Dyslexia and the impact of strategy preference on reasoning

Bacon, Alison (2016). Dyslexia and the impact of strategy preference on reasoning. [Data Collection]. Colchester, Essex: Economic and Social Research Council. 10.5255/UKDA-SN-850054

Data description (abstract)

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.

Data creators:

Creator Name	Affiliation	ORCID (as URL)
Bacon Alison	University of Plymouth

Contributors:

Name	Affiliation	ORCID (as URL)
Handley Simon	University of Plymouth

Sponsors:

Economic and Social Research Council

Grant reference:

RES-000-22-1965

Topic classification:

Psychology

Project title:

Dyslexia and the impact of strategy preference on reasoning

Grant holders:

Dr. Alison Bacon, Professor Simon Handley

Project dates:

From	To
30 September 2006	30 August 2008

Date published:

07 Jan 2009 10:39

Last modified:

10 May 2016 12:07

Coverage and Methodology

Access and Administration

Data sourcing, processing and preparation:

The aims and procedures of each study were explained before the research session and participants informed of data confidentiality and their right to withdraw. Additionally, prior to taking part, all participants signed a standard consent form headed with the name of the research project and the researcher's name. They signed the following declaration: 'I, the undersigned, hereby consent to participate in the above research study. I give my consent having received satisfactory answers to my questions concerning the study, in the full knowledge that I have the right to refuse to participate and knowing that I may withdraw from the above study without penalty at any time. I also understand that every effort will be made to protect the anonymity of my responses.' For purposes of anonymity, in each study, every participant was allocated a number. SPSS datasets present data by these individual participant numbers only. As this is new data, there are no copyright implications in depositing the datasets.

Rights owners: