Delaying Feedback Compensates for Impaired Reinforcement Learning in Developmental Dyslexia

Neurobiol Learn Mem. 2021 Sep 8:107518. doi: 10.1016/j.nlm.2021.107518. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTA theoretical framework suggests that developmental dyslexia is characterized by abnormalities in brain structures underlying the procedural learning and memory systems while the declarative learning and memory systems are presumed to remain intact or even enhanced. This notion has been supported by a substantial body of research, which focused on each system independently. However, less attention has been paid to interactions between these memory systems which may provide insights as to learning situations and conditions in which learning in dyslexia can be improved. The current study was undertaken to examine these important but unresolved issues. To this end, probabilistic reinforcement learning and episodic memory tasks were examined in individuals with dyslexia and neurotypicals simultaneously within a single task. Feedback timing presentation was manipulated, building on prior research indicating that delaying feedback timing shifts striatal-based probabilistic learning, to become more hippocampal-dependent. It was hypothesized that if the procedural learning and memory systems are impaired in dyslexia, performance will be impaired under conditions that encourage procedural memory engagement (immediate feedback trials) but not under conditions that promote declarative memory processing (long delayed feedback trials). It was also predicted that the ability to incidentall...
Source: Neurobiology of Learning and Memory - Category: Neurology Authors: Source Type: research