Dr. Daniel Hajovsky at Texas A&M University led a study that combined 50,000 correlations from 137 cognitive and achievement test batteries to identify which mental skills predict reading success. Researchers from the University of Kansas, St. John's University, Montclair State University and Temple University contributed to the work.
The analysis revealed that visual processing showed no meaningful relationship with reading ability. General intelligence was associated with reading performance, but its influence was smaller than some earlier research suggested.
Two abilities emerged as particularly strong predictors of reading success: auditory processing and comprehension-knowledge.
Auditory processing involves recognizing and distinguishing individual sounds that make up spoken words. This skill supports decoding, the process of working out how written words are pronounced.
Comprehension-knowledge refers to vocabulary, concepts and background information a child has accumulated through learning and everyday experiences. This foundation helps children understand the meaning of words, sentences and longer passages.
Other cognitive functions, including memory, reasoning and mental processing speed, also contributed to reading development but played more supporting roles.
Hajovsky noted that "general intelligence was less dominant than in some earlier meta-analyses" and that "broad abilities such as comprehension-knowledge and auditory processing played strong, specific roles in reading beyond general intelligence, especially for decoding and comprehension."
The findings suggest teachers may better identify particular weaknesses in students who struggle with reading and provide targeted instruction. Hajovsky stated that "struggles in reading are not a sign of low ability but often reflect one specific skill that needs strengthening within a larger system that works together."