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Combined Model of Working Memory with Standardized Coefficients. This figure shows the factors and factor loadings for tasks of the CABC-WM. Standardized coefficients are presented in the figure. See Gray et al. 22 for further details. (*Reprinted with permission from Gray et al.)
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The Comprehensive Assessment Battery for Children-Working Memory (CABC-WM) is a computer-based battery designed to assess different components of working memory in young school-age children. Working memory deficits have been identified in children with language-based learning disabilities, including dyslexia1,2 and language impairment3,4, but it is...
Context in source publication
Context 1
... of the CABC-WM have been used to test the fit of prominent models of working memory 22 . Based on confirmatory factor analyses, the tasks of the CABC-WM were used to define a final model of working memory that can best be described as a combination of Cowan's three- factor embedded processes model 15,16 of central executive, focus of attention, and phonological storage and rehearsal with Baddeley and Hitch's three-factor model 5 of central executive, visuospatial sketchpad, and phonological loop (see Figure 2). The first identified factor in the combined model, the central executive, included the n-back tasks and the updating task. ...
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Rote counting skills have found to be a strong predictor of later arithmetic and reading fluency. However, knowledge of the underlying cognitive factors influencing counting skill is very limited. Present study examined to what extent language skills (phonology, vocabulary, and morphology), nonverbal reasoning skills, and memory at the age of five...
Citations
... A wider range of performance across reading and spelling measures could have been observed if different percentile ranks were incorporated. Lastly, working memory assessments such as digit and visual span tests (Cabbage et al., 2017) that were not included in the current study should be investigated for a comprehensive understanding of the cognitive profile of children with RD. Other fundamental components in literacy such as phonological awareness and rapid automatised naming, which are powerful predictors of reading achievement (Vander Stappen & Van Reybroeck, 2018), should also be incorporated for better insights into the literacy profiles of the students. ...
Children with reading difficulties typically experience difficulties in both reading and spelling. Little is known about the use of spelling for identifying reading difficulties across languages that possess different orthographic depths, among multilingual readers. In the current study, we investigated whether multilingual Primary 1 poor readers were also poor spellers in two different orthographies, namely Malay and English. The sample comprised 866 Primary 1 Malaysian public school students from diverse backgrounds. A cut-off point of 25th percentile and below was used to operationalise students with deficits in word reading accuracy and spelling across both languages. A majority of the students who were poor readers in Malay and English, correspondingly, were also poor spellers in both languages. Spelling and word reading accuracy were highly correlated and considered as good indicators for identifying struggling young multilingual readers. These results indicate the importance of assessing spelling in both Malay and English for identifying reading difficulties, especially among young multilingual Malaysian learners. Implications for practice and future directions are addressed.
... A large body of research on WMC in children is available. Numerous paradigms such as simple (e.g., Ahmed et al., 2022;Panesi et al., 2022;Reynolds et al., 2022) and complex span (Gustafsson & Wolff, 2015;Peng & Fuchs, 2017), updating (e.g., Blume et al., 2022;Galeano-Keiner et al., 2022;Neubauer et al., 2019), binding (e.g., Cheng & Kibbe, 2022;Gray et al., 2017), corsi block (e.g., Cirino et al., 2018;Demetriou et al., 2014;Houwen et al., 2019), n-Back tests (e.g., Cabbage et al., 2017;Cirino et al., 2018;Watrin et al., 2022), and others (e.g., Cowan et al., 2011;Renner et al., 2021) are applied to measure WMC in children. ...
... We did this by analyzing performances on phonological working memory and sentence production tasks by children with typical language, dyslexia-only, or comorbid dyslexia and DLD (hereafter, "dyslexiaþDLD"). Our phonological working memory measures included a Nonword Repetition, Digit Span, and Phonological Binding Span task that were completed as part of a larger working memory battery (Cabbage, Brinkley, Gray, Alt, Cowan, Green, Kuo & Hogan, 2017;Gray et al., 2017). We used children's scaled scores from the Formulated Sentences subtest of the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals -Fourth Edition (Semel, Wiig & Secord, 2003) to measure their sentence production abilities. ...
... As part of this larger project, participants completed a comprehensive battery of working memory and word learning games over the span of at least six days. For additional details, seeCabbage et al., 2017. ...
Purpose
Little is known about the relationship between sentence production and phonological working memory in school-age children. To fill this gap, we examined how strongly these constructs correlate. We also compared diagnostic groups’ working memory abilities to see if differences co-occurred with qualitative differences in their sentences.
Method
We conducted Bayesian analyses on data from seven- to nine-year-old children (n = 165 typical language, n = 81 dyslexia-only, n = 43 comorbid dyslexia and developmental language disorder). We correlated sentence production and working memory scores and conducted t tests between groups’ working memory scores and sentence length, lexical diversity, and complexity.
Results
Correlations were positive but weak. The dyslexic and typical groups had dissimilar working memory and comparable sentence quality. The dyslexic and comorbid groups had comparable working memory but dissimilar sentence quality.
Conclusion
Contrary to literature-based predictions, phonological working memory and sentence production are weakly related in school-age children.
... However, performance on our working memory measure revealed significant differences between groups, favouring children without SCT. Although effect sizes were small, the presence of working memory deficits in children with SCT indicated possible difficulty with coordinating the processing of information, directed by the central executive function (see, Baddeley, 2003;Baddeley & Hitch, 1974;Cabbage et al., 2017;Cowan, 1999). Integrating new, incoming information requires mental processes that necessitate focusing attention or concentrating long enough to accomplish these tasks. ...
Language disorders are frequently comorbid with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT), a second attention disorder, may potentially explain some of the links between language disorders and ADHD. In this study we examined the psycholinguistic abilities of 207 children (mean age 7;10) with and without clinically significant levels of SCT symptoms to determine the degree to which symptoms of language disorder co-occur in cases of SCT. Analyses of children's tense-marking, nonword repetition, and sentence recall indicated that deficits in these areas were not associated with SCT. Instead, SCT appears to be more closely aligned with features of social (pragmatic) communication disorder.
... It is most directly indexed by the local switch cost, defined as the difference in performance on switch and repeat trials within mixed blocks, rather than the global switch cost, defined as the difference in performance between pure and mixed blocks, as the latter also reflect the additional load on working memory when multiple task sets must be kept online (Wasylyshyn et al., 2011). Studies of working memory (e.g., Cabbage et al., 2017) should therefore provide some information about the development of stable cognitive control, and studies of task switching (e.g., Wasylyshyn et al., 2011;Holt and Deák, 2015) should inform us about the development of flexible cognitive control. However, each of these studies in isolation cannot fully capture the complex nature of flexible and stable cognitive control, nor inform us about their interdependence. ...
Meeting everyday challenges and responding in a goal-directed manner requires both the ability to maintain the current task set in face of distractors—stable cognitive control, and the ability to flexibly generate or switch to a new task set when environmental requirements change—flexible cognitive control. While studies show that the development varies across individual component processes supporting cognitive control, little is known about changes in complex stable and flexible cognitive control across the lifespan. In the present study, we used the newly developed Cognitive Control Challenge Task (C3T) to examine the development of complex stable and flexible cognitive control across the lifespan and to gain insight into their interdependence. A total of 340 participants (229 women, age range 8–84 years) from two samples participated in the study, in which they were asked to complete the C3T along with a series of standard tests of individual components of cognitive control. The results showed that the development of both stable and flexible complex cognitive control follows the expected inverted U-curve. In contrast, the indeces of task set formation and task set switching cost increase linearly across the lifespan, suggesting that stable and flexible complex cognitive control are subserved by separable cognitive systems with different developmental trajectories. Correlations with standard cognitive tests indicate that complex cognitive control captured by the C3T engages a broad range of cognitive abilities, such as working memory and planning, and reflects global processing speed, jointly suggesting that the C3T is an effective test of complex cognitive control that has both research and diagnostic potential.
... Current practice is to use several model fit criteria instead of relying on a single measure. We assessed model fit using a combination of absolute, parsimony, and comparative indices of model fit (Byrne, 2012). Our index of absolute fit was standardized root-mean residual (SRMR), which represents the squared difference between observed and predicted correlations and for which values of < .08 are considered acceptable. ...
... The model fit indices discussed so far can be affected by design features, including sample size (Byrne, 2012). Thus, we want to emphasize the importance of viewing the model fit indices as a set and to pair these statistics with theory and interpretability. ...
Purpose
We investigated four theoretically based latent variable models of word learning in young school-age children.
Method
One hundred sixty-seven English-speaking second graders with typical development from three U.S. states participated. They completed five different tasks designed to assess children's creation, storage, retrieval, and production of the phonological and semantic representations of novel words and their ability to link those representations. The tasks encompassed the triggering and configuration stages of word learning.
Results
Results showed that a latent variable model with separate phonological and semantic factors and linking indicators constrained to load on the phonological factor best fit the data.
Discussion
The structure of word learning during triggering and configuration reflects separate but related phonological and semantic factors. We did not find evidence for a unidimensional latent variable model of word learning or for separate receptive and expressive word learning factors. In future studies, it will be interesting to determine whether the structure of word learning differs during the engagement stage of word learning when phonological and semantic representations, as well as the links between them, are sufficiently strong to affect other words in the lexicon.
... Tasks that comprehensively assess Baddeley's components of working memory by individually testing each component via multiple sub-tests, such as the working memory version of the comprehensive assessment battery for children (Cabbage, Brinkley, Gray, Alt, Cowan, Green & Hogan, 2017) or the working memory test battery (Pickering & Gathercole, 2001), find that the components of working memory most predictive of performance in tasks like mathematical reasoning change over time. Meyer et al. (2010) found that the central executive and phonological loop were more predictive of 2 nd grader's performance, whereas the visuospatial sketchpad was more predictive of 3 rd grader's performance in mathematical reasoning tasks. ...
How do humans develop the ability to approach and solve diverse, attentionally-demanding problems? Current work on problem-solving focuses on well-defined problems in which explicit task constraints directly inform the planning and execution of behaviors. However, in situations that might be more informative for naturalistic learning and problem-solving, what is necessary to solve problems when task constraints, and thus planning abilities, are not as easily accessible? Executive functions such as selective attention and working memory seem fundamental to these types of activities, yet there is not a clear account of how exactly the coordination of these cognitive processes contribute dynamically to this capability over the course of development. This study aimed to enhance the current characterization of problem-solving by further uncovering relationships among processes of executive functioning to better understand how this competence might emerge and self-organize throughout development. To first examine this phenomenon in adults, a sample of 86 people between the ages of 18-27 years participated in this phase of the study. The experiment consisted of a code-breaking problem-solving task and two working memory tasks; the Simon color sequence game, and the Dual N-Back. In the problem-solving task, participants attempted to solve a correct code using incremental feedback. Overall, results suggested that the ability to adequately coordinate information, and thus overall performance, decreases when working memory demands are imposed.
... The POWWER study includes the groups reported, as well as bilingual children with TD. Participants in the POWWER study completed a total of six word learning games and a comprehensive battery of working memory tasks (see Cabbage et al., 2017), completed over the course of at least 6 days. Data on a subset of the groups with TD and dyslexia were reported in Alt et al. (2017) and Baron et al. (2018). ...
Purpose
The purpose of our study was to test the hypotheses (a) that children with dyslexia have spoken word learning deficits primarily related to phonology and (b) that children with dyslexia and concomitant developmental language disorder (DLD) have word learning deficits related to both phonology and semantic processing when compared to peers with typical development (TD).
Method
Second-graders with dyslexia ( n = 82), concomitant dyslexia and DLD (dyslexia + DLD; n = 40), and TD ( n = 167) learned names and semantic features for cartoon monsters in 5 carefully controlled word learning tasks that varied phonological and semantic demands. The computer-based tasks were played in 6 different word learning games. We analyzed results using Bayesian statistics.
Results
In general, the dyslexia + DLD group showed lower accuracy on tasks compared to the dyslexia and TD groups. As predicted, word learning tasks that taxed phonology revealed deficits in the dyslexia group, although there were some exceptions related to visual complexity. Word learning deficits in the dyslexia + DLD group were present in tasks that taxed phonology, semantic processing, or both.
Conclusions
The dyslexia + DLD group demonstrated word learning deficits across the range of word learning tasks that tapped phonology and semantic processing, whereas the dyslexia group primarily struggled with the phonological aspects of word learning.
Supplemental Material
https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.9807929
... After completing assessments, children participated in 13 experimental working memory tasks from the Comprehensive Assessment Battery for Children-Working Memory (CABC-WM; Cabbage et al., 2017;Gray et al., n.d.). A video showing examples of the tasks is available at https://www.jove.com/video/55121 in the Journal of Visualized Experiments. ...
Purpose
Compared to children with typical development, children with dyslexia, developmental language disorder (DLD), or both often demonstrate working memory deficits. It is unclear how pervasive the deficits are or whether the deficits align with diagnostic category. The purpose of this study was to determine whether different working memory profiles would emerge on a comprehensive battery of central executive, phonological, visuospatial, and binding working memory tasks and whether these profiles were associated with group membership.
Method
Three hundred two 2nd graders with typical development, dyslexia, DLD, or dyslexia/DLD completed 13 tasks from the Comprehensive Assessment Battery for Children–Working Memory ( Gray, Alt, Hogan, Green, & Cowan, n.d. ) that assessed central executive, phonological, and visuospatial/attention components of working memory.
Results
Latent class analyses yielded 4 distinct latent classes: low overall (21%), average with high number updating (30%), average with low number updating (12%), and high overall (37%). Children from each disability group and children from the typically developing group were present in each class.
Discussion
Findings highlight the importance of knowing an individual child's working memory profile because working memory profiles are not synonymous with learning disabilities diagnosis. Thus, working memory assessments could contribute important information about children's cognitive function over and above typical psychoeducational measures.
... groups reported, as well as children with language impairment (LI), children with dyslexia, and children with comorbid dyslexia and LI. Participants in the POWWER study completed a total of six word learning games and a comprehensive battery of working memory tasks (seeCabbage et al. 2017), completed over the course of at least six days. A portion of the data for the monolingual children in this study was reported inAlt et al. 2017. ...
This study examined accuracy on syllable-final (coda) consonants in newly-learned English-like nonwords to determine whether school-aged bilingual children may be more vulnerable to making errors on English-only codas than their monolingual, English-speaking peers, even at a stage in development when phonological accuracy in productions of familiar words is high. Bilingual Spanish-English-speaking second-graders (age 7–9) with typical development (n = 40) were matched individually with monolingual peers on age, sex, and speech skills. Participants learned to name sea monsters as part of five computerized word learning tasks. Dependent t-tests revealed bilingual children were less accurate than monolingual children in producing codas unique to English; however, the groups demonstrated equivalent levels of accuracy on codas that occur in both Spanish and English. Results suggest that, even at high levels of English proficiency, bilingual Spanish-English-speaking children may demonstrate lower accuracy than their monolingual English-speaking peers on targets that pattern differently in their two languages. Differences between a bilingual’s two languages can be used to reveal targets that may be more vulnerable to error, which could be a result of cross-linguistic effects or more limited practice with English phonology.
