Working memory in skilled and less skilled readers.

This study assessed skilled and less skilled readers' working memory performance. Fifty skilled and less skilled readers at two age levels were presented with sentence span and concurrent memory tasks. The span task results indicated that working memory differences exist between reading groups. The concurrent task revealed performance deficits for less skilled readers across verbal and nonverbal conditions, suggesting a central processing deficiency. Age differences were isolated to skilled readers. It was concluded that less skilled readers' working memory deficiencies were pervasive in the sense that they involve deficiencies in memory components related to central executive processing.