gmcarthu
Username: gmcarthuParticipant details
Research InterestsAround 10% of children find it inexplicably hard to learn to read (developmental dyslexia) or to use spoken language (specific language impairment; SLI). These conditions are highly heterogeneous, which suggests that they have multiple causes. The main focus of my research is testing whether an auditory perceptual processing deficit is one cause of dyslexia or SLI. Findings of psychophysical experiments conducted with Dr John Hogben (University of Western Australia), paired with findings from auditory event-related potential studies conducted with Professor Dorothy Bishop (University of Oxford), suggest that (1) only a subgroup of people with dyslexia or SLI have auditory perceptual processing deficits, and (2) these deficits represent delayed rather than deviant neural processing. In an ongoing study at the Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science, Professor Max Coltheart and I are finding that auditory perceptual processing deficits in children with dyslexia or SLI can be fixed with training. However, this improvement does not generalise to reading or spoken language. Thus our findings to date suggest that auditory perceptual processing deficits are not a cause of dyslexia or SLI in children. Instead, they may represent a delay in neural maturation.
McArthur, G.M., & Bishop, D.V.M. (2005). Speech and non-speech processing in people with specific language impairment: A behavioural and electrophysiological study. Brain and Language, 94, 260-273.
McArthur, G. M., & Bishop, D. V. M. (2004). Frequency discrimination deficits in people with specific language impairment: Reliability, validity, and linguistic correlates. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 47, 527-541.
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