Dyslexia and the impact of strategy preference on reasoning

This project investigates the implications of reasoning strategies used by individuals with dyslexia and how they represent and manipulate problem information differently to non-dyslexic individuals. Dyslexia has been associated with enhanced visual-spatial abilities and such individuals are found to be over-represented in occupations where such talents are an advantage (eg art and design). Brain activation studies have indicated that they process visual-spatial information in an atypical way. Accordingly, research has suggested that dyslexics adopt a reasoning strategy whereby they generate a visual image which represents explicitly the spatial relationships and physical properties inherent in the problem. In contrast, most non-dyslexic reasoners adopt a more abstract, verbal, approach which shows little evidence of using visual images or physical properties. This research will compare the reasoning of dyslexic and non-dyslexic individuals, with task content and structure manipulated to differentially facilitate the use of either verbal or spatial strategies. The effects of training dyslexic participants to use an alternative verbal strategy (that preferred by non-dyslexic reasoners) will also be investigated. The finding that individuals with dyslexia reason by processing information in a different way to most non-dyslexics has important implications for our understanding of dyslexia, and how such individuals learn and are taught.