Procedural learning in the serial reaction time task in individuals with and without Dyslexia: group-level and individual differences
Abstract
An impairment in the procedural memory system, responsible for the extraction and assimilation of regularities from sensory input, has been suggested to play a causal role in neurodevelopmental disorders such as dyslexia. In this study, we compared the performance of adults with and without dyslexia on the Serial Reaction Time task across three sessions. Alongside it, this experiment presents the first examination of the stability of procedural learning in a dyslexic population. Across sessions, there was no evidence of an impairment in the dyslexic groups, thus lending no support to the procedural deficit hypothesis. There was limited evidence for a relationship between language/literacy abilities and procedural learning, with only a significant association between nonword repetition and procedural learning for the dyslexic group (r = .31). However, given that the reliability of the SRTT was well-below adequate psychometric standards in both groups, the lack of correlations between these measures may reflect attenuation. Nonetheless, a positive correlation between attention and procedural learning was observed in both groups, suggesting that individuals with better attentional abilities showed more evidence of procedural learning in the SRTT (rs between -.34 to -.47). In light of these findings, it is unclear whether a procedural learning impairment can account for the behavioural and cognitive profile observed in individuals with dyslexia.
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BibTeX
@misc{oliveira2026procedural,
title = {{Procedural learning in the serial reaction time task in individuals with and without Dyslexia: group-level and individual differences}},
author = {Catia Margarida Oliveira and Marianna E. Hayiou-Thomas and Lisa Henderson},
howpublished = {PsyArXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.31234/osf.io/jqmh9_v1},
url = {https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/jqmh9_v1/},
note = {CC0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Procedural learning in the serial reaction time task in individuals with and without Dyslexia: group-level and individual differences
AU - Catia Margarida Oliveira
AU - Marianna E. Hayiou-Thomas
AU - Lisa Henderson
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/24
PB - PsyArXiv
DO - 10.31234/osf.io/jqmh9_v1
UR - https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/jqmh9_v1/
AB - An impairment in the procedural memory system, responsible for the extraction and assimilation of regularities from sensory input, has been suggested to play a causal role in neurodevelopmental disorders such as dyslexia. In this study, we compared the performance of adults with and without dyslexia on the Serial Reaction Time task across three sessions. Alongside it, this experiment presents the first examination of the stability of procedural learning in a dyslexic population. Across sessions, there was no evidence of an impairment in the dyslexic groups, thus lending no support to the procedural deficit hypothesis. There was limited evidence for a relationship between language/literacy abilities and procedural learning, with only a significant association between nonword repetition and procedural learning for the dyslexic group (r = .31). However, given that the reliability of the SRTT was well-below adequate psychometric standards in both groups, the lack of correlations between these measures may reflect attenuation. Nonetheless, a positive correlation between attention and procedural learning was observed in both groups, suggesting that individuals with better attentional abilities showed more evidence of procedural learning in the SRTT (rs between -.34 to -.47). In light of these findings, it is unclear whether a procedural learning impairment can account for the behavioural and cognitive profile observed in individuals with dyslexia.
ER -