Active control enhances memory less in children with learning disabilities compared to their typically developing peers

Background

Active control over study, which helps to optimize memory performance, has been widely observed in adults. Recently, it has been revealed that this effect develops with age in typically developing (TD) children. However, no prior studies have directly compared active control effects between children with learning disabilities (LD) and their TD peers. This study is the first to examine how these effects manifest in both groups using the rigorous experimental paradigm.

Methods

In this study, an active learning paradigm was adopted in which TD (N = 51, 28 female/ 23 male, 8–11 years, M = 116.52 months, SD = 9.60 months) and LD children (N = 48, 27 female/ 21 male, 8–11 years, M = 116.52 months, SD = 10.68 months) studied objects under two conditions: an active condition, where children decided the order and pacing of study, and a passive condition, where they followed a predetermined study sequence.

Results

It was found that active control effect increased with age in both groups. However, children with LD showed a smaller and later enhancement effect compared to their TD peers.

Conclusion

Children with LD experienced a smaller overall enhancement from active control, and the effect emerged later compared to their TD peers. These findings provide the first developmental evidence of differences in the benefits of active control between LD and TD children. Corresponding educational practices should be tailored to children with LD.