Rebecca Winter | Georgia State University (original) (raw)

Papers by Rebecca Winter

Neuron, Jan 21, 2016

Identification of specific neurophysiological dysfunctions resulting in selective reading difficu... more Identification of specific neurophysiological dysfunctions resulting in selective reading difficulty (dyslexia) has remained elusive. In addition to impaired reading development, individuals with dyslexia frequently exhibit behavioral deficits in perceptual adaptation. Here, we assessed neurophysiological adaptation to stimulus repetition in adults and children with dyslexia for a wide variety of stimuli, spoken words, written words, visual objects, and faces. For every stimulus type, individuals with dyslexia exhibited significantly diminished neural adaptation compared to controls in stimulus-specific cortical areas. Better reading skills in adults and children with dyslexia were associated with greater repetition-induced neural adaptation. These results highlight a dysfunction of rapid neural adaptation as a core neurophysiological difference in dyslexia that may underlie impaired reading development. Reduced neurophysiological adaptation may relate to prior reports of reduced be...

PloS one, 2013

Fluid intelligence is important for successful functioning in the modern world, but much evidence... more Fluid intelligence is important for successful functioning in the modern world, but much evidence suggests that fluid intelligence is largely immutable after childhood. Recently, however, researchers have reported gains in fluid intelligence after multiple sessions of adaptive working memory training in adults. The current study attempted to replicate and expand those results by administering a broad assessment of cognitive abilities and personality traits to young adults who underwent 20 sessions of an adaptive dual n-back working memory training program and comparing their post-training performance on those tests to a matched set of young adults who underwent 20 sessions of an adaptive attentional tracking program. Pre- and post-training measurements of fluid intelligence, standardized intelligence tests, speed of processing, reading skills, and other tests of working memory were assessed. Both training groups exhibited substantial and specific improvements on the trained tasks th...

Brain Research, 2008

This article appeared in a journal published by Elsevier. The attached copy is furnished to the a... more This article appeared in a journal published by Elsevier. The attached copy is furnished to the author for internal non-commercial research and education use, including for instruction at the authors institution and sharing with colleagues. Other uses, including reproduction and distribution, or selling or licensing copies, or posting to personal, institutional or third party websites are prohibited. In most cases authors are permitted to post their version of the article (e.g. in Word or Tex form) to their personal website or institutional repository. Authors requiring further information regarding Elsevier's archiving and manuscript policies are encouraged to visit: http://www.elsevier.com/copyright

This study explored three theoretical models for understanding working memory (WM) in struggling ... more This study explored three theoretical models for understanding working memory (WM) in struggling readers. Research has shown relations between working memory and reading, especially on foundational phonologically based tasks like non-word repetition, however there is limited research exploring the predicted relations between non-language based WM tasks and basic reading abilities. Here three models of WM are used to explore the optimal theoretical framework for understanding both foundational reading abilities and response to intervention among a group of elementary school diagnosed with developmental dyslexia (DD). The three models were driven by theories from: 1. Baddeley and Hitch model; 2. Engle et al., model; and 3. Brown and Hulme model. 108 children (mean age: 9.01) in grades 3-4 were assessed as meeting criteria for a reading disability and subsequently participated in a 70-hour intensive reading intervention. Children were administered nine working memory, intelligence, and...

Perception & Psychophysics, 2008

Attention Perception & Psychophysics, 2008

This article compares the properties of apparent motion between a light and a touch with apparent... more This article compares the properties of apparent motion between a light and a touch with apparent motion between either two lights or two touches. Visual and tactile stimulators were attached to the tips of the two index fingers that were held apart at different distances. Subjects rated the quality of apparent motion between each stimulus combination for a range of stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs). Subjects reported perceiving apparent motion between all three stimulus combinations. For light—light visual apparent motion, the preferred SOA and the direction threshold SOAs increased as the distance between the stimuli increased (consistent with Korte’s third law of apparent motion). Touch—touch apparent motion also obeyed Korte’s third law, but over a smaller range of distances, showing that proprioceptive information concerning the position of the fingers is integrated into the tactile motion system. The threshold and preferred SOAs for visuotactile apparent motion did not vary with distance, suggesting a different mechanism for multimodal apparent motion.

Brain Research, 2008

Tactile stimulation usually occurs as a combination of an active movement (reaching out to touch ... more Tactile stimulation usually occurs as a combination of an active movement (reaching out to touch a surface) and a sensation (actually feeling the surface against the skin). The brain has information about the active component (the motor command) before it occurs because of efference copy, while the passive component must be transduced before it can be processed. Since the active and passive tactile components are available to the brain at different times, determining the time of touch requires calculation worked backwards from the passive sensation, and/or worked forward from the active motor command. In order to determine which touch process is perceived more quickly, we varied the relative delay between an active and a passive touch signal and determined the relative time percieved as simultaneous. A passive touch needed to be presented before an active key was pressed in order for the two touches to be perceived as simultaneous, but this timing difference was not significant. In order to test the plasticity of the active and passive touch systems, we exploited the fact that the point of subjective simultaneity between two stimuli can sometimes be altered by repeated exposure to asynchronous presentation. We exposed subjects to an active key press/ passive touch pair delayed by 250 ms. This exposure increased the range of relative delays between active and passive touches at which the pairs were judged as simultaneous. This is consistent with an adaptive change in the processing of active touch.

Neuron, Jan 21, 2016

Identification of specific neurophysiological dysfunctions resulting in selective reading difficu... more Identification of specific neurophysiological dysfunctions resulting in selective reading difficulty (dyslexia) has remained elusive. In addition to impaired reading development, individuals with dyslexia frequently exhibit behavioral deficits in perceptual adaptation. Here, we assessed neurophysiological adaptation to stimulus repetition in adults and children with dyslexia for a wide variety of stimuli, spoken words, written words, visual objects, and faces. For every stimulus type, individuals with dyslexia exhibited significantly diminished neural adaptation compared to controls in stimulus-specific cortical areas. Better reading skills in adults and children with dyslexia were associated with greater repetition-induced neural adaptation. These results highlight a dysfunction of rapid neural adaptation as a core neurophysiological difference in dyslexia that may underlie impaired reading development. Reduced neurophysiological adaptation may relate to prior reports of reduced be...

PloS one, 2013

Fluid intelligence is important for successful functioning in the modern world, but much evidence... more Fluid intelligence is important for successful functioning in the modern world, but much evidence suggests that fluid intelligence is largely immutable after childhood. Recently, however, researchers have reported gains in fluid intelligence after multiple sessions of adaptive working memory training in adults. The current study attempted to replicate and expand those results by administering a broad assessment of cognitive abilities and personality traits to young adults who underwent 20 sessions of an adaptive dual n-back working memory training program and comparing their post-training performance on those tests to a matched set of young adults who underwent 20 sessions of an adaptive attentional tracking program. Pre- and post-training measurements of fluid intelligence, standardized intelligence tests, speed of processing, reading skills, and other tests of working memory were assessed. Both training groups exhibited substantial and specific improvements on the trained tasks th...

Brain Research, 2008

This article appeared in a journal published by Elsevier. The attached copy is furnished to the a... more This article appeared in a journal published by Elsevier. The attached copy is furnished to the author for internal non-commercial research and education use, including for instruction at the authors institution and sharing with colleagues. Other uses, including reproduction and distribution, or selling or licensing copies, or posting to personal, institutional or third party websites are prohibited. In most cases authors are permitted to post their version of the article (e.g. in Word or Tex form) to their personal website or institutional repository. Authors requiring further information regarding Elsevier's archiving and manuscript policies are encouraged to visit: http://www.elsevier.com/copyright

This study explored three theoretical models for understanding working memory (WM) in struggling ... more This study explored three theoretical models for understanding working memory (WM) in struggling readers. Research has shown relations between working memory and reading, especially on foundational phonologically based tasks like non-word repetition, however there is limited research exploring the predicted relations between non-language based WM tasks and basic reading abilities. Here three models of WM are used to explore the optimal theoretical framework for understanding both foundational reading abilities and response to intervention among a group of elementary school diagnosed with developmental dyslexia (DD). The three models were driven by theories from: 1. Baddeley and Hitch model; 2. Engle et al., model; and 3. Brown and Hulme model. 108 children (mean age: 9.01) in grades 3-4 were assessed as meeting criteria for a reading disability and subsequently participated in a 70-hour intensive reading intervention. Children were administered nine working memory, intelligence, and...

Perception & Psychophysics, 2008

Attention Perception & Psychophysics, 2008

This article compares the properties of apparent motion between a light and a touch with apparent... more This article compares the properties of apparent motion between a light and a touch with apparent motion between either two lights or two touches. Visual and tactile stimulators were attached to the tips of the two index fingers that were held apart at different distances. Subjects rated the quality of apparent motion between each stimulus combination for a range of stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs). Subjects reported perceiving apparent motion between all three stimulus combinations. For light—light visual apparent motion, the preferred SOA and the direction threshold SOAs increased as the distance between the stimuli increased (consistent with Korte’s third law of apparent motion). Touch—touch apparent motion also obeyed Korte’s third law, but over a smaller range of distances, showing that proprioceptive information concerning the position of the fingers is integrated into the tactile motion system. The threshold and preferred SOAs for visuotactile apparent motion did not vary with distance, suggesting a different mechanism for multimodal apparent motion.

Brain Research, 2008

Tactile stimulation usually occurs as a combination of an active movement (reaching out to touch ... more Tactile stimulation usually occurs as a combination of an active movement (reaching out to touch a surface) and a sensation (actually feeling the surface against the skin). The brain has information about the active component (the motor command) before it occurs because of efference copy, while the passive component must be transduced before it can be processed. Since the active and passive tactile components are available to the brain at different times, determining the time of touch requires calculation worked backwards from the passive sensation, and/or worked forward from the active motor command. In order to determine which touch process is perceived more quickly, we varied the relative delay between an active and a passive touch signal and determined the relative time percieved as simultaneous. A passive touch needed to be presented before an active key was pressed in order for the two touches to be perceived as simultaneous, but this timing difference was not significant. In order to test the plasticity of the active and passive touch systems, we exploited the fact that the point of subjective simultaneity between two stimuli can sometimes be altered by repeated exposure to asynchronous presentation. We exposed subjects to an active key press/ passive touch pair delayed by 250 ms. This exposure increased the range of relative delays between active and passive touches at which the pairs were judged as simultaneous. This is consistent with an adaptive change in the processing of active touch.