992). Evidence that dyslexia may represent the lower tail of a normal distribution of reading ability. The New England Journal of Medicine, 326, 145–150.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sireteanu, R., Goebel, C., Goertz, R., & Wandert, T. (2005). Do children with developmental dyslexia show a selective visual attention deficit? Strabismus, 14, 85–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sireteanu, R., Goebel, C., Goertz, R., Werner, I., Nalewajko, M., & Thiel, A. (2008). Impaired visual search in children with developmental dyslexia. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1145, 199–211.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skottun, B. C. (2000). The magnocellular deficit theory of dyslexia: the evidence from contrast sensitivity. Vision Research, 40, 111–127.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Slaghuis, W. L., & Ryan, J. F. (2006). Directional motion contrast sensitivity in developmental dyslexia. Vision Research, 46, 3291–3303.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith-Spark, J. H., & Fisk, J. E. (2006). Working memory functioning in developmental dyslexia. Memory, 15, 34–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Snowling, M. J. (2000). Dyslexia. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stein, J. F., & Fowler, M. S. (1980). Visual dyslexia. British Orthopedic Journal, 37, 11.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stein, J. F., & Fowler, M. S. (1981). Visual dyslexia. Trends in Neuroscience, 4, 77–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stein, J. F., & Fowler, M. S. (1985). Effect of monocular occlusion on visuomotor perception and reading in dyslexic children. Lancet, 2(8446), 69–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stein, J. F., Fowler, M. S., & Richardson, A. (2000). Monocular occlusion can improve binocular control and reading in dyslexics. Brain, 123, 164–170.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stein, J. F., Riddell, P. M., & Fowler, M. S. (1988). Disordered vergence control in dyslexic children. British Journal of Ophthalmology, 72, 162–166.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stein, J., & Walsh, V. (1997). To see but not to read: the magnocellular theory of dyslexia. Trends in Neurosciences, 20, 147–152.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steinman, S. B., Steinman, B. A., & Garzia, R. P. (1998). Vision and attention. II: is visual attention a mechanism through which a deficient magnocellular pathway might cause reading disability? Optometry and Vision Science, 75, 674–681.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Talcott, J. B., Hansen, P. C., Assoku, E. L., & Stein, J. F. (2000). Visual motion sensitivity in dyslexia: evidence for temporal and energy integration deficits. Neuropsychologia, 38, 935–943.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Torgesen, J. K., Wagner, R. K., Rashotte, C. A., Lindamood, P., Rose, E., Conway, T., et al. (1999). Preventing reading failure in young children with phonological processing disabilities: group and individual differences to instruction. Journal of Educational Psychology, 91, 579–593.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Triesman, A. M. (1988). Features and objects: the fourteenth Bartlett memorial lecture. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 40A, 201–237.

    Google Scholar 

  • Triesman, A. M., & Gelade, G. (1980). A feature integration theory of attention. Cognitive Psychology, 12, 97–136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Triesman, A., & Sato, S. (1990). Conjunction search revisited. Journal of Experimental Psychology. Human Perception and Performance, 16, 459–478.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Valdois, S., Bosse, M. L., & Tainturier, M. J. (2004). Cognitive correlates of developmental dyslexia: review of evidence for a selective visual attentional deficit. Dyslexia, 10, 1–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Valdois, S., Gérard, C., Vanauld, P., & Dugas, M. (1995). Developmental dyslexia: a visual attentional account? Cognitive Neuropsychology, 12, 31–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vellutino, F. R., Fletcher, J. M., Snowling, M. J., & Scanlon, D. M. (2004). Specific reading disability (dyslexia): what have we learned in the past four decades? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 45, 2–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vellutino, F. R., Scanlon, D. M., Sipay, E. R., Small, S. G., Pratt, A., Chen, R., et al. (1996). Cognitive profiles of difficult-to-remediate and readily remediated poor readers: early intervention as a vehicle for distinguishing between cognitive and experiential deficits as basic causes of specific reading disability. Journal of Educational Psychology, 88, 601–638.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vidyasagar, T. R. (1999). A neuronal model of attentional spotlight: parietal guiding the temporal. Brain Research Reviews, 30, 6–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vidyasagar, T. R. (2004). Neural underpinnings of dyslexia as a disorder of visuo-spatial attention. Clinical & Experimental Optometry, 87, 4–10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vidyasagar, T. R., & Pammer, K. (1999). Impaired visual search in dyslexia relates to the role of the magnocellular pathway in attention. NeuroReport, 10, 1283–1287.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vidyasagar, T., & Pammer, K. (2010). Dyslexia: a deficit in visuospatial attention, not in phonological processing. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 14(2), 57–63.

    Google Scholar 

  • Visser, T. A. W., Boden, C., & Giaschi, D. E. (2004). Children with dyslexia: evidence for visual attention deficits in perception of rapid sequences of objects. Vision Research, 44, 2521–2535.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Willcutt, E. G., Pennington, B. F., & DeFries, J. C. (2000). Twin study of the etiology of comorbidity between reading disability and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics), 96, 293–301.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Willcutt, E. G., Pennington, B. F., Olson, R. K., Chhabildas, N., & Huslander, J. (2005). Neuropsychological analyses of comorbidity between reading disability and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: in search of the common deficit. Developmental Neuropsychology, 27, 35–78.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, M. C., Brannan, J. R., & Lartigue, E. K. (1987). Visual search in good and poor readers. Clinical Vision Sciences, 1, 367–371.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilmer, J. B., Richardson, A. J., Chen, Y., & Stein, J. F. (2004). Two visual motion processing deficits in developmental dyslexia associated with different reading skills deficits. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 16, 1–13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Witton, C., Stein, J. F., Stoodley, C. J., Rosner, B. S., & Talcott, J. B. (2002). Separate influences of acoustic AM and FM sensitivity on the phonological decoding skills if impaired and normal readers. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 14, 866–874.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wolf, M. (1991). Naming speed and reading: the contribution of the cognitive neuro-sciences. Reading Research Quarterly, 26, 123–141.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wolf, M., & Bowers, P. G. (1999). The double-deficit hypothesis for the developmental dyslexias. Journal of Educational Psychology, 91, 415–438.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wolf, M., O’Rourke, G. A., Gidney, C., Lovett, M., Cirino, P., & Morris, R. (2002). The second deficit: an investigation of the independence of phonological and naming-speed deficits in developmental dyslexia. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 15, 43–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woodcock, R. W. (1997). Woodcock Diagnostic Reading Battery. Itasca: Riverside.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright, C. M., & Conlon, E. G. (2009). Auditory and visual processing in children with dyslexia. Developmental Neuropsychology, 34, 330–355.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yule, W., Rutter, M., Berger, M., & Thompson, B. (1973). Over and under achievement in reading. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 44, 1–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Behavioural Basis of Health Research Group, Griffith Health Institute, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia

    Craig M. Wright, Elizabeth G. Conlon & Murray Dyck

  2. Understanding Minds, Mermaid Beach, QLD, Australia

    Craig M. Wright

Authors
  1. Craig M. Wright
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Elizabeth G. Conlon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Murray Dyck
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Craig M. Wright.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Wright, C.M., Conlon, E.G. & Dyck, M. Visual search deficits are independent of magnocellular deficits in dyslexia. Ann. of Dyslexia 62, 53–69 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11881-011-0061-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11881-011-0061-1

Keywords

  • Dyslexia
  • Visual attention
  • Visual search