The Importance of Memory in Reading Processes

Visual Memory (AVM) is a non-verbal memory task in which participants are asked to recognize certain neutral stimulus among a group of six distracting alternatives [35]. The reliability analysis, assessed by Cronbach’s alpha (α = .874) showed good internal consistency. Nonverbal Sequential Memory (NSM) is a non-verbal task that involves memorizing a sequence of unmeaningful geometric series. The reliability analysis, assessed by Cronbach’s alpha (α = .745) showed an acceptable internal consistency. According to Goikoetxea (2001), the subtest of Location Memory (LM) assesses spatial memory [35]. The subject is faced with a set of large points distributed on a page, whose location should remember. The reliability analysis assessed by Cronbach’s alpha (α = .904) showed good internal consistency. Manual Imitation (MI) is a sequential psychomotor memory task in which the participants are asked to reproduce a set of hand movements in the same order in which they were previously presented. The reliability assessment trough Cronbach’s alpha (α = .809) showed good internal consistency. MAI The Immediate Auditory Memory test (Teste de MemóriaImediata MAI), developed by Cordero (2002), is designed for children from 4th to 8th grade and consists of three parts: in the first part (Logical Memory) [39], a logical history, with two paragraphs, is red to assess the child’s ability to recall the details. The second part (Numerical Memory), like the Memory of Digits of the Wechsler intelligence scales, shows series of digits which the participants should repeat, either in the direct or in the reverse order. Finally, the Associative Memory test consists of ten words that are presented to the child in three different moments, varying the order of presentation. The internal consistency of the MAI, assessed through the Cronbach’s alpha (α = .847), showed a good reliability. MY The Yuste Memory (Memória de Yuste– MY) tests, developed by Carlos Yuste (1985) are designed in four levels according the years of schooling: Elementary (1st 2nd years), Level I (2nd 4th years), Level II (4th 7th years) and Level III (8th 10th years). In this study, Level II, composed by two tasks, was used: Word recall, in which a list of 30 words is red to a further identification between a total of 120 words, and History recall, in which is red an adventure that the Children should remember later. The internal consistency of the MAI was assessed using the Cronbach’s alpha (α = .740) revealing an acceptable reliability. Tower of Hanoi Tower of Hanoi, first presented by Lucas (1883), consists of three rods, and several disks of different sizes which can slide onto any rod [48]. The puzzle starts with the disks in a neat stack in ascending order of size on one rod, the smallest at the top, thus making a conical shape. The Tower of Hanoi has been widely used to assess procedural memory [1, 6, 10, 66, 80], making even an integral part of some neuropsychological assessment batteries for children [70]. In the present study, the child was initially given the correct resolution of the Tower of Hanoi and then asked to perform the task alone. It was decided to finish the task when the child had completed the task successfully or after 10 minutes. The result was calculated by the quotient between the number of movements produced correctly within the time limit and the time (in seconds) the child took to complete the task [27,29,30,32,34].