PhD - UiL-OTS (now ILS)

On 14 December 2018 I succesfully defended my PhD thesis entitled Sequential learning, domain generality, and developmental dyslexia. This thesis is based on my NWO research project Sequential learning in typically developing children and in children at risk of developmental dyslexia. Both infants and adults with and without (a risk of) dyslexia were tested on their sensitivity to so-called transitional probabilities in sequences of elements in various domains. Transitional probability is a measure for the chance by which one element follows another element.

The first research question was whether sequential learning is a domain-general learning mechanism; the second research question was whether sequential learning is affected in people with dyslexia. The question of the domain generality of sequential learning could not be decisively answered, and no support was obtained for a general deficit in sequential learning in dyslexia. The results may, however, point to slightly reduced sequential-learning capabilities in the language domain in adults with dyslexia.