Complex categorization plays a significant role in phonetic category learning by treating acoustically distinct utterances as functionally equivalent. In particular, the ability to learn to perceptually categorize speech sounds lays the foundation for the emergence of phonological skills. Therefore, the investigation of perceptual category learning in developmental dyslexia (DD) could provide important insights into the etiology of the disorder, in which phonological impairments are ubiquitous. Extant research shows that humans have multiple (i.e., explicit and procedural) category learning systems with distinct neural substrates and computational specialties and recent evidence suggests that the procedural system is involved in learning to categorize the sounds of languages. Prior studies including our own research suggest that performance on procedural category learning problems is disrupted in DD and these impairments are correlated with their phonological skill impairments. Despite this evidence, there is a major gap in our understanding of the categorization deficits and procedural learning impairments observed in DD in general. In particular, prior research has tended to focus on the impaired outcomes of procedural learning in DD, but has not yet systematically studied the learning process that leads to these differences. Without fine-grained assessment of online processing during learning, it is impossible to ascertain the cause of poorer learning outcomes in DD. Just as significantly, little attention has been paid to the interplay between multiple learning systems and to conditions that may facilitate category learning in DD. The proposed study capitalizes on perceptual category learning combined with computational models aiming to characterize the behavioral strategies employed during learning, in order to identify the nature of procedural learning disruption in DD (Objective 1). Using this information, we will produce transient DD-like category learning impairments among neurotypicals as a test of the causality between strategy use and behavioral performance (Objective 2) and as a means by which to improve perceptual category learning in DD (Objective 3). In pursuing these objectives, we aim to fill theoretical gaps in our understanding of the strategies individuals with DD employ during procedural learning challenges. Inasmuch as perceptual category learning via procedural systems is a basic building block upon which linguistic skills are formed, the proposed research will advance our understanding of the difficulties individuals with DD encounter in forming stable phonological representations, potentially paving the way for more targeted intervention programs informed by basic science research.