Paired Associate Learning Tasks and their Contribution to Reading Skills

Abstract

Associative learning has been identified as one of several non-linguistic processes involved in reading acquisition. However, it has not been established whether it is an independent process that contributes to reading performance on its own or whether it is a process that is embedded in other linguistic skills (e.g., phonological awareness or phonological memory) and, therefore, contributing to reading performance indirectly. Research has shown that performance on tasks assessing associative learning, e.g., paired-associate learning (PAL) tasks, is lower in children with specific reading difficulties compared to typical readers. We explored the differential associations of two distinct verbal-visual PAL tasks (the Bala Bbala Graphogame, BBG, and a Foreign Language Learning Task, FLLT) with reading skills (word reading and pseudo-word decoding), controlling for phonological awareness, rapid naming, and letter and digit span in children at risk for reading disabilities and their typically developing peers. Our study sample consisted of 110 children living in rural Zambia, ranging in age from 7 to 18 years old (48.1% female). Multivariate analyses of covariance were used to explore the group differences in reading performance. Repeated-measures ANCOVA was used to examine children's learning across the PAL tasks. The differential relationships between both PAL tasks and reading performance were explored via structural equation modeling. The main result was that the children at risk for reading difficulties had lower performance on both PAL tasks. The BBG was a significant predictor for both word reading and pseudo-word decoding, whereas the FLLT-only for word reading. Performance on the FLLT partially mediated the association between phonological awareness and word reading. These results illustrate the partial independence of associative learning from other reading-related skills; the specifics of this relationship vary based on the type of PAL task administered.

Keywords: Paired associate learning task; phonological awareness; word-reading.

Figure 1

Example screen of a BBG variation. In the screen the three falling balls are shown with the pattern of dots inside (from the Braille alphabet).

Figure 2

Percentage of correct responses on the BBG by block for the total sample, −SRD and +SRD groups. Note: The bars correspond to the standard errors.

Figure 3

Mean of correct responses on the FLLT by trial for the total sample, −SRD and +SRD groups. Note: The bars correspond to the standard errors.

Figure 4

Models 1 and 2 regress WR and PW on PA, RAN and LD-Span, and the two PAL tasks respectively. All the variables were regressed by age and IQ was included in the model as control variable but is not represented in these diagrams. The fit indices for the initial and final model were reported. The bold path coefficients correspond to parameter estimates for the final model. The initial model include all the significant and non-significant paths. In the final model the non-significant path were removed. The dash lines indicate non-significant paths. In the paths of the models the standardized regression coefficients were reported. ** p <.001, *p<.05.

Figure 5

Models 3 and 4 regress WR and PW on PA, RAN and LD-Span, and the two PAL tasks respectively. All the variables were regressed by age and IQ was included in the model as control variable but is not represented in these diagrams. The fit indices for the initial and final model were reported. The bold coefficients correspond to values for the final model. The initial model include all the significant and non-significant paths. In the final model the non-significant path were removed. The dash lines indicate non-significant paths. In the paths of the models the standardized regression coefficients were reported. ** p <.001, *p<.05.