Anxiety and its correlation with working memory – the implications for
students with dyslexia
Patrick Mulcahy, BA, PGCE, PGDip
The greatest terror a child can have is that he is not loved, and rejection is the hell
he fears. I think everyone in the world to a large or small extent has felt rejection,
and with rejection comes anger, and with anger some kind of crime in revenge for
the rejection, and with the crime guilt, and there is the story of mankind. One child,
refused the love he craves, kicks the cat and hides his secret guilt; and another
steals so that money will make him loved; and a third conquers the world – and
always the guilt and revenge and more guilt. John Steinbeck (1952).
In the essay, I will investigate the evidence suggesting that emotional stress and
anxiety serve to reduce the efficiency of working memory. Individuals with dyslexia
are likely to have the efficiency of their already weak working memory
disproportionately reduced by anxiety as emotional stress is likely to be an existing
symptom of their specific learning difficulty, borne of their earlier educational
experiences. There exists a cycle of disadvantage for students with dyslexia, in our
educational context, in that one of the likely sources of poor memory performance is
their already established difficulties in phonological processing (Dockrell and
McShane (1993)). Given that the working memory system includes a specialised
phonological store in which verbal information is retained, children with dyslexia are
highly likely to have problems learning to read from their earliest days in education.
The repercussions of rejection in early learning echo throughout one’s life and
repeated childhood mortification can ultimately destroy the ability to feel good about
oneself, i.e. it erodes self-esteem which, in itself, is an indication of low self-efficacy.
The SpLD Working Party Report on Dyslexia (2005: 6) notes that: 'Low self-esteem,
often due to past humiliations, is especially apparent in mature students'.
I will illustrate this further with reference to the theory of self-efficacy, which states
that self-efficacy makes a difference in how people feel, think and act (Bandura,
1997). People with low self-esteem also have low self-efficacy and in terms of
feelings, a low sense of self-efficacy is associated with depression, anxiety and
feelings of helplessness. This provides the context for my research and I will explore
in detail the effects of anxiety and how it exacerbates the difficulties that students
with dyslexia have with respect to their working memory, subsequently I will explore
how these difficulties affect their anxiety in a vicious cycle that can deny them the
opportunity to learn from experience.
I will focus specifically on students with dyslexia (who already harbour some working
memory differences) and the residual effects of anxiety in early education and the
means by which these can be internalised to become emotional stress resulting in
concomitant problems in later life, in particular in the context of higher education.
There is probably no more moving an account of this situation than Jackie Stewart
(2001) who stated: ‘You will never understand what it feels like to be dyslexic. No
matter how long you have worked in this area, no matter if your own children are
dyslexic, you will never understand what it feels like to be humiliated your entire
childhood and taught every day to believe that you will never succeed at anything’.
I feel it is important to begin by defining both dyslexia and anxiety so as to specify
the exact nature of my investigation and literature review. Professor John Stein,
(2006) states that ‘dyslexia has an organic neurological basis and, contrary to
previous strongly held beliefs, it is not 'purely psychological’’. However, one must
bear in mind that reading is a learned activity. M. Wolf (2008:10) states that all
‘human behaviours are based on multiple cognitive processes, which are based on
Anxiety and its correlation with working memory – the implications for students with Dyslexia
Patrick Mulcahy Student No: 9055478
Page 2
the rapid integration of information from very specific neurological structures, which
rely on billions of possible connections, which are programmed in large part by
genes....reading has no direct genetic program passing it on to future generations’.
In terms of human evolution the brain was never meant to read, there are neither
specific genes nor biological structures specific to this task. Reading is not natural
as it is a human invention which must be learned at a conscious level. A child has to
learn that orthography (the sequence of letters on the page) represents the
phonology. According to Shaywitz (1996), the phonological model of dyslexia
defines dyslexia in terms of difficulties ‘associated with converting phonemes
(smallest meaningful segments of language) into symbols (letters). The mental
activity associated with reading can be divided into word identification, phonological
processing and cognitive reasoning. A deficit in phonological processing will reduce
a person’s ability to convert symbols into sounds (reading) and/or sounds into
symbols (writing)’.
There is a pyramid of reading behaviours, beginning at the most basic level, which is
the genetic foundation, above this there are the neurons and circuits, subsequently
the neural structures, the perceptual motor conceptual processes (where the bulk of
current academic research focuses) and finally the behavioural level (reading). The
penultimate level, which consists of basic perceptual, conceptual, linguistic
attentional and motor processes, is where most theorists believe the difficulties
underlying dyslexia can be found. Therefore, one must consider dyslexia a complex
neurological condition which occurs in approximately 4% of the population
(Singleton, 1999).
Anxiety requires a similar definition, given that the word has entered common usage
and can take a myriad of forms, being referred to as ‘stress’ or as a counterweight to
depression. Humanity's effort to escape anxiety is a recurring theme in human
thought and literature. Our reading of the latter leads one to believe that it can take
many forms, some in connection with specific events e.g. examinations, and others
that manifest themselves as fear or an ill-defined sense of malaise. There has been
research undertaken on children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and
anxiety (Biederman et al 1991) which ‘supports considerable comorbidity of attention
deficit hyperactivity disorder with conduct disorder, oppositional defiant disorder,
mood disorders, anxiety disorders...’. Willcutt and Pennington (2000) examined the
emotional and psychiatric difficulties present in a cross section of twins with reading
problems. They found that anxiety was associated with reading difficulties.
However, they found that this was in contrast to hyperactivity and conduct disorder
as the anxiety was not elevated in co-twins of children with reading disabilities,
suggesting that the increased anxiety levels occur as a consequence of literacy
difficulties rather than having a genetic (or environmental) origin.
Anxiety and its correlation with working memory – the implications for students with Dyslexia
Patrick Mulcahy Student No: 9055478
Page 3
Rosen et. al. (1992: 1) discuss how pathological anxiety may ‘develop from adaptive
fear states. Fear responses (e.g. freezing, startle, heart rate and blood pressure
changes, and increased vigilance) are functionally adaptive behavioural and
perceptual responses elicited during danger to facilitate appropriate defensive
responses that can reduce danger or injury (e.g., escape and avoidance)’. Fear was
found to be a central motive, with the amygdala playing a central role. Pathological
anxiety was conceptualized as an ‘exaggerated fear state in which hyperexcitability
of fear circuits that include the amygdala and extended amygdala is expressed as
hypervigilance and increased behavioural responsivity to fearful stimuli’. In turn,
hyperexcitability in fear circuits was found to be expressed as pathological anxiety
that is manifested in the various anxiety disorders. Against this background, anxiety
can be seen as either a short term 'state' or a long term ‘trait.’ Trait anxiety reflects a
stable tendency to respond with state anxiety in the anticipation of threatening
situations. This tendency is likely to be invoked in any situation that the individual
perceives as threatening, in the case of the individual with dyslexia such a situation
is likely to include literacy and memory related tasks.
Anxiety can be seen as an 'acquired reaction-sensitivity in individuals suffering from
impaired self-esteem to overreact with fear to any anticipated adjustive situation that
contains a further threat to self-esteem. It is the novel elements of an unfamiliar
learning problem which constitute the threat to the anxious individual, and instigate a
habitual, anxiety-reducing response set to avoid the improvisation necessary for
successful learning’ (Ausubel et. al. 1953: 5).
Most people assume that anxiety impairs the performance of most tasks, especially
difficult ones. However, reality is more complicated than that. Anxiety often has
surprisingly little effect on performance, even though we typically feel that anxiety is
preventing us from performing well. This paradox was explained by Eysenck and
Calvo (1992). They argued that anxiety has 'hidden costs'. We need to distinguish
between performance effectiveness (how well we perform a task) and processing
efficiency (the relationship between performance effectiveness and use of
processing resources). Anxiety has more of an adverse effect on efficiency than on
effectiveness because anxious individuals typically respond to reduced efficiency by
using additional resources.
It is not difficult to understand the stress any child will encounter entering the
educational system, particularly in primary school where the focus is the acquisition
of literacy skills which must be learned because, as previously observed, such skills
must be learned at a conscious level rather than being inherited. Every child will
undergo some degree of separation anxiety at being parted from their parent, at
being asked to spend time in a new environment, at meeting new children and at
being asked to perform in a social context. These feelings would apply to any
individual in a learning context and invariably, enthusiasm and encouragement will
Anxiety and its correlation with working memory – the implications for students with Dyslexia
Patrick Mulcahy Student No: 9055478
Page 4
prevail to reduce these levels of stress before they become harmful. However, in the
case of a student with dyslexia, particularly if the condition is undiagnosed, this
anxiety can soon be compounded. Problems will soon arise with parents and
teachers telling him/her to work harder or that he is not working to his/her potential
and/or ability or that he/she will not amount to much. It is inevitable that this will
have consequences for the child in terms of areas such as emotional development,
the development of coping mechanisms and self esteem levels.
This leads us to the importance of emotion in the learning environment. Wolf (2206)
states that: ‘emotional engagement is often the tipping point between leaping into the
reading life or remaining in a childhood bog where reading is ensured only as a
means to other ends’. Emotions and memory seem to be inextricably linked as they
both involve each other. Blakemore and Frith, (2006: 177) state that: ‘emotional
events are better remembered than neutral events and this is especially true for
negative emotional events. Research involving both animals and humans has
shown that the amygdala, an important part of the brain’s emotional system
(sometimes called the limbic system) is involved with ‘the formation of enhanced
long-term memories associated with events that arouse fear or sadness’. They go
on to stress that the amygdala is crucial for processing memories of emotionally
salient events, and its activation during such events may be the root cause for them
being better recalled. Their research indicates that the amygdala interacts with the
hippocampus, a nearby structure (also part of the limbic system) which is crucial for
non-emotional memories. Thus, they suggest that it might be the connections
between the amygdala and the hippocampus that make memories of emotional
events so rapidly established and long lasting. As was noted above, the amygdala is
particularly involved in fear conditioning. Fear conditioning can occur after just one
exposure as this is when an animal learns to avoid a particular event or stimuli. The
brain via the amygdala is able to detect and respond to danger extremely quickly.
The amygdala is separate from brain areas in charge of other areas responsible for
conscious learning (e.g. remembering names and dates). So unconscious emotional
learning, which is automatic and impulsive and higher cognitive processing, such as
understanding why a situation is frightening, occur separately in the brain. One can
see that intuitive and conscious emotional intelligences are two different things using
different brain systems. I would argue that early educational experiences which
could be classed as traumatic can fuse in the mind with the stimuli or task being
remembered with fear, which in turn, results in anxiety when similar situations or
tasks are likely to be encountered.
According to Bandura (1995, p. 2): ‘Self-efficacy is the belief in one’s capabilities to
organise and execute the courses of action required to manage prospective
situations’. There are four major sources for influencing personal competence
(Bandora 1977). First, self-efficacy beliefs can be enhanced through personal
accomplishment or mastery as far as success is attributed internally and can be
Anxiety and its correlation with working memory – the implications for students with Dyslexia
Patrick Mulcahy Student No: 9055478
Page 5
repeated. A second source is vicarious experience. When a ‘model person’ who is
similar to the individual successfully masters a difficult situation, social comparison
processes can enhance self-efficacy beliefs. Third, there is symbolic experience
through verbal persuasion by others (e.g. a teacher reassures a student). The last
source is emotional arousal, that is the person experiences anxiety in a threatening
situation and thus feels incapable of mastering the situation. In terms of feeling, a
low sense of self-efficacy is associated with depression and anxiety. Persons with
low self-efficacy also have low self-esteem and they harbour pessimistic thoughts
about their accomplishments and personal development. Self efficacy levels can
enhance or impede motivation and I would argue that the latter is the case for
students with dyslexia. According to a review of studies undertaken by Chapman
and Turner (2003: 1): ‘For children who experience initial and ongoing success or
difficulty in reading, development of relations between reading performance and selfsystem factors occurs within the first year of schooling. Our studies also show that
phonological processing ability and letter-name knowledge at the outset of schooling
not only predict subsequent reading performance but also academic self-concept
and reading self-efficacy. Children who are deficient in phonological processing or
state a preference for using text-level cues for identifying unfamiliar words in text
rather than word-level information tend to develop difficulties in reading as well as
negative reading-related self-perceptions’.
Dale H. Schunk is an educational psychologist who took Bandura’s theory of selfefficacy into the realm of education, cognition and learning. According to Schunk,
(2003: 160): ‘Personal and environmental factors affect one another. As an example
of how beliefs can affect the environment, consider students with high and low selfefficacy for learning. Those with high efficacy may view the task as a challenge and
work diligently to master it, thereby creating a productive classroom environment.
Those with low efficacy may attempt to avoid the task, which can disrupt the
classroom’.
The evidence demonstrating that individuals with literacy difficulties have increased
levels of anxiety is growing. Paget and Reynolds (1984) noted that children with
learning difficulties were more anxious than their peers with the anxiety being seen
to affect their concentration. In a study of 16 students with dyslexia, Riddick, Sterling,
Farmer and Morgan (1999) found that these students displayed more anxieties and
feelings of academic incompetence than controls. A more recent research study
(Caroll and Iles 2006) involved sixteen students who were asked to complete a
written questionnaire concerning trait anxiety levels. The students were told that
they would be given a timed reading test and their state anxiety levels were
measured, subsequently their reading was assessed using the Test of Word
Reading Efficiency (TOWRE). The findings ‘indicate that dyslexic university students
have higher levels of trait anxiety than non-dyslexics with respect to both academic
and social situations. They also show higher levels of state anxiety when faced with
a situation in which their reading abilities will be tested. Increased anxiety levels in
Anxiety and its correlation with working memory – the implications for students with Dyslexia
Patrick Mulcahy Student No: 9055478
Page 6
dyslexics were not limited to academic situations. Dyslexics in higher education also
show increased levels of social anxiety. It is likely that for this group, as with
schoolchildren, social factors are closely bound up with academic achievements’.
This would seem to substantiate the observation that for some, years of struggling
with reading and related tasks will dispose them to stress, worry and anxiety when
placed in a situation where accuracy or literacy is being measured.
It is my understanding that a key factor in the aforementioned sequence of events
e.g. the disposition of students with dyslexia to anxiety, is working memory, and its
role in everyday cognitive activities as well as in the use of language. An
understanding of how this working memory system operates is essential if one is to
understand the correlation between anxiety and dyslexia. In this part of the essay I
would like to focus on working memory and the integral role it plays in developing
reading fluency. This concept of reading fluency needs to be explored further if one
is to appreciate the role of working memory and its interaction with long-term
memory and understanding. Wolf (2008: 130-1) states that: ‘fluency is not a matter
of speed; it is a matter of being able to utilise all the special knowledge a child has
about a word, its letters, letter patterns, meanings, grammatical functions, roots, and
endings – fast enough to have time to think and comprehend. Everything about a
word contributes to how fast it can be read’. Similarly, the cognitive scientist David
Swinney (1979: 645-659) discovered that when reading: ‘the brain doesn’t find just
one simple meaning for a word; instead it stimulates a veritable trove of knowledge
about that word and the many words related to it’. According to Stein (2006) ‘reading
requires the child to identify and order letters visually and to match them with the
phonemic sound segments that they represent, whereas speech naturally segments
into syllables, not phonemes’. In order for a child or any individual to be able to
undertake this task they must be able to enlist key executive functions in the brain
and one of these is working memory.
At its most basic, working memory acts in the same way as a computer’s cache
memory in that it temporarily holds information about letters and words long enough
for the brain to connect it to more conceptual information held in long term memory,
acting as a cognitive blackboard. According to Wolf (2008: 131) ‘as decoding readers
progress, their comprehension becomes inextricably bound to these executive
processes, and to what they know about words and to fluency. They are all related.
Incremental increases in fluency allow for inference making, because there is added
time for inferences and insights. Fluency does not ensure better comprehension;
Rather, fluency gives enough time to the executive system to direct attention where it
is most needed – to infer, to understand, to predict, or sometimes to repair
discordant understanding and to interpret a meaning afresh’. The importance of this
cannot be understated because the initial stages of learning to read are the time
when children learn to go beyond the information they are being asked to digest, this
is the time when the reading brain learns to take time to think and consider while
Anxiety and its correlation with working memory – the implications for students with Dyslexia
Patrick Mulcahy Student No: 9055478
Page 7
reading. Any problems at this stage are going to have a significant ripple effect which
will persist throughout the child’s education thus their opportunity to learn from
experience becomes more remote.
The notion that memory was not one single structure was an idea that prompted a
number of investigations and research papers in the mid 20th century and perhaps
the most famous of these was George Miller’s seminal paper: ‘The Magic Number
Seven’ which was published in 1956. His research led him to conclude that subjects
can handle seven plus or minus two meaningful units of information. It was
suggested that whereas long-term memory has enormous capacity for storage
coupled with a relatively slow input and retrieval, short-term memory is a limited
capacity store with rapid input and retrieval. Baddeley (1986: 14) states that the ‘the
evidence of coding seems to associate short-term memory tasks with phonological
processing and long-term memory with semantic coding’. He focussed on what he
perceived as the underlying storage systems and the evidence emerging from
Neuropsychological research on patients with amnesia and brain damage. In
essence, the concept of working memory proposes that a dedicated system
maintains and stores information in the short term, and that this system underlies
human thought processes. His work led to a model of working memory which had
three principal components. ‘The central executive possessed limited-capacity
processing resources, which can be for particular processing information between
other components of the memory system, the subsystems of the phonological loop
and the visuo-spatial sketchpad. The phonological loop is capable of processing and
maintaining phonological information and consists both of a phonological short-term
store and a subvocal control process used both for rehearsal and recoding
information into phonological form. The visuo-spatial sketchpad is involved in
generating images and in retaining information with visual or spatial dimensions’
(Gathercole, Baddeley (2003)). This model was successful in providing an
integrated account using data from neuropsychological, developmental and
neuroimaging data as well as research on members of the public.
Subsequently, questions were asked with respect to a number of phenomena that
are not readily captured by the original model. This led to a fourth component to the
model, the episodic buffer, being proposed. According to Baddeley (2000: 1): ‘it
comprises a limited capacity system that provides temporary storage of information
held in a multimodal code, which is capable of binding information from the
subsidiary systems, and from long-term memory, into a unitary episodic
representation. Conscious awareness is assumed to be the principal mode of
retrieval from the buffer. The revised model differs from the old principally in
focussing attention on the processes of integrating information, rather than on the
isolation of the subsystems. In doing so, it provides a better basis for tackling the
more complex aspects of executive control in working memory’. A visual
Anxiety and its correlation with working memory – the implications for students with Dyslexia
Patrick Mulcahy Student No: 9055478
Page 8
representation of this new and more comprehensive model can be seen in figure 1.
Figure 1.
‘When phonological awareness and central executive function are examined with
respect to their role in literacy, it does appear that working memory accounts for
unique variance in reading performance’ (Pickering S (2004)). Pickering goes on to
argue that some caution is required when looking for a definitive explanation for all
literacy difficulties and that it should be borne in mind that a range of cognitive
processes are important in the task of learning to read. Against this background,
Pickering (2006: 238) listed the following in her summary:




‘Children with poor working memory skills typically make poor academic
progress in the areas of literacy and mathematics.
Children with working memory impairments frequently fail in classroom
activities that impose significant working memory loads.
The most common type of classroom failure involved forgetting instructions,
losing place in complex tasks, and struggling in tasks that involved both
processing and storage loads.
Although children with working memory impairments had some awareness of
their memory problems, their teachers did not and attributed their problems to
lack of attention’.
As the final part of this essay, I will investigate the correlations and interplay between
dyslexia and anxiety and the way these two phenomena can intertwine with each
other with, frequently, disastrous results for the individual concerned. Darke (1988)
undertook two experiments to measure the comparative working capacities of highly
anxious and low anxiety individuals. He used a traditional digit span measure of
capacity as the first part of the experiment and in the second he required subjects to
both process and store information. The digit span task entails individuals being
presented with progressively longer series of digits for serial recall. Thirty two firstyear psychology students of the University of Sydney served as subjects. According
to Darke (1982: 145) ‘highly anxious subjects displayed significantly smaller
measures of capacity in relation to the low anxiety groups in both experiments. It is
concluded that high levels of anxiety reduces both the storage and processing
Anxiety and its correlation with working memory – the implications for students with Dyslexia
Patrick Mulcahy Student No: 9055478
Page 9
capacity of working memory’. The results are consistent with Eysenck’s (1982,
1992) conclusions with respect to the tendency of high anxiety subjects to engage in
task-irrelevant processing and that anxiety affects the articulatory loop component of
working memory. Thus, working memory is considered to be further weakened by
the effects of anxiety and intrusive thoughts on complex cognitive tasks, including
those dependent on literacy skills, leading to information processing problems.
One of the interesting aspects of the aforementioned research is that Shane Darke is
based in the Department of Psychology, University of Sydney and his work relates
also to illicit drug use and addiction as part of the National Drug and Alcohol
Research Centre (Australia). The link between anxiety and addiction is well
documented. Kushner et al (1990: 147) state: ‘the idea that people suffering from
anxiety have a proclivity to consume alcohol to relieve their symptoms is supported
by reports showing high comorbidity rates of alcohol and anxiety problems’. It is
tempting to extrapolate that this would have a particular consequence for students
with dyslexia and there is some evidence to suggest that this may be the case.
Hinson et al (2003: 298) state that: ‘decision making that favours short-term over
long-term consequences of action, defined as impulsive or temporally myopic, may
be related to individual differences in the executive functions of working memory’.
There has been some very recent research into the correlation between dyslexia and
addiction and according to Yates (2006: 53): ‘there appears to be a clear indication
that dyslexic drug users engage in a more chaotic drug using life style than their nondyslexic counterparts. They consume more drugs, they are more likely to inject and
they report more health problems’. This leads back to issues with self-esteem and
self-efficacy and although I have been unable to unearth any evidence of any causal
link or significant correlation between dyslexia and addiction, there are sufficient
parallels to warrant further investigation. As was noted above, persons with low selfefficacy also have low self-esteem and they harbour pessimistic thoughts about their
accomplishments and personal development. In the case of students with dyslexia
and anxiety, both of these factors affect their working memory, which can in turn,
result in impulsive behaviour, notably these are some of the pre-requisites of
problematic behaviour in cases where alcohol or illicit drugs are turned to for solace
and self-medication.
In conclusion, I would like to summarise what I regard as the interplay between
dyslexia and anxiety, with the common factor being the implications for working
memory. As is detailed above, dyslexia is characterised by phonological processing
difficulties. The working memory system includes a specialised phonological store in
which verbal information is retained. Children with poor working memory skills,
typically, make poor academic progress in the areas of literacy and mathematics and
can develop negative reading-related self-perceptions. These self-perceptions can,
in turn, impact on their self-efficacy as negative emotional events are better
remembered. Research indicates that dyslexic university students have higher
Anxiety and its correlation with working memory – the implications for students with Dyslexia
Patrick Mulcahy Student No: 9055478
Page 10
levels of trait anxiety than non-dyslexics. High levels of anxiety reduce both the
storage and processing capacity of working memory. So one can see a cycle
whereby the effects of dyslexia are exacerbated by anxiety, with a concomitant effect
on self-efficacy which, in turn, makes the individual more prone to anxiety and so on.
There appears to be a dynamic interplay between dyslexia and anxiety, with each
fuelling the other, creating a cycle of disadvantage for the individual concerned.
Against this background, there are a number of implications for practitioners working
in the field of dyslexia. I concur with the conclusion of the research undertaken by
Caroll and IIes (2006: 651) when they observe that: ‘assessment of emotional wellbeing should form part of the assessment of need for students entering higher
education’. This needs to be borne in mind by assessors undertaking needs
assessment under the Disabled Students Allowance scheme.
Practitioners working with students with dyslexia should be aware that anxiety is not
just an associated condition for their clients but one which serves to exacerbate all of
their difficulties with respect to reading and coping in an academic context.
Practitioners should be attuned to the more obvious symptoms of anxiety and
include in their armoury strategies which can assist the student, such as relaxation
techniques, breathing techniques, taking regular breaks, effective and realistic time
management. The profound effect that anxiety can have on an individual’s working
memory underscores our responsibility to assist the student in coming to realise the
existence of the cycle of interplay and to assist them to develop strategies which will
minimise this cycle’s destructive power.
Finally, there are a number of areas for future research and investigation, in
particular, the correlation between dyslexia and addiction. Similarly, I would like to
investigate further the efficacy of a range of relaxation strategies which could be
used by practitioners when working with students with dyslexia.
Anxiety and its correlation with working memory – the implications for students with Dyslexia
Patrick Mulcahy Student No: 9055478
Page 11
References
Ausubel, D P, Schiff, H. Goldmann M. Qualitative characteristics in the learning
process associated with anxiety, The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology.
Vol 48(4), 1953, 537-547
Baddeley, A (1986). Working Memory. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Baddeley, A . (2000). The episodic buffer: a new component of working memory?
Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 4 (11), p417-423.
Baddeley, A, Gathercole, S, (2003) Working Memory and Language, Psychology
Press
Bandura, A (1977), Self-efficacy: The exercise of Control. New York: Freeman.
Bandura, A. (1995). Self-Efficacy in Changing Societies. Cambridge University
Press.
Biederman, J, Newcorn J and Sprich S. (1991) ‘Comorbidity of attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder with conduct, depressive, anxiety, and other disorders’.
Pediatric Psychopharmacology Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
02114.
Blakemore, S, Frith U. (2006) The learning brain, lessons for education. Blackwall
Publishing Oxford
Carroll, J. IIles, J E, (2006) An assessment of anxiety levels in dyslexic students in
higher education. British Journal of Educational Psychology 76, 651-662
Chapman, J W. Tunmer, W E. (2003) 'Reading difficulties, reading related selfperceptions, and strategies for overcoming negative self-beliefs’, Reading and
Writing Quarterly, 19: 1, p5-24
Dockrell J., McShane J (1993) Children’s Learning Difficulties. Oxford: Blackwell
Darke, Shane (1988) 'Anxiety and working memory capacity', Cognition & Emotion,
2: 2, 145-154
Eysenck, M. W. Calvo, M. G. 1992 Anxiety and performance: The processing
efficiency theory. Cognition & emotion, 6(6), 409 - 434.
Anxiety and its correlation with working memory – the implications for students with Dyslexia
Patrick Mulcahy Student No: 9055478
Page 12
Hinson J M, Jameson T L, Whitney, P Impulsive decision making and working
memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition. Vol
29(2), Mar 2003, 298-306.
Kushner, M G, Sher K J and Beitman B D. (1990) The relation between alcohol
problems and the anxiety disorders. Am J Psychiatry 147:p685-695
Kirby,J. Silvestri, R. Allingham, B. Parilla, R. La Fave, C.. (February 2008). ‘Learning
Strategies and Study Approaches of Postsecondary Students with Dyslexia’. Journal
of Learning Disabilities. 41 (1), p94-95.
Pickering, S. Verbal Memory in the Learning of Literacy in Turner M, Rack J, (2004)
eds) The Study of Dyslexia (London) Kluwer Academic.
Pickering, S.(2006) Working Memory and Education, London, Elsevier
Rosen J B, Schulkin J, From normal fear to pathological anxiety. Psychological
Review. Vol 105(2), Apr 1998, 325-350
Shaywitz, S. (1996), ‘Dyslexia’, Scientific American, November 1996
Singleton, C. H. (Chair). (1999). Dyslexia in Higher Education: Policy, provision and
practice (The Report of the National Working Party on Dyslexia in Higher Education).
Hull, UK University of Hull
Stein J. (2006). The Physiological Basis of Dyslexia. Available:
http://www.physiol.ox.ac.uk/~jfs/research1.html. Last accessed 10 may 2010.
Steinbeck J (1952). East of Eden. New York: Putnam Penguin, pp. 270-271
Stewart J (2001) Presentation to British Dyslexia Association, Sheffield.
Swinney, D A (1979) ‘Lexical Access during Sentence Comprehension:
Reconsiderations of Context effects’. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal
Behaviour, 18, p. 645-659
Schunk, D (2003) 'Self-efficacy for reading and writing: Influence of modelling, goal
setting, and self-evaluation’, Reading & Writing Quarterly, 19: 2, 159-172
SpLD Working Group 2005/DfES Guidelines can be downloaded from the PATOSS
web-site: http://www.patoss-dyslexia.org/
Anxiety and its correlation with working memory – the implications for students with Dyslexia
Patrick Mulcahy Student No: 9055478
Page 13
Willcutt, E, G, and Pennington, B. E. (2000). ‘Psychiatric comorbidity in children and
adolescents with reading disability’. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 41
(8), 1039-1048
Wolf, M (2008). Proust and the Squid, the Story and Science of the Reading Brain.
Houston: Icon. 1.
Yates, P R (2006) ‘Bad mouthing, bad habits and bad, bad boys: an exploration of
the relationship between dyslexia and drug dependence ‘ Supervised by Susan Eley,
Kirsten Stalker & Alison Bowes MSc. In Applied Social Research, Dissertation
submitted 31st August 2006 Department of Applied Social Science, University of
Stirling
Anxiety and its correlation with working memory – the implications for students with Dyslexia
Patrick Mulcahy Student No: 9055478
Page 14