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The Measurement of Verbal Working Memory Capacity and Its Relation to Reading Comprehension
Abstract
Ninety-four subjects were tested on the Daneman and Carpenter (1980) reading span task, four versions of a related sentence span task in which reaction times and accuracy on sentence processing were measured along with sentence-final word recall, two number generation tasks designed to test working memory, digit span, and two shape-generation tasks designed to measure visual-spatial working memory. Forty-four subjects were retested on a subset of these measures at a 3-month interval. All subjects were tested on standard vocabulary and reading tests. Correlational analyses showed better internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the sentence span tasks than of the Daneman-Carpenter reading span task. Factor analysis showed no factor that could be related to a central verbal working memory; rotated factors suggested groupings of tests into factors that correspond to digit-related tasks, spatial tasks, sentence processing in sentence span tasks, and recall in sentence span tasks. Correlational analyses and regression analyses showed that the sentence processing component of the sentence span tasks was the best predictor of performance on the reading test, with a small independent contribution of the recall component. The results suggest that sentence span tasks are unreliable unless measurements are made of both their sentence processing and recall components, and that the predictive value of these tasks for reading comprehension abilities lies in the overlap of operations rather than in limitations in verbal working memory that apply to both.
... This idea is supported by a body of research in L1 and L2 learning in general and in L1 and L2 reading in particular. For example, L1 research suggests that there are relationships between individuals' WMC and fluency of speech (Daneman, 1991), the ability to learn new words (Daneman & Green, 1986), and L1 reading comprehension (e.g., Daneman & Carpenter, 1980;Waters & Caplan, 1996). There are also some L2 studies arguing that WM affects word naming and vocabulary learning (Atkins & Baddeley, 1998), online parsing performance (Juffs, 2004), use of interactional feedback (e.g., Mackey, Adams, Stafford, & Winke, 2010), L2 morphological processing (e.g., Durand López, 2021), L2 morphosyntactic processing (e.g., Keating, 2010;Sagarra & LaBrozzi, 2018) and L2 reading comprehension (Harrington & Sawyer, 1992;Leeser, 2007;Walter, 2004). ...
... Due to divergent research findings reported above, it is not yet clear to what extent individual differences in WM make a role in explaining variability in L2 reading. In addition, similar to L1 reading research which has indicated the effect of WM on reading is most apparent in the early stages of literacy development (e.g., Daneman & Carpenter, 1980;Just & Carpenter, 1992;Waters & Caplan, 1996), this same pattern may exist for second language reading as well. However, unlike L1 readers who can communicate orally at the time of reading and possess sufficient L1 knowledge, L2 readers may differ in terms of their level of L2 knowledge, and this may impact the involvement of WM in L2 reading. ...
... As an important role for WM has been well established in first language acquisition (e.g., Daneman & Green, 1986;Waters & Caplan, 1996), research on the role of WM has been emerging as an area of concern for learning different aspects of L2 in general (e.g., Miyake & Friedman, 1998;Robinson, 2005) and L2 reading comprehension in particular (e.g., Adams & Shahnazari, 2014;Alptekin & Erçetin, 2009). To date, several studies have investigated the role of WM in L2 reading comprehension. ...
Following exploring the important role of working memory capacity (WMC) in the first language
acquisition (e.g., Daneman & Carpenter, 1980; King & Just, 1991; Miyake, Just & Carpenter,
1994; Waters & Caplan, 1996), research on examining the role of WM in L2 learning has emerged
as an area of concern for L2 researchers. This study examined the role of WMC in the development
of L2 reading at the beginning, intermediate and advanced levels. Since findings on the relationship
between WMC and L2 reading have not been consistent, possibly because the influence of
WMC on L2 reading may vary at different levels of proficiency, the current study seeks further to
examine proficiency as a moderating variable in the relationship between WMC and L2 reading.
This was to see whether the influence of WMC changed at different levels of proficiency. A total of
140 L1 Persian EFL learners completed a WMC task as well as measures of reading proficiency.
The results of the study showed a significant relationship between WMC and L2 reading only
among learners of lower proficiency. This suggests that WM plays a diminishing role in
discriminating performance on second language reading measures at higher levels of proficiency.
... There is a relatively small body of literature focusing on investigating the relationship between processing and storage performance in complex span tasks directly. Such investigations have been conducted in healthy young adults (e.g., Engle et al., 1992;Friedman & Miyake, 2004;St Clair-Thompson, 2007a, 2007bTowse et al., 2000;Unsworth et al., 2005;Waters & Caplan, 1996) and in typically developing children (e.g., Barrouillet & Camos, 2001;Hitch et al., 2001;St Clair-Thompson, 2007b;Towse et al., 1998). Additional work has examined the relationship between processing task accuracy and storage performance (Daneman & Tardif, 1987;Engle et al., 1992;Lépine et al., 2005;Salthouse et al., 2008;Shah & Miyake, 1996;Towse et al., 2000;Turner & Engle, 1989;Waters & Caplan, 1996). ...
... Such investigations have been conducted in healthy young adults (e.g., Engle et al., 1992;Friedman & Miyake, 2004;St Clair-Thompson, 2007a, 2007bTowse et al., 2000;Unsworth et al., 2005;Waters & Caplan, 1996) and in typically developing children (e.g., Barrouillet & Camos, 2001;Hitch et al., 2001;St Clair-Thompson, 2007b;Towse et al., 1998). Additional work has examined the relationship between processing task accuracy and storage performance (Daneman & Tardif, 1987;Engle et al., 1992;Lépine et al., 2005;Salthouse et al., 2008;Shah & Miyake, 1996;Towse et al., 2000;Turner & Engle, 1989;Waters & Caplan, 1996). In both contexts, results have been somewhat mixed, with some reports finding evidence for a relationship between better processing performance indices (lower RT, higher accuracy) and better storage performance (e.g., St Clair-Thompson, 2007a, 2007bWaters & Caplan, 1996) in young adult samples. ...
... Additional work has examined the relationship between processing task accuracy and storage performance (Daneman & Tardif, 1987;Engle et al., 1992;Lépine et al., 2005;Salthouse et al., 2008;Shah & Miyake, 1996;Towse et al., 2000;Turner & Engle, 1989;Waters & Caplan, 1996). In both contexts, results have been somewhat mixed, with some reports finding evidence for a relationship between better processing performance indices (lower RT, higher accuracy) and better storage performance (e.g., St Clair-Thompson, 2007a, 2007bWaters & Caplan, 1996) in young adult samples. However, evidence for the opposite pattern in terms of processing RT has been observed in children (e.g., Towse et al., 1998) 1 , as well as findings suggesting no relationship between processing and storage performance in younger adults (e.g., Engle et al., 1992;Shah & Miyake, 1996;Towse et al., 2000) and in children (Lépine et al., 2005). ...
Individual differences in working memory capacity (WMC) have long been known to relate to performance in domains outside of WM, including attentional control, long-term memory, problem-solving, and fluid intelligence to name a few. Complex span WM tasks, composed of a processing component and a storage component, are often used to index WMC in these types of investigations. Capacity estimates are derived from performance on the storage component only, while processing performance is often largely ignored. Here, we explore the relationship between processing performance and WMC in a large dataset for each of three complex span tasks to better characterize how the components of these tasks might be related. We provide evidence that enforcing an 85% or better accuracy criterion for the processing portion of the task results in the removal of a disproportionate number of individuals exhibiting lower WMC estimates. We also find broad support for differences in processing task performance, characterized according to both accuracy and reaction time metrics, as a function of WMC. We suggest that researchers may want to include processing task performance measures, in addition to capacity estimates, in studies using complex span tasks to index WMC. This approach may better characterize the relationships between complex span task performance and performance in disparate domains of cognition.
... For example, compared to high-WM comprehenders, low-WM comprehenders experience more difficulty with maintaining both an overall passage representation and more-local-sentence-to-sentence connections (Whitney et al., 1991). The most commonly used task in the field of linguistics is the verbal working memory task (VWM), often referred to as the reading span task (or RSpan) (see, e.g., Caplan & Waters, 1999;Just & Carpenter, 1992;Waters & Caplan, 1996). For this task, participants judge the acceptability of sentences, and after judging several sentences, the readers are instructed to recall the last word of each sentence in the series in the order that they read the sentences. ...
... Verbal working memory was measured by an automated version of the reading-span task (RSpan), with items similar to those used by Waters et al. (1987) and Waters and Caplan (1996). Participants read several sets of sentences and judged the acceptability of each sentence. ...
... Participants were instructed to perform the acceptability task very accurately and then perform as best as they could on the recall task (cf. Waters & Caplan, 1996). ...
The current study investigated how a contextual list signal influences comprehenders’ inference generation of upcoming discourse relations and whether individual differences in working memory capacity and linguistic experience influence the generation of these inferences. Participants were asked to complete two-sentence stories, the first sentence of which contained an expression of quantity (a few, multiple). Several individual-difference measures were calculated to explore whether individual characteristics can explain the sensitivity to the contextual list signal. The results revealed that participants were sensitive to a contextual list signal (i.e., they provided list continuations), and this sensitivity was modulated by the participants’ linguistic experience, as measured by an author recognition test. The results showed no evidence that working memory affected participants’ responses. These results extend prior research by showing that contextual signals influence participants’ coherence-relation-inference generation. Further, the results of the current study emphasize the importance of individual reader characteristics when it comes to coherence-relation inferences.
... In this study, Waters and Caplan's (1996) 7 modified version of Daneman and Carpenter's reading span experiment was adopted to test the participants' working memory span. Different from "simple span" tasks, such as the digit span and letter span, this modified version can measure both storage and executive functions of working memory. ...
... In this study, Waters and Caplan's (1996) 7 modified version of Daneman and Carpenter's reading span experiment was adopted to test the participants' working memory span. Different from "simple span" tasks, such as the digit span and letter span, this modified version can measure both storage and executive functions of working memory. ...
... The present study contains a variant of this type of task (Working memory for words) and the results show that a significant improvement in the intervention group, compared to the control group, occurred. Both Just and Carpenter [54] and Waters and Caplan (1996) argue that "reading span tasks" provide a measure of working memory capacity. However, Just and Carpenter [54] see this capacity as central to language comprehension, while Waters and Caplan [55] suggest that "reading span tasks" test conscious attention control in working memory. ...
... Both Just and Carpenter [54] and Waters and Caplan (1996) argue that "reading span tasks" provide a measure of working memory capacity. However, Just and Carpenter [54] see this capacity as central to language comprehension, while Waters and Caplan [55] suggest that "reading span tasks" test conscious attention control in working memory. ...
Working memory is one of our core cognitive functions. It allows us to keep information in mind for shorter periods of time, allowing us to process and work with that specific information. In this randomized control trial, the effects of a training program that combine reading training and working memory training among struggling readers aged 8-9 were investigated. 30 pupils were included in the intervention group and 17 were assigned to the control group. The intervention group received a total of 60 training sessions divided into two eight-week training periods with a four-week pause in between. The results show that children in the intervention group improved significantly better than children in the control group on eight tests: Reading comprehension, Word decoding, Nonsense-word reading, Short-term memory, Working memory, Visuospatial short-term memory, Visuospatial working memory and Working memory for words. The effect was not confirmed for Sight word seeing.
... Research is warranted particularly as, with more widespread use of computers in classroom and research settings, reaction times of correctly judged sentences in judgment tasks have been included in WM measures, and many scoring methods are possible. Waters and Caplan (1996) argue that (a) correct responses in judgment tasks (storage) and (b) reaction times of correctly judged sentences can mode how participants allocate limited cognitive resources-to judging sentences or remembering sentence-final words. Including (a) and (b) allows for considering trade-offs across recalling and processing to better capture WM span. ...
... Complex span tasks included counting span, listening span, operation span, opposite span, reading span, speaking span, and syntactic span. Based on Waters and Caplan (1996), complex tasks were further coded as to whether to include a processing task (e.g., sentence acceptability/verification judgment tasks in reading span tasks, in which participants' responses were recorded) or not (e.g., include read-aloud tasks, in which participants' responses did not seem to be recorded). Because backward digit span tasks were considered either simple (Linck et al., 2014) or complex (Kormos & Sáfár, 2008), we coded them accordingly. ...
The relationship between working memory (WM) and second-language (L2) reading has been extensively examined, with mixed results. Our meta-analysis models the potential impact of underresearched variables considered to moderate this relationship. Results from 74 studies (228 correlations) showed a significant, small relationship between WM and L2 reading ( r = .300). Of the eight moderators examined, the WM–L2 reading relationship differed between studies using first-language (L1) and L2 WM tasks and between studies reporting and not reporting WM task reliability. Methodological features of reading comprehension measures or learners’ proficiency did not moderate the relationship. These results suggest that measurement practices of WM—rather than L2 reading measures or learner characteristics—matter in understanding the WM–L2 reading relationship. Implications and future directions are discussed.
... In this task, that I adapted from Waters and Caplan (1996), participants read several sentences in their L1, rated them as plausible or implausible, and remembered the last word of each sentence. After a block of trials ended, participants typed all the last words in the sentences they read in that block. ...
The present study investigated whether working memory (WM) training enhances morphosyntactic processing in the second language (L2). L2 learners of Spanish in the treatment group completed WM updating pre/post tasks and a moving window task containing sentences with gender agreement. Moreover, the treatment group trained with two WM tasks for five consecutive days, they completed a posttest and a delayed posttest two months after. The results show that the treatment group presented transfer to untrained WM tasks at both posttests, while the control group did not. While neither group showed sensitivity to gender disagreement at pretest, the treatment group was sensitive to violations after training, and this improvement in morphosyntactic processing was sustained at the delayed posttest. The control group, however, remained insensitive at posttest. Taken together, the findings suggest that WM is a malleable system and WM training may be used as a cognitive tool to facilitate L2 morphosyntax.
Access to eprint: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/I2QKYBVXFWPGDU7ARKYF/full?target=10.1080/23273798.2024.2359560
... Partial scoring is applied, with each item being assigned from 0 to 3 points, depending on the quality of its recall. The Cronbach's α value of the test was .68. (Waters & Caplan, 1996). This test comprises a dual task that requires participants to read a series of sentences and, simultaneously, keep track of the last word displayed, so that the words can be recollected later. ...
Working Memory Capacity, TL Grammar Attainment and Length of Study as Predictors of Explicit and Implicit (Automatized) Knowledge of English Passive Voice This study investigated the relationship between phonological short-term memory (PSTM), working memory capacity (WMC), and receptive and productive dimensions of explicit and implicit (automatized) knowledge of English passive voice, also taking into account the effect of grammar attainment and self-reported length of study. Participants were 152 Polish university students majoring in English. Two measures of PSTM and WMC were applied. Receptive and productive explicit knowledge were measured by means of an untimed grammaticality judgment test and a test requiring the provision of correct verb forms, respectively. Receptive implicit (automatized) knowledge was assessed with a timed grammaticality judgment test while its productive dimension was assessed through a focused communication task. Canonical correlation for the entire model was rather high, which means that the original variables were strongly related to each other. However, finer-grained analyses showed that it was primarily overall grammar attainment, and, to a lesser extent, WMC that determined the levels of explicit and implicit (automatized) grammar knowledge.
... Participants were next administered a paper version of the reading span test based on the original Daneman and Carpenter (1980) test. This test has been extensively used in studies of reading comprehension as well as studies of age differences in language processing (Daneman & Merikle, 1996;Kemtes & Kemper, 1997;Van der Linden et al, 1999), although its reliability as a measure of working memory capacity has been questioned (Waters & Caplan, 1996). The reading span test requires the participant to read aloud progressively longer sets of sentences and then to recall the final word of each sentence within the set. ...
Four language sample measures as well as measures of vocabulary, verbal fluency, and memory span were obtained from a sample of young adults and a sample of older adults. Factor analysis was used to analyze the structure of the vocabulary, fluency, and span measures for each age group. Then an “extension” analysis was performed by using structural modeling techniques to determine how the language sample measures were related to the other measures. The measure of grammatical complexity was associated with measures of working memory including reading span and digit span. Two measures, sentence length in words and a measure of lexical diversity, were associated with the vocabulary measures. The fourth measure, propositional density, was associated with the fluency measures as a measure of processing efficiency. The structure of verbal abilities in young and older adults is somewhat different, suggesting age differences in processing efficiency.
... Verbal working memory (VWM) capacity was assessed using an automated reading span task (Scholman, 2019) adapted from Waters et al. (1987) and Waters & Caplan (1996). ...
This study aims to advance our understanding of the nature and source(s) of individual differences in pragmatic language behavior over the adult lifespan. Across four story continuation experiments, we probed adults’ (N = 496 participants, ages 18–82) choice of referential forms (i.e., names vs. pronouns to refer to the main character). Our manipulations were based on Fossard et al.’s (2018) scale of referential complexity which varies according to the visual properties of the scene: low complexity (one character), intermediate complexity (two characters of different genders), and high complexity (two characters of the same gender). Since pronouns signal topic continuity (i.e., that the discourse will continue to be about the same referent), the use of pronouns is expected to decrease as referential complexity increases. The choice of names versus pronouns, therefore, provides insight into participants’ perception of the topicality of a referent, and whether that varies by age and cognitive capacity. In Experiment 1, we used the scale to test the association between referential choice, aging, and cognition, identifying a link between older adults’ switching skills and optimal referential choice. In Experiments 2–4, we tested novel manipulations that could impact the scale and found both the timing of a competitor referent’s presence and emphasis placed on competitors modulated referential choice, leading us to refine the scale for future use. Collectively, Experiments 1–4 highlight what type of contextual information is prioritized at different ages, revealing older adults’ preserved sensitivity to (visual) scene complexity but reduced sensitivity to linguistic prominence cues, compared to younger adults.
... The above review, as the majority of studies examining the relationship of statistical learning and reading, focused on dyslexia, but statistical learning seems to support reading acquisition in all readers. Reading skills show considerable variability in the typical population as well [56][57][58][59], influenced by several cognitive and socioeconomic factors [50,[60][61][62]. Statistical learning is one of the contributors: correlation studies have demonstrated important associations between statistical learning, language processing and reading abilities (with accuracy, fluency and decoding,) [21] in both children and adults [26] in typical readers. ...
The vulnerability of statistical learning has been demonstrated in reading difficulties in both the visual and acoustic modalities. We examined segmentation abilities of Hungarian speaking adolescents with different levels of reading fluency in the acoustic verbal and visual nonverbal domains. We applied online target detection tasks, where the extent of learning is reflected in differences between reaction times to predictable versus unpredictable targets. Explicit judgments of well-formedness were also elicited in an offline two-alternative forced choice (2AFC) task. Learning was evident in both the acoustic verbal and visual nonverbal tasks, both in online and offline measures, but learning effects were larger both in online and offline tasks in the verbal acoustic condition. We haven't found evidence for a significant relationship between statistical learning and reading fluency in adolescents in either modality. Together with earlier findings, these results suggest that the relationship between reading and statistical learning is dependent on the domain, modality and nature of the statistical learning task, on the reading task, on the age of participants, and on the specific language. The online target detection task is a promising tool which can be adapted to a wider set of tasks to further explore the contribution of statistical learning to reading acquisition in participants from different populations.
... Working memory (WM) is the cognitive system allowing people to flexibly maintain and process information during short delays to accomplish goal-directed behaviour-that is, to change the route halfway through it and to recall items in a shopping list, whilst planning dinner. As such, WM sustains nearly every daily-life activity including complex cognitive activities such as verbal reasoning, verbal production and comprehension, mathematical cognition, spatial navigation, among others [1][2][3][4][5]. Deficits in WM functioning are common to many psychopathologies, including attentiondeficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a neurodevelopmental disorder affecting 7.2% of children in the world [6]. ...
Children and adolescents with attentional-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) present deficits in working memory (WM), but accounts for this phenomenon are still lacking. In this study, we used two variations of a complex-span task to test whether a specific WM mechanism, attentional refreshing, causes these deficits. Attentional refreshing is a maintenance strategy based on the sequential switch of attention between maintaining and processing information in WM. Its use is evidenced by a decrease in recall performance proportional to the distraction of attention away from the memoranda. In this study, we designed two experiments requiring children and adolescents with ADHD symptoms to maintain sequences of letters for subsequent recall, while performing a distracting task. In Experiment 1, the distracting task consisted of reading digits aloud. In Experiment 2, it consisted in making spatial judgements. The pace of the distracting tasks was varied to manipulate the level of attentional distraction. We observed that recall in ADHD participants was higher in the distracting conditions that give attention more opportunity to refresh letters. Moreover, ADHD participants had a similar recall performance to their age-matched typically developing peers. This study shows first evidence that individuals with ADHD can use attention to maintain verbal information in WM and calls for more research to understand their WM development.
... However, as mentioned by Adams and colleagues (2018) a generic definition, independent of any theoretical framework, could be that WM is "a system of components that holds a limited amount of information temporarily in a heightened state of availability for use in ongoing processing". In light of this definition, it appears that WM is probably crucial for making sense of anything that is dynamic in time such as reading (see for example Savage et al., 2007 for a review of WM and reading difficulties) or having a conversation (e.g., Bender, 2004;Waters and Caplan, 1996). WM is also involved as long as one needs to manipulate information (e.g., making connections of thoughts and concepts or doing mental calculation) and is thought to be involved in numerous higher-order cognitive functions such as reasoning and problem solving (e.g., Engle, 2002). ...
The ability to analyze complex auditory scenes is challenged in cochlear implant (CI) users, especially in noisy environments or in presence of simultaneous auditory sources. This is mainly due to the poor spectral resolution of the CI and to the fact it does not selectively amplify the source of interest.One possible solution is to capitalize on a recent technique, called Auditory Attention Detection (AAD), that allows to detect, on the basis of neural signals, which auditory source within a set of multiple concurrent sources an individual is attending to. This approach is supported by recent findings showing that 1) the brain tracks the amplitude envelope of auditory stimuli at the cortical level and 2) in multi-sources environments, the cortical tracking of the attended source is enhanced compared to the unattended one. With this approach it becomes possible to imagine a new generation of hearing aids that would be able to detect the source of interest and selectively amplify it.However, AAD suffers from a high inter-individual variability in the reconstruction and classification performance. This variability can be partly explained by physiological factors but it could also be explained by behavioral and cognitive factors such as executive functions.Beside the problem of variability, most of the studies exploiting AAD, used only speech stimuli. Here we propose that natural polyphonic music can provide a way to manipulate the complexity of the auditory scene and to gain insights about its neural processing.We used a reconstruction stimulus-based AAD approach to explore whether it was possible to reconstruct and classify both monodic and dichotic natural polyphonic musical excerpts based on EEG recordings. We also measured sustained attention, attentional inhibition and working memory via cognitive tests. In addition, we gathered information on stimulus familiarity as well as participants’ mind wandering during the task. Then, we used linear regression models to see whether cognitive functions, familiarity and mind wandering explain the performance of neural data. Additionally, we explored whether musical expertise affects executive functions as well as neural tracking of musical stimuli by comparing non-musical and musical experts.ixOur results show that 1) it was possible to reconstruct and classify ecological polyphonic monodic and, although with lower accuracy, dichotic music stimuli based on single-trial EEG recordings, 2) attentional inhibition explained around 10% of the performance in the dichotic condition, 3) musical expertise as well working memory and sustained attention were not significant predictors of performance in both conditions, 4) musical expertise does not influence cognitive functions and 5) the effect of familiarity on performance was significant in the monodic condition and was modulated by the level of mind wandering of the participants.Overall, these results showed the feasibility of using the reconstruction stimulus-based AAD approach with ecological polyphonic musical stimuli and point to specific cognitive mechanisms being at work during dichotic musical listening in normal hearing listeners. They further suggest that training specific cognitive functions could be useful to improve AAD systems and by extension, a next-generation of hearing aids.
... Meyer et al.'s (2012) own fMRI-results speak against the rehearsal account as well: Storage-related activity in BA 44 did not correlate with verbal WM capacity as measured by the digit span task, which would be expected if activity in BA 44 was driven by rehearsal (Meyer, 2013, p. 57-58, 123). Moreover, neuropsychological lesion studies suggest that reordering and rehearsal are distinct since impairments in reordering abilities can be dissociated from impairments in verbal WM (Caplan and Waters, 1999;Martin and Romani, 1994;Meyer et al., 2012;Waters, 1996). For these reasons, Meyer (2013, p. 99, 132) argues for a functional neuroanatomical dissociation between reordering and rehearsal in the left IFG: Reordering involves the ventral portion of the IFG, whereas rehearsal involves its dorsal portion. ...
Sentences express who is doing what to whom. The "doing" is symbolized by the main
verb, and the "who" and "whom" are symbolized by the verb's arguments (i.e. subject and objects). Since a verb and its arguments jointly determine the sentence meaning, they form argument-verb dependencies, which must be processed during comprehension. Argument-verb dependency processing may be exacerbated by two factors: (1) An increased argument-verb distance, and (2) a non-canonical argument order (e.g. German object-first). (1) requires argument storage, i.e. remembering the arguments across the argument-verb distance; and (2) necessitates argument reordering, i.e. a process restoring the canonical order (e.g. German subject-first) from a non-canonical one. What are the neural bases of argument storage and reordering? Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), Meyer et al. (2012) found that argument reordering activates Brodmann Area (BA) 44, as part of Broca's area in the left inferior frontal gyrus, while storage engages the left temporo-parietal junction (TPJ). Unfortunately, neuroimaging methods like fMRI are merely correlative; they cannot determine whether a region is causally involved in, i.e. necessary for, a certain cognitive function. Thus, it is unclear whether the left TPJ and BA 44 are indeed necessary for argument storage and reordering, respectively. The causal involvement of a region in a particular function can be determined using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS): TMS can stimulate cortical brain regions, which may perturb their functions in a cognitive task. This can lead to behavioral effects if the stimulated region is necessary for the respective task. Hence, if behavioral effects are found, one may infer that the region is causally involved in the task. Therefore, the study presented in this thesis leveraged TMS to determine the functional relevance of the left TPJ and BA 44 for argument storage and reordering. Subjects listened to German sentences completely crossing the factors of (1) argument order (subject-, object-first) and (2) argument-verb distance (short, long), while TMS was applied to the TPJ, BA 44 or as ineffective Sham-stimulation. Reaction times and error rates to a subsequent
visual comprehension question were assessed, which were analyzed using the drift diffusion model. TMS on BA 44 increased the performance difference between subject- and object-first long-distance sentences, as compared to sham-stimulation. This effect occurred since BA 44 stimulation impaired the processing of object-first long-distance sentences, and facilitated the processing of their subject-first counterparts. These results strongly suggest that BA 44 is necessary for reordering, at least during long-distance sentences. The restriction to long-distance sentences is likely to reflect methodological issues (e.g. task-difficulty differences), rather than a genuine restriction of BA 44's involvement in reordering to long-distance sentences. TPJ-stimulation produced no effects. This might reflect that the TPJ is not necessary for argument storage, at least not exclusively. Alternatively, it is possible that the storage-relevant region in the TPJ lay too deep within the brain to be effectively stimulated by TMS.
... One limitation of the above tests is that learners' WM scores were only based on the recall component of the tests and veracity judgment and did not include reaction time-an important indicator of the processing component of WM (Li, 2013;Fu and Li, 2021). To overcome the limitation here, we employed more synthesized WM tests that recorded the reaction time because WM capacity should involve both the processing and storage functions and because previous studies (Waters and Caplan, 1996;Conlin et al., 2005;Leeser, 2007) showed that there was a processing/storage trade-off. That is, learners sacrificed one component for better performance in another (such as when learners process more slowly in order to achieve more accuracy in word recall). ...
The present study investigated the differential effects of explicit corrections, meta-linguistic corrective feedback (CF), and analogy-based CF on L2 learners' acquisition of English third-person singular form -s and whether and how individual differences in working memory (WM) mediate such effects. One hundred secondary school English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) learners at a junior middle school in inland China were randomly assigned to the explicit correction group (EG), the meta-linguistic CF group (MG), the analogy-based CF group (AG), and the control group (CG). Learners performed both an information-gap activity and a picture-description activity where their errors on target structure were treated according to their group assignment. The Untimed Grammatical Judgement Test (UGJT) and the Elicited Oral Production Test (EOPT) were used to measure learners' resulting performance. Learners' WM was measured with operation span test. Results revealed that (1) compared to the control group, all the CF groups significantly improved their performance of English third-person singular form -s over time; (2) explicit corrections and meta-linguistic CF displayed superior advantages over analogy-based CF on the immediate posttest. However, the three CF groups demonstrated no significant difference in their performance of English third-person singular form -s on the delayed posttest; (3) WM was only able to predict the effects of analogy-based CF but not explicit corrections and meta-linguistic CF; and (4) analogy-based CF was more favorable to learners with higher WM who can regulate their limited attentional resources more efficiently, whereas explicit corrections and meta-linguistic CF equalize learning opportunities for all learners with different levels of WM. The findings of this study suggest optimal, profile-matched pedagogical options for L2 learning through identifying CF conditions that cater to the needs of young learners with different levels of WM.
... Typically, the participant is required to perform two tasks: a (primary) memorization task and a (secondary) processing task. For example, in a reading span test, the participant reads sentences divided into sets of two to six sentences; half of the sentences are meaningful and half are not (Waters & Caplan, 1996). For each sentence, the participant decides whether it is meaningful, memorizes the fnal word of the sentence, and recalls the sentence-fnal words in the order they are displayed upon completion of the whole set. ...
Working memory is a cognitive space for simultaneous information manipulation and storage. In the field of second language acquisition, working memory has been investigated as a key individual difference variable mediating various aspects of the process and outcome of language learning. Despite the voluminous body of research, there has been confusion over its conceptualization, measurement, and mechanism, and the research has yielded disparate, and sometimes contradictory, findings. This chapter seeks to clarify the construct and navigate through the empirical evidence that has been accumulated over the past three decades with a view to extracting meaningful patterns and trends emerging from the research. The chapter starts with a discussion of the nature, scope, and architecture of working memory, followed by an introduction to the various tests that have been used to measure the construct and its components. The chapter proceeds to discuss the research on the role of working memory in second language acquisition including theoretical perspectives and empirical evidence on the associations between working memory and learning outcomes or processes. The chapter ends by identifying areas for future research.
... Age-related declines were discovered only on more complex object-relative sentences, and these age differences were fully accounted for by controlling for WM span and hearing acuity in statistical modelling. Similar results were obtained by Grossman et al. (2002), Caplan and Waters (2005), DeDe et al. (2004), Waters and Caplan (1996), and Sung et al. (2017). ...
The extent to which syntactic priming in comprehension is affected by ageing has not yet been extensively explored. It is further unclear whether syntactic comprehension priming persists across fillers in older adults. This study used a self-paced reading task and controlled for syntactic and lexical overlap, to (1) discover whether syntactic comprehension priming exists in older adults, across fillers, (2) to uncover potential differences between older and younger adults on priming measures, and (3) identify whether Working Memory or Processing Speed affect priming in older adults. Both older (n=30,Mage=68.6,SD=3.68) and Younger adults (n=30,Mage=21.6,SD=2.44) showed effects of syntactic priming and lexical boost. This suggests syntactic processing does not decline with age, and that abstract priming and the lexical boost are not dependent on residual activation or explicit retention in memory.
... To ensure comparability between the groups, participants completed a language background questionnaire and a written, multiple-choice proficiency test in German (University of Wisconsin Testing and Evaluation, 2006). Participants also completed a verbal working memory test based on Waters and Caplan (1996). Descriptive statistics for the questionnaire and for these tests are provided in the supplemental materials (Supplement 2). ...
The present study investigated the effects of processing instruction (PI) on the acquisition of accusative case markers in German, focusing on whether PI influences learners’ online processing behaviors. Third and fourth semester L1 English-L2 German learners were divided into two groups: a traditional instruction (TI) group and a PI group. Participants completed offline sentence interpretation and production tasks, as well as a self-paced reading (SPR) task, which provides a detailed investigation of how PI alters processing strategies. Results showed that the PI group outperformed the TI group on the sentence interpretation task and matched their performance on the production task. The SPR task revealed that, in some conditions, the PI group showed increased attention to and processing of accusative case markers after training, while the TI group did not. The results provide some support for the claim that PI is effective because it alters learners’ processing strategies.
... The method of all-or-nothing scoring was the most widely used in early working memory studies (e.g. Case et al., 1979Case et al., , 1982Daneman & Carpenter, 1980;Waters & Caplan, 1996), and is still employed in many clinical tests, including the WISC and WAIS. Consider a simple example: the subject is presented with the sequence ABCDE, and recalls the sequence ABCD. ...
For researchers and psychologists interested in estimating a subject's memory capacity, the current standard for scoring memory span tasks is the partial-credit method: subjects are credited with the number of stimuli that they manage to recall correctly in the correct serial position. A critical issue with this method, however, is that intrusions and omissions can radically change the scores depending on where they occur. For example, when recalling the sequence ABCDE, “ABCD” is worth 4 points but “BCDE” is worth 0 points. This paper presents an improved scoring method based on the edit distance, meaning the number of changes required to edit the recalled sequence into the target. Edit-distance scoring gives results close to partial-credit scoring, but without the corresponding vulnerability to positional shifts. A reanalysis of memory performance in two large datasets (N = 1093 and N = 758) confirms that in addition to being more logically consistent, edit-distance scoring demonstrates similar or better psychometric properties than partial-credit, with comparable validity, a small increase in reliability, and a substantial increase of test information (measurement precision in the context of item response theory). Test information was especially improved for harder items and for subjects with ability in the lower range, whose scores tend to be severely underestimated by partial-credit scoring. Code to compute edit-distance scores with various software is made available at https://osf.io/wdb83/.
... These 'complex' versions of executive WM span tasks include the seminal reading span task that measures sentence judgment accuracy and serial recall of final words [62], the scoring procedures of which have been further refined by Waters and Caplan [63] to also take into account participants' reaction time for the judgment component. Other formats of the complex memory span tasks are gaining popularity [60], including the domain-general operation span task, which taxes participants' dual-processing ability to solve arithmetic equations and recall final items [64] as a way to avoid confounding linguistic proficiency in the reading span paradigm. ...
Although emotional or affective working memory (WM) is quite well established in general psychology, not much research has looked into its potential implications for the language sciences and bilingualism and second language acquisition (SLA) research until recently. To fill this gap, this paper aims to propose that WM has not just cognitive implications, but its affective dimension may also make complementary and unique contributions to language and bilingualism/SLA research. Towards this end, we first briefly synthesize the cognitive views of WM conceptions and assessment procedures in the current language sciences and bilingualism/SLA research. Next, we turn to discuss the theoretical models and assumptions of affective WM and explore their theoretical implications for bilingualism/SLA research based on emerging empirical evidence. Then, we propose a conceptual framework integrating cognitive and affective WM perspectives and further provide guidelines for designing affective WM span tasks that can be used in future affective WM–language research, focusing on the construction procedures of several emotion-based affective WM span tasks (e.g., the emotional reading span task, the emotional operation span task, and the emotional symmetry span task) as examples. Overall, we argue that affective feelings are also an integral part of the mental representations held in WM and future research in the language sciences and bilingualism/SLA should incorporate both cognitive and affective WM dimensions.
... Many argue that domain general processes in WM are what drives its link with higher-order cognition (Barrouillet, Portrat, & Camos, 2011;Kane et al., 2004;Wilhelm, Hildebrandt, & Oberauer, 2013). Others think that the dissociation found between spatial and verbal processing in WM indicates that modality-specific mechanisms in WM are not peripheral (Shah & Miyake, 1996;Miyake, Friedman, Rettinger, Shah, & Hegarty, 2001;Kaufman, 2007;Waters & Caplan, 1996). However, most theories do not assume WM to be only domain general or only domain specific, but rather acknowledge that during complex cognitive activity such as reasoning and problem solving, domain-general and domain-specific processes are strongly intertwined. ...
This study examined how working memory (WM) and mathematics performance are related among students entering mathematics-intensive undergraduate STEM programs (N = 317). Among students of mechanical engineering and math-physics, we addressed two questions: (1) Do verbal and visuospatial WM differ in their relation with three measures of mathematics performance: numerical reasoning ability, prior knowledge in mathematics, and achievements in mathematics-intensive courses? (2) To what extent are the effects of WM on achievements in mathematics-intensive courses mediated by numerical reasoning ability and prior knowledge in mathematics? A latent correlational analysis revealed that verbal WM was at least as strongly associated with the three mathematics measures as visuospatial WM. A latent mediation model revealed that numerical reasoning fully mediated the effects of WM on achievements in math-intensive courses, both directly and in a doubly mediated effect via prior knowledge in mathematics. We conclude that WM across modalities contributes significantly to mathematics performance of mathematically competent students. The effect of verbal WM emerges as being more pronounced than has been assumed in prior literature.
... To ensure comparability between the groups, the participants completed a written, 30-item multiple-choice language proficiency test (University of Wisconsin Testing and Evaluation, 2006), a working memory task based on Waters and Caplan (1996), and a postexperiment vocabulary test that measured word knowledge and gender assignment for the words used in the SPR task. Descriptive statistics for these measures and responses from the language background questionnaire, including several self-rated proficiency measures are presented in Table 1. ...
This study investigates whether the use of prosodic cues during instruction facilitates the processing of German accusative case markers. Two groups of third semester L1 English learners of L2 German completed Processing Instruction (PI) with aural input: Learners in the PI+P group heard sentences that included focused prosodic cues; learners in the PI group heard sentences with monotone prosody. The effects of training were assessed through an offline comprehension task, a written production task, and an online self-paced reading (SPR) task. The results for the offline tasks showed that the groups were similar with respect to their offline comprehension and production. The SPR task showed that both groups used case markers to interpret word order online to some extent; however, only the PI+P group did so in all conditions. These results suggest that prosody does play a role in (morpho)syntactic processing, and that covert activation of prosodic structures can facilitate processing during online reading tasks.
... A growing field of work in this respect has been linking working memory and executive control processes to the processing of language. Of the two, the study of working memory has a longer tradition with detailed work linking the difficulty of processing certain linguistic structures to limitation of working memory (e.g., Gibson & Thomas, 1999;Lewis et al., 2006;Waters & Caplan, 1996, but see Ivanova & Ferreira, 2019). The role of monitoring and executive control processes in language processing is less well-understood, especially in syntactic processes. ...
Agreement attraction, i.e., the production or acceptance of a verb that agrees with a noun other than the subject of the sentence, can be viewed as a process in which conflicting cues activate competing representations. The aftermath of such competition, in terms of cognitive processes, remains unclear. Using a novel referential communication task for eliciting agreement errors and both group-level manipulation of control demands and a detailed analysis of individual differences, we provide converging evidence for the role of monitoring and inhibitory control processes in agreement attraction for singular-subject sentences. We further demonstrate the dependence of producing plural verbs on such processes, suggesting the singular form is the prepotent default form. Collectively, these findings provide a clear demonstration for the role of monitoring and control processes in agreement computations, and more generally syntactic operations in sentence production.
... As with PSTM, the central executive is limited in capacity and differs across individuals (Baddeley, 2003). Assessment of this component typically involves subjects doing complex WM tasks such as reading or listening to a set of sentences and having to recall the final word of each sentence after the presentation of a set (Conway et al., 2005;Waters & Caplan, 1996), referred to as reading span (RS) and listening span (LS) tasks respectively. ...
We report on a conceptual replication of Révész (2012) in order to investigate the idea whether learners provided with recasts do engage in different kinds of behavioral engagement as a function of their working memory and if/how this engagement comes to bear on performance on different measures. Engagement with recasts was measured through a coding method categorizing responses to the recasts running the gamut from: (1) no opportunity, (2) opportunity, but did not repeat, (3) repeated the recasted form,
(4) negotiated the response, to (5) used the recasted form later in the discourse. Consistent with Révész (2012), though with lower effect sizes, the results showed that recasts were most conducive to gains on an oral task and less so on a written description task, but non-effective on a grammaticality judgment task. Furthermore, it was revealed that learners with a high phonological short-term memory were more prone to recast-induced engagement on an oral production task, whereas those enjoying a higher reading span were considerably less so. We propose that learner engagement be deemed more important in future interaction research.
... Leeser (2007) had not studied abroad, but 14 had. The span task was adapted from a reading span measure designed by Waters and Caplan (1996). The comprehension measure consisted of a translation recognition task, in which the participants were asked to decide if two words were translation equivalents of each other. ...
The main purpose of this study is to find out whether there is a relationship between WM capacity and listening/reading, and whether this relationship is mediated by learners' proficiency level in the L2. In addition, with a mixed methods design where the effect of proficiency level is investigated both as a between groups factor but also as a within groups factor, this study aims to make a cross-sectional comparison of different proficiency groups (intermediate and upper-intermediate) at a certain point in time as well as developmental comparison of the same proficiency group before and after instruction. The participants consist of Turkish University students from Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University. The Working Memory Capacity was measured by, Reading Span Test (English version), Reading Span Test (Turkish version), and Operation Span Test. To measure the participants' reading and listening comprehension, this study made use of the Certificate in Advanced English (CAE). Descriptive statistics, and 2x2x2 mixed ANOVAs were conducted separately on listening and reading scores with time of testing (pre vs. post) as the repeated measures factor, WM capacity (low vs. high), and proficiency level (intermediate vs. upper-intermediate) as between groups factors. The results indicated no significant effects of WM on reading comprehension. On the other hand, its effect on listening comprehension was significant when WM was measured by L1 or L2 RST. Moreover, it was observed that the difference between low- and high-WM capacity learners was greater on the pre-test compared to the post-test for listening comprehension but not for reading comprehension since the interaction between WM and time of testing was significant for the former, not for the latter. Also, when WM capacity is measured by the RST in the L2, the results for listening comprehension indicated a significant interaction between time of testing and WM. However, the difference between the low- and high-WM participants is negligible in the upper-intermediate group in terms of both listening and reading comprehension when WM is measured by the RST in the L1. Results are interpreted in the light of Working Memory Model (Baddeley, 2000), and Declarative/Procedural (DP) Model of language acquisition (Ullman, 2001a, 2001b).
... In this study, L1 English and L2 Spanish speakers responded to a topic familiarity questionnaire, and their L2 reading comprehension was measured with an L1 free recall task. Waters and Caplan's (1996) computerized version of the reading span test was employed to measure the participants' complex working memory. The results showed that topic familiarity played as a significant factor in L2 reading comprehension. ...
Glossing, providing information for unfamiliar lexical items to promote reading comprehension, has long been investigated as a textual modification technique to promote second language (L2) reading comprehension. Thus far, however, inconclusive findings have been produced as to whether L2 readers’ working memory capacity plays as a potential moderator of the effects of glossing on L2 reading comprehension. To fill the gap, the present study explored the mediating impact of working memory capacity on the efficacy of glossing in L2 reading comprehension. Eighty-eight Korean university students read two English passages in either a glossed or an unglossed version, while answering multiple-choice reading comprehension items. Participants’ phonological short-term memory was assessed with a forward digit span test and a Korean nonword repetition test, and their complex working memory was measured with a backward digit span test and an automated operation span test. The results of mixed-effects modeling revealed that forward digit span scores moderated the effects of glossing on L2 reading comprehension scores.
... As such, the P/E Model postulates that executive working memory (EWM) serves to constrain and modulate selective processes during L2 comprehension (input) and production (output) as well as L2 interactions (of corrective feedback or recasts). Following well-established procedures in cognitive psychology, EWM is normally measured by more complex (storage-plus-processing) versions of WM span tasks such as the seminal reading span task (Daneman & Carpenter, 1980) and its refined-scoring version (Waters & Caplan, 1996), as well as the domain-general variant of the operation span task (Turner & Engle, 1989;Unsworth et al., 2005). Recent years have seen the growing popularity of finer-grained dynamic memory span tasks being implemented in SLA, examples of which include the running memory span task (Bunting et al., 2006) and the N-back task (Gajewski et al., 2018). ...
This paper explores the roles of both working memory (WM) and more traditional aptitude components, such as input processing and language analytic ability in the context of foreign language learning aptitude. More specifically, the paper compares two current perspectives on language aptitude: the Stages Approach (Skehan, 2016, 2019) and the P/E Model (Wen, 2016, 2019). Input processing and noticing, pattern identification and complexification, and feedback are examined as they relate to both perspectives and are then used to discuss existing aptitude testing, recent research, and broader theoretical issues. It is argued that WM and language aptitude play different but complementary roles at each of these stages, reflecting the various linguistic and psycholinguistic processes that are most prominent in other aspects of language learning. Overall, though both perspectives posit that WM and language aptitude have equal importance at the input processing stage, they exert greater influence at each of the remaining stages. More traditional views of aptitude dominate at the pattern identification and complexification stage and WM with the feedback stage.
... Of course, not all factors are equally variable, and the variability may depend on the time scale. Language learning aptitude and working memory, for instance, may be considered as relatively stable at shorter time scales but do tend to change across the life span (Waters and Caplan 1996). Motivated behaviour, on the other hand, differs across both shorter and longer timescales, from seconds (MacIntyre and Serroul 2015) to the lifespan (Kormos and Csizér 2008). ...
The overall theme of this special issue is intra-individual variation, that is, the observable variation within individuals’ behaviour, which plays an important role in the humanities area as well as in the social sciences. While various fields have recognised the complexity and dynamism of human thought and behaviour, intra-individual variation has received less attention in regard to language acquisition, use and change. Linguistic research so far lacks both empirical and theoretical work that provides detailed information on the occurrence of intra-individual variation, the reasons for its occurrence and its consequences for language development as well as for language variation and change. The current issue brings together two subdisciplines – psycholinguistics and variationist sociolinguistics – in juxtaposing systematic and nonsystematic intra-individual variation, thereby attempting to build a cross-fertilisation relationship between two disciplines that have had surprisingly little connection so far. In so doing, we address critical stock-taking, meaningful theorizing and methodological innovation.
... It has been stated by some researchers that it is unclear whether there are true VWM correlations, or whether VWM correlates with L2 reading comprehension purely because the RST measures reading comprehension at a basic level (Lépine et al., 2005). Much earlier evidence from Waters and Caplan (1996) also indicated that if various measures of VWM correlate, it is usually reading span tasks that show the strongest correlation. Similarly, Jincho et al. (2008) used the RST and the digit span backward task and found that the RST had little correlation with the digit span reversed task. ...
This study investigated the correlation and predictive capacity of verbal working memory (VWM) to the reading comprehension of children in their first language (L1) and second language (L2). The term VWM refers to a cognitive system with a limited capacity that can hold and manipulate verbal and auditory information temporarily. A subaim was to investigate the contribution of L2 linguistic knowledge in L2 reading comprehension. Sixty-three Grade 3 South African children completed a reading comprehension test and VWM assessment (forward span, backward span, and sentence repetition tasks). L2 participants completed a receptive language assessment to delineate whether their linguistic knowledge (L2 vocabulary and grammar knowledge) would be more predictive of L2 reading comprehension in comparison with VWM. Regression and correlation analyses revealed that VWM is not predictive of L1 or L2 reading comprehension. L2 linguistic knowledge, however, significantly correlates with L2 comprehension and VWM capacity, although it is not a significant predictor of L2 reading comprehension. Our findings suggest that reading in an L2 is a multidimensional skill where no single isolated variable can account for good versus poor reading comprehension.
... The RST was scored by following the same procedure suggested by Waters and Caplan (1996). Word recall and sentence judgment scores were converted to z-scores to obtain composite scores and their average was taken. ...
Second language (L2) learners rely heavily on working memory for both bottom-up and top-down processing due to difficulties they encounter in comprehending written or oral texts. L2 proficiency is said to mediate the relationship between WM and text comprehension in that WM's role seems to diminish at higher levels of proficiency and is observed only in tasks that require complex cognitive operations. The current study aims to examine the relationship between WM and text comprehension in relation to proficiency level and task demands through between and within groups experimental design. Reading and listening performances of intermediate and upper-intermediate learners of English were assessed at the beginning and at the end of a 14-week long semester. A reading span test in L1 was used as a measure of WM capacity. WM's relationship to L2 listening and reading was examined both across the two proficiency groups and within each group in relation to pre-and post-test Exploring the Role of Proficiency as a Mediator of the Relationship between Working Memory and Text Comprehension in the L2 157 measures. While the findings did not yield a significant relationship between WM and reading comprehension, proficiency level was found to mediate WM's effect on listening comprehension.
... In a reading span task, learners may be asked to read a sentence, remember its final word, and judge whether the sentence is plausible. This task would generate data regarding the number of items (i.e., words) recalled, the accuracy of the plausibility judgments, and the response time (Waters & Caplan, 1996). Sentences are presented in sets, which may range from about three to seven. ...
Working memory (WM) refers to our cognitive capacity to temporarily and simultaneously store and process a limited amount of information in our mind to complete some ongoing mental tasks. Inspired by established research on WM and language from cognitive psychology and psycholinguistics, recent decades have also witnessed an increasing body of empirical studies in second language acquisition (SLA) demonstrating that individual differences in WM capacity and embedded functions are related to specific L2 domains and sub-skills learning and processing, though a finer-grained portrayal of the WM-SLA nexus (Wen, 2016) is far from conclusive. As such, the present chapter sets out to critically review the major strands of theoretical and empirical SLA research investigating WM effects, synthesizing their empirical evidence and emerging patterns, analyzing the prevalent methods of data elicitation, with a view to teasing out their theoretical and practical ramifications. It is argued that previous WM-SLA studies have been relying on the ‘structural’ view of WM dominantly, and future research may also need to incorporate insights from the alternative ‘functional’ or ‘emergent’ views of WM, conceptualized as a complex, dynamic, and adaptive cognitive system modulating and shaping aspects of L2 acquisition, processing and development optimally.
... In the minimal pair of sentences (2.19), the sentence with the object-extracted relative clause, (2.19a) is affirmed to be more difficult to process than the subject-extracted relative clause version, (2.19b). This is confirm ed by empirical evidence such as eye fixation patterns (Holmes & O'Regan, 1981), reading times (King & Just, 1991;Caplan & Waters, 1996a), and also a study of the volume of blood flow in the brain (Just et al., 1996), which showed th a t the blood flow in language areas in the brain was more active in processing object-extractions than subject-extractions. ...
This thesis investigates the various syntactic sources of difficulty or ease in processing Japanese sentences. The investigation utilises the theory of Word Grammar (Hudson 1984, 1990), within which dependency distance has been developed in order to measure syntactic difficulty. My main contention is that dependency distance is just one source of difficulty, so I argue against the common idea that syntactic difficulty equals syntactic complexity and that difficulty has a single syntactic explanation. After presenting the nature of syntactic difficulty and complexity and techniques of measuring syntactic difficulty in the first chapter, in the second chapter recent theories accounting for syntactic difficulty are reviewed. The third chapter outlines a model of a parser based on Word Grammar along with dependency distance. In the fourth chapter the status of 'words' in Japanese is discussed within the framework of Word Grammar, which seeks to express syntactic knowledge in terms of direct relationships between words, so as to resolve the special problem of function words that Japanese raises. The following two chapters provide preliminary experimental data. In the fifth chapter the first experiment tentatively shows serial order effect, word-length effect, chunking effect and the contribution of function words to working memory load. The experiments in the sixth chapter tentatively show that dependency distance has a positive relationship with memorability on immediate recall tasks and "chaining" and "overload" effects. The data in the seventh chapter gives experimental evidence tentatively showing the appropriateness of measuring dependency distance for Japanese in terms of morpheme as well as "head" effects and effects of word order. Spoken English and Japanese texts are analysed in the eighth chapter to make a comparison of the syntactic difficulty amongst the texts, in which the results tentatively show that in terms of dependency distance Japanese is no more difficult for syntactic processing than English.
... The Reading Span Task is considered the standard task for assessing verbal WMC. Test-retest reliability composite Z-score measures were calculated separately for cleft subject sentence (r z = 0.75) and for subjectobject sentences (r z = 0.83), demonstrating high testretest reliability (Waters & Caplan, 1996). ...
Background:
Characteristics of both teachers and learners influence mathematical learning. For example, when teachers use hand gestures to support instruction, students learn more than others who learn the same concept with only speech, and students with higher working memory capacity (WMC) learn more rapidly than those with lower WMC. One hypothesis for the effect of gesture on math learning is that gestures provide a signal to learners that can reduce demand on working memory resources during learning. However, it is not known what sort of working memory resources support learning with gesture. Gestures are motoric; they co-occur with verbal language and they are perceived visually.
Methods:
In two studies, we investigated the relationship between mathematical learning with or without gesture and individual variation in verbal, visuospatial, and kinesthetic WMC. Students observed a videotaped lesson in a novel mathematical system that either included instruction with both speech and gesture (Study 1) or instruction with only speech (Study 2). After instruction, students solved novel problems in the instructed system and transfer problems in a related system. Finally, students completed verbal, visuospatial, and kinesthetic working memory assessments.
Results:
There was a positive relationship between visuospatial WMC and math learning when gesture was present, but no relationship between visuospatial WMC and math learning when gesture was absent. Rather, when gesture was absent, there was a relationship between verbal WMC and math learning.
Conclusion:
Providing gesture during instruction appears to change the cognitive resources recruited when learning a novel math task.
Background: Prior work has shown that transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) of parietooccipital alpha oscillations (8 - 14 Hz) can modulate working memory (WM) performance as a function of the phase lag to endogenous oscillations. However, leveraging this effect using real-time phase-tuned tACS was not feasible so far due to stimulation artifacts.
Objectives/Hypothesis: We aimed to develop a system that tracks and adapts the phase lag between tACS and ongoing parietooccipital alpha oscillations in real-time. We hypothesized that such real-time phase-tuned tACS enhances working memory performance, depending on the phase lag.
Methods: We developed real-time phase-tuned closed-loop amplitude-modulated tACS (CLAM-tACS) targeting parietooccipital alpha oscillations. CLAM-tACS was applied at six different phase lags relative to ongoing alpha oscillations while participants (N = 21) performed a working memory task. To exclude that behavioral effects of CLAM-tACS were mediated by other factors such as sensory co-stimulation, a second group of participants (N = 25) received equivalent stimulation of the forehead.
Results: WM accuracy improved in a phase lag dependent manner (p < 0.05) in the group receiving parietooccipital stimulation, with the strongest enhancement observed at 330 degrees phase lag between tACS and ongoing alpha oscillations (p < 0.01, d = 0.976). Moreover, across participants, modulation of frontoparietal alpha oscillations correlated both in amplitude (p < 0.05) and phase (p < 0.05) with the modulation of WM accuracy. No such effects were observed in the control group receiving frontal stimulation.
Conclusions: Our results demonstrate the feasibility and efficacy of real-time phase-tuned CLAM-tACS in modulating both brain activity and behavior, thereby paving the way for further investigation into brain-behavior relationships and the exploration of innovative therapeutic applications.
Objectives
Mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) can have persistent effects in the auditory domain (e.g., difficulty listening in noise), despite individuals having normal pure-tone auditory sensitivity. Individuals with a history of mild TBI often perceive hearing difficulty and greater listening effort in complex listening situations. The purpose of the present study was to examine self-perceived hearing difficulty, listening effort, and performance on an auditory processing test battery in adults with a history of mild TBI compared with a control group.
Design
Twenty adults ages 20 to 53 years old participated divided into a mild TBI (n = 10) and control group (n = 10). Perceived hearing difficulties were measured using the Adult Auditory Processing Scale and the Hearing Handicap Inventory for Adults. Listening effort was measured using the National Aeronautics and Space Administration-Task Load Index. Listening effort ratings were obtained at baseline, after each auditory processing test, and at the completion of the test battery. The auditory processing test battery included (1) dichotic word recognition, (2) the 500-Hz masking level difference, (3) the Listening in Spatialized Noise-Sentences test, and (4) the Word Auditory Recognition and Recall Measure (WARRM).
Results
Results indicated that individuals with a history of mild TBI perceived significantly greater degrees of hearing difficulty and listening effort than the control group. There were no significant group differences on two of the auditory processing tasks (dichotic word recognition or Listening in Spatialized Noise-Sentences). The mild TBI group exhibited significantly poorer performance on the 500-Hz MLD and the WARRM, a measure of auditory working memory, than the control group. Greater degrees of self-perceived hearing difficulty were significantly associated with greater listening effort and poorer auditory working memory. Greater listening effort was also significantly associated with poorer auditory working memory.
Conclusions
Results demonstrate that adults with a history of mild TBI may experience subjective hearing difficulty and listening effort when listening in challenging acoustic environments. Poorer auditory working memory on the WARRM task was observed for the adults with mild TBI and was associated with greater hearing difficulty and listening effort. Taken together, the present study suggests that conventional clinical audiometric battery alone may not provide enough information about auditory processing deficits in individuals with a history of mild TBI. The results support the use of a multifaceted battery of auditory processing tasks and subjective measures when evaluating individuals with a history of mild TBI.
This exploratory study examines the how individual differences in working memory and cognitive control relate to processing instruction (PI) targeting word order and accusative clitic pronouns in L2 Italian. Intermediate learners of Italian (N = 32) completed 50 structured input items, in which they heard a sentence beginning with either a preverbal accusative clitic pronoun or a subject/agent and matched what they heard with one of two pictures. Half of the participants received explicit information about the target structure prior to the treatment; the other half did not. In addition, all participants completed a test of working memory (operation span task) and a test of inhibitory control (AX-CPT). The results revealed different relationships between cognitive measures (working memory, cognitive control) and structured input task performance depending on whether learners received explicit information prior to the treatment. The findings suggest that individual differences in these resources may have more to do with how learners utilize them in different ways and at different times depending on the availability of explicit information. However, PI is still an effective treatment for learners of varying degrees of working memory and cognitive control regardless of the presence explicit information.
Experimental research measuring the effectiveness of structured input have shown that L2 learners receiving the structured input treatment process forms affected by processing principles more accurately. The effects of structured input have been investigated using both offline (e.g., interpretation and production tests) and online tests (e.g., self-paced reading and eye-tracking tests). However, no previous research has investigated the possible role of working memory in the results generated by structured input. The current study investigates the effects of structured input on the acquisition of English causative forms. Adult L1 Chinese Mandarin learning English at university participated to this study. A reading span test was used to classify each participant as having a high or low working memory capacity. Two groups receiving structured input were formed: one with high working memory capacity (n = 21); and another one with low working memory capacity (n = 23). A third group, receiving no instruction, was used as a control group (n = 17). A sentence-level interpretation test and a production discourse-level task were used to measure the possible effects of the instructional treatment (structured input). Results from this study indicated that both structured input groups equally improved from pre-tests to post-tests on both assessment measures. The control group made no gains. There was no difference between the low and high working memory capacity groups, and structured input was proved to be equally effective on L2 learner's ability to process input (interpret sentence containing the target feature) and to produce the target form accurately. The effects of structured input were retained over a four-week period.
Objective:
Discuss the human factors relevance of attention control (AC), a domain-general ability to regulate information processing functions in the service of goal-directed behavior.
Background:
Working memory (WM) measures appear as predictors in various applied psychology studies. However, measures of WM reflect a mixture of memory storage and controlled attention making it difficult to interpret the meaning of significant WM-task relations for human factors. In light of new research, complex task performance may be better predicted or explained with new measures of attention control rather than WM.
Method:
We briefly review the topic of individual differences in abilities in Human Factors. Next, we focus on WM, how it is measured, and what can be inferred from significant WM-task relations.
Results:
The theoretical underpinnings of attention control as a high-level factor that affects complex thought and behavior make it useful in human factors, which often study performance in complex and dynamic task environments. To facilitate research on attention control in applied settings, we discuss a validated measure of attention control that predicts more variance in complex task performance than WM. In contrast to existing measures of WM or AC, our measures of attention control only require 3 minutes each (10 minutes total) and may be less culture-bound making them suitable for use in applied settings.
Conclusion:
Explaining or predicting task performance relations with attention control rather than WM may have dramatically different implications for designing more specific, equitable task interfaces, or training.
Application:
A highly efficient ability predictor can help researchers and practitioners better understand task requirements for human factors interventions or performance prediction.
Drawing on work from cognitive psychology, a vast body of research has examined the role of working memory (WM) in second-language (L2) development, processing, and use (e.g., Linck et al., 2014). Our ability to discern such relationships, however, may be obscured by the different measures of WM that are adopted and employed by L2 researchers. There exist a daunting number of WM tasks, and the variability in task design, implementation, and scoring adds to the challenge of accurately measuring WM capacity and interpreting findings. To this end, this chapter presents a methodological synthesis that surveyed the literature spanning 20 years (2001-2020) of WM-L2 research to describe the use of six common WM tasks. We coded a total of 329 unique samples on a range of features related to the WM tasks and reporting practices. Our findings suggest that, among the six most common WM tasks used in L2 research, task design and scoring procedures tend to diverge more than converge within and among the tasks. We also found neglected areas in reporting practices in the WM-L2 domain. Based on our findings, we provide insights into the use of the WM tasks and future directions to help researchers make informed decisions for measuring WM and interpreting findings critically.L38
The relationship between working memory (WM) and second language (L2) reading comprehension has received considerable attention for nearly three decades. Although studies in this line of research generally report a small to moderate relationship between WM and L2 reading comprehension, comparison of studies remains challenging due to the lack of specification of the kind of comprehension under investigation (e.g., textbase, situation model) and the means of comprehension assessment. In addition, inconsistencies in the usage, scoring and analysis of WM measures further complicate the interpretation of findings across studies. Thus, in this chapter, we examine L2 reading-WM studies, paying particular attention to methodological considerations surrounding the use and scoring of WM tasks and the assessment of comprehension. We argue that methodological decisions can have non-trivial effects on this line of research and provide task recommendations based on current theorizing in reading
Bringing together cutting-edge research, this Handbook is the first comprehensive text to examine the pivotal role of working memory in first and second language acquisition, processing, impairments, and training. Authored by a stellar cast of distinguished scholars from around the world, the Handbook provides authoritative insights on work from diverse, multi-disciplinary perspectives, and introduces key models of working memory in relation to language. Following an introductory chapter by working memory pioneer Alan Baddeley, the collection is organized into thematic sections that discuss working memory in relation to: Theoretical models and measures; Linguistic theories and frameworks; First language processing; Bilingual acquisition and processing; and Language disorders, interventions, and instruction. The Handbook is sure to interest and benefit researchers, clinicians, speech therapists, and advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students in linguistics, psychology, education, speech therapy, cognitive science, and neuroscience, or anyone seeking to learn more about language, cognition and the human mind.
This chapter explores the dynamic relationship between working memory (WM) and grammar development across adult L2 learning. For over twenty years, WM has received considerable attention in research on adult second language (L2) development. One reason for this is that L2 learning requires both processing and storage to comprehend input and to extract intake for acquisition, so differences in WM capacity may explain differences in developmental rates. Most studies on WM and morphosyntactic development in adults support the “more is better” hypothesis (Miyake & Friedman, 1998); yet others did not yield evidence in its support (e.g., Foote, 2011; Grey, Cox et al., 2015). While linguistic targets and methods may explain many discrepancies, recent research (e.g., Serafini & Sanz, 2016) may also help us understand these differences as a reflection of changes in what constitutes a cognitively demanding task (i.e., what tasks recruit WM resources) across L2 learning
The present study examined how working memory (WM) affects unfamiliar word processing during L2 reading comprehension among L2 learners with different proficiency levels. Forty-four participants were divided into the higher proficiency group (n = 22) and the lower proficiency group (n = 22). All of them read an English text with 17 target unfamiliar words while their eye movements were tracked. After online reading, they subsequently completed an L2 reading comprehension test and a WM test respectively. The results showed that WM significantly correlated with L2 reading comprehension in the higher proficiency group. In addition, the effect of WM capacity on L2 reading comprehension performance was mediated by unfamiliar words’ first fixation duration in the higher proficiency group. Results of the study revealed the different mechanisms of unfamiliar word processing among learners with different proficiency levels from the cognitive dimension of WM.
The present study combines both online (eye-tracking) and offline (reading comprehension test) measures to investigate the relationships among word processing, working memory (WM) and second language (L2) reading comprehension performance. Forty-eight Chinese students read an English text with 17 unfamiliar words while their eye movements were recorded with two different settings (L1-glossed and non-glossed). A reading comprehension test and a reading span task were respectively used to evaluate participants' L2 reading comprehension performance and WM capacity. The results indicated that L2 reading comprehension performance was related to first fixation duration (FFD) on unfamiliar words, and the FFD on unfamiliar words was related to participants' WM capacity. Moreover, the effect of unfamiliar words' FFD on L2 reading comprehension performance can be moderated by participants' WM capacity. These relationships were not found when the unfamiliar words were glossed by L1. The results expand our understanding of the role of WM in unfamiliar word processing during L2 reading comprehension.
The role of music training in improving brain plasticity and developing cognitive functions has been shown in previous studies. Music includes a wide range of processing, from voice encoding to high cognitive functions like attention, memory, and learning. These functions might improve by music training. Numerous studies that compared musicians and non-musicians in different abilities showed better performance in musicians. However, most have been conducted in the western population, and not enough research in other cultures. Seventy-four participants were divided into three groups based on their experience in music training (no training, 3 to 24-month training, more than 24 months training). Musical ability was measured using MBEMA, which comprises Rhythm, Melody, and Memory in its short version. Digit span and letter-number sequencing subtest of the Wechsler Intelligence scale for children was used to measure working memory. The Wepman auditory discrimination test was used to measure auditory discrimination. We determined that music training might increase musical ability and auditory discrimination. However, unlike previous studies in western samples, our result did not show that music training can affect working memory. The present study highlights the importance of considering sociocultural differences in examining the impact of music on human abilities.
A memória de trabalho apresenta relação com o estudo da linguagem, e a capacidade de memória de trabalho desempenha um papel crucial na compreensão leitora. Assim, a criação de uma versão computadorizada e padronizada do Reading Span Test (RST) para o português brasileiro (PB) contribui para investigação do funcionamento do controle executivo central durante a leitura em indivíduos falantes desta língua. Este artigo apresenta a metodologia utilizada para o desenvolvimento desta nova versão do RST. Destaca-se que sua padronização metodológica permite a comparação com outros estudos internacionais e a computação de diferentes pontuações de capacidade de memória de trabalho.
Despite the increasing attention paid to the role of working memory in reading, findings and measurement of working memory have been inconsistent. The current meta-analysis aims to provide a quantitative description of the overall relationship between second language (L2) reading comprehension and working memory measured through reading span task and identify methodological features that moderate this relationship. Following a comprehensive search, 25 primary studies (23 peer-reviewed studies and 2 dissertations) were included comprising 37 unique samples ( N = 2,682), all of which were coded for substantive and methodological features. The results showed that (a) there is a moderate relationship between L2 reading comprehension and working memory ( r = .30), (b) reading span task features such as the scoring procedure, task language, and final word recall order moderate this relationship, and (c) the degree to which working memory’s involvement in L2 reading comprehension may vary depending on the type of reading tasks at hand. Implications are discussed in terms of conceptualization and measurement of working memory. Future directions are also offered in relation to measurement practices to encourage consistency and to improve our understanding of the link between working memory and L2 reading comprehension.
Five experiments investigated the effects of word length in simple word span tasks and complex operation and reading span tasks and the relationship between these tasks and reading comprehension. The first 2 experiments showed word length effects using both simple and complex memory span tasks and that both simple and complex span tasks correlated with reading comprehension. In the third experiment, articulatory suppression did not eliminate word length effects. The final experiments showed that articulatory suppression eliminated the effect of word length when words were sampled with replacement from small fixed pools but not when sampled without replacement from a large pool. The word pool effects were not a result of concreteness of the words. We conclude that the reading span does not measure a working memory specific to reading. Further, in immediate memory experiments, repeating words from trial to trial may lead to a more limited coding than is used with nonrepeated words.
The restoration of disrupted words to their original form in a sentence shadowing task is dependent upon semantic and syntactic context variables, thus demonstrating an on-line interaction between the structural and the lexical and phonetic levels of sentence processing.
The purpose of this research was to determine if individual differences in working‐memory capacity are related to the ways readers use inferences to facilitate text comprehension. Two groups of subjects, who differed in working‐memory span, read difficult narrative passages a few sentences at a time. The subjects furnished “thinking out loud” protocols of their emerging interpretations. Idea units from the subjects’ protocols were categorized with particular attention to those idea units that expressed a general or specific elaborative inference. Several differences between the two groups of subjects emerged. Low‐memory‐span subjects produced significantly more specific elaborations than the high‐span readers. In addition, most of the specific elaborations that were produced by the high‐span readers were toward the end of a passage. Low‐span readers had a more even distribution of specific elaborations throughout their protocols. Thus, readers with adequate working‐memory capacity can keep their interpretations more open‐ended and await more information from the text. Readers with low working‐memory capacity appear to face a tradeoff between maintaining an overall passage representation (global coherence) and maintaining sentence‐to‐sentence connections (local coherence). An analysis of the number of inferences that represented new thematic interpretations suggested that some low‐span readers in our sample emphasized global coherence and others emphasized local coherence.
Two issues were investigated in 2 experiments: (1) the validity of a reading span test that combined a knowledge verification task with a secondary task of word memorization and (2) the hypothesis that word recall reflects the amount of working memory that is functional in reading. In Exp 1, the validity and reliability of the reading span measure were determined. In Exp 2, it was reasoned that if word recall reflected functional working memory in reading, then 2 results should be observed. The 1st predicted result was that prior exposure to sentences used in the reading span test would release working memory resources and improve word recall. The 2nd was that word recall, though correlated with general working memory and verbal knowledge measures, would add to these scores in predicting comprehension. Both sets of results were obtained, supporting the hypothesis that the reading span test measures functional working memory in reading. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Three measures of working memory capacity and three measures of word knowledge were used as predictors of three different measures of reading skill. The results demonstrated that the size of a reader's vocabulary and the speed of accessing it are independent of a "depth" measure of word knowledge and that reading comprehension, reading speed, and text inferencing ability are all independent measures of reading skill. A series of regression analyses were conducted to derive a causal model of the three reading performance measures. The results indicated that working memory efficiency during reading was related to comprehension, whereas a more passive working memory capacity measure was related to reading speed. Moreover, text inferencing ability was related only to word knowledge. We conclude that concepts such as "reading skill," "working memory," and "word knowledge" are multidimensional constructs that cannot be captured by a single variable. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Attempted to determine whether working memory processes measured by the Reading Span Test would be strongly associated with the ability to integrate information from different parts of a passage to infer an idea not explicitly stated in the passage. The study also assessed the influence of working memory processes on ability to encode explicitly stated and inferred information into long-term memory. 29 undergraduates were administered a letter span test and a reading span test. The ability to store and process information in working memory was shown to be positively related to (a) scores on a standardized reading comprehension test, (b) long-term memory encoding and retrieval of explicitly stated text information, and (c) integration of text information for the purpose of drawing inferences. Variations in only the storage capacity of working memory were not related to these measures. It is concluded that the ability to coordinate storage and process functions in working memory may be an important determinant of text processing skill, especially with respect to encoding information into long-term memory. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The interactions, during word-recognition in continuous speech, between the bottom-up analyses of the input and different forms of internally generated top-down constraint, were investigated using a shadowing task and a mispronunciation detection task (in the detection task the subject saw a text of the original passage as he listened to it). The listener's dependence on bottom-up analyses in the shadowing task, as measured by the number of fluent restorations of mispronounced words, was found to vary as a function of the syllable position of the mispronunciation within the word and of the contextual constraints on the word as a whole. In the detection task only syllable position effects were obtained. The results, discussed in conjunction with earlier research, were found to be inconsistent with either the logogen model of word-recognition or an autonomous search model. Instead, an active direct access model is proposed, in which top-down processing constraints interact directly with bottom-up information to produce the primary lexical interpretation of the acoustic-phonetic input.
This experiment tested the claim that on-line syntactic processing is autonomous and not affected by semantic context. Subjects heard sentence fragments containing syntactically ambiguous phrases, and the first clause of each fragment biased the listener toward one of its readings. Naming latencies to a visually presented probe word which was either an appropriate or inappropriate continuation of the sentence fragment were measured. Latencies were longer for inappropriate probes, suggesting that well before the clause boundary is reached, syntactic decisions can be influenced by prior semantic context. This result is predicted by an on-line interactive model of sentence processing.
Regional cerebral blood flow was measured with positron emission tomography during the performance of verbal working memory tasks. The same type of verbal response (i.e., reciting numbers) was required in the control and the two experimental tasks. In the control task, the subjects were required to count aloud. In the two experimental tasks, the subjects were required to maintain within working memory the numbers they generated (self-ordered task) or the numbers generated by the experimenter (externally ordered task). Examination of the difference in activation between these conditions revealed strong bilateral activation within the mid-dorsolateral frontal cortex during both experimental tasks. There was, however, no evidence of additional activation within the mid-dorsolateral frontal cortex when monitoring self-generated responses as compared with the monitoring of externally generated responses. These results provide evidence regarding the role of the mid-dorsolateral frontal cortex in mnemonic processing that are in agreement with recent findings from work with non-human primates.
Work with non-human primates had previously demonstrated that the mid-dorsolateral frontal cortex, which comprises cytoarchitectonic areas 46 and 9, plays a critical role in the performance of non-spatial self-ordered working memory tasks, whereas the immediately adjacent posterior dorsolateral frontal cortex (area 8) is critical for the learning and performance of visual conditional associative tasks. The present study used positron emission tomography with magnetic resonance imaging to demonstrate the existence, within the human brain, of these two functionally distinct subdivisions of the lateral frontal cortex. These findings provide direct evidence that, just as the monkey brain, the human lateral frontal cortex is functionally heterogeneous and that comparable anatomical areas underlie similar functions in the two species.
Recent researchers have attempted to correlate measures of working memory (WM) with measures of higher level cognitive skills and abilities focusing on the functions of this limited capacity system, i.e., processing and storage. Relationships between three span measures of the functional model of WM capacity and two measures of reading comprehension were investigated. The magnitude of the correlations found between reading comprehension and the two spans embedded in reading processing tasks was similar to that of the correlation found between a third span measure embedded in a quantitative task with reading comprehension. These results indicated that these span measures of WM capacity were independent of the nature of the concurrent processing task.
The complex span measure of working memory is a word/digit span measured while performing a secondary task. Two experiments investigated whether correlations between the complex span and reading comprehension depend on the nature of the secondary task and individual skill in that task. The secondary task did not have to be reading related for the span to predict reading comprehension. An arithmetic-related secondary task led to correlations with reading comprehension similar to those found when the secondary task was reading. The relationship remained significant when quantitative skills were factored out of the complex span/comprehension correlations. Simple digit and word spans (measured without a background task) did not correlate with reading comprehension and SAT scores. The second experiment showed that the complex span/comprehension correlations were a function of the difficulty of the background task. When the difficulty level of the reading-related or arithmetic-related background tasks was moderate, the span/comprehension correlations were higher in magnitude than when the background tasks were very simple, or, were very difficult.
A sentence-picture matching task was used to test the ability of patients with dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT) and age- and education-matched control subjects to interpret nine different sentences. These sentences differed on two dimensions…syntactic complexity and number of propositions. Subjects were tested on this task with no concurrent task (alone) and while concurrently remembering a digit load that was one less than their span or equivalent to their span. Neither group of subjects showed an effect of syntactic complexity, but DAT patients did show an effect of the number of propositions in a sentence. For all subjects, comprehension of sentences with more propositions was more greatly affected by larger digit loads, but comprehension of more complex syntactic structures was not. The performance of DAT patients was more affected than that of the control subjects on the digit task, but they were not disproportionately impaired on the sentence types which were more complex or had more propositions compared to normals. The results are discussed in relationship to the hypothesis that there is a sentence comprehension impairment in DAT that is related to the processing resource requirements of different aspects of the sentence comprehension process.
We report five experiments that deal with the role of verb selectional restrictions and the animacy of nouns in the construction and interpretation of syntactic structure. In the first two experiments, the effect of the selectional restriction requirements of verbs and the animacy of nouns on sentence comprehension was assessed in a speeded acceptability judgement task. Four sentence types were presented in which syntactic complexity (object vs subject relativisation) and number of propositions were orthogonally varied. Sentences contained verbs that required either animate subjects or animate objects, and unacceptable sentences were created by violating the selectional restriction requirements of the verb in the embedded clause. Analyses of both reaction time and accuracy data showed that there was an interaction between the selectional restriction requirements of verbs (which correlated perfectly with the animacy of nouns in subject or object position), and syntactic form, on these judgments.
The results of two experiments indicate that individual differences in syntactic processing are governed in part by the amount of working memory capacity available for language comprehension processes. Reading the verbs of an object relative sentence, such as The reporter that the senator attacked admitted the error, takes more time for readers with less working memory capacity for language, and their resulting comprehension is less accurate. Experiment 1 investigated the effects of a concurrent working memory load and found that with no load or a small memory load many Low Span readers comprehended object relative sentences very poorly although their reading times in the critical area of these sentences were greater than those of High Span subjects. Experiment 2 replicated the reading time effects of Experiment 1 for object relative sentences and showed that pragmatic information improved the comprehension of the lower capacity readers, although their use of this information was limited to the clause in which it was presented.
Two experiments studied individual differences among normal adults in performance on the Nelson-Denny reading test to cast light on the processes involved in reading. Experiment 1 correlated reading comprehension with performance on the Daneman and Carpenter working memory span test, vocabulary, lexical decision with both homophonous and nonhomophonous nonwords, and Posner's letter matching task, based on both physical and name matching. Working memory span proved to be a significant predictor as did lexical decision with nonhomophonous nonwords, letter name matching, and vocabulary. A derived measure indicating degree of phonological coding in lexical decision was only weakly correlated with comprehension while the physical name match difference on the Posner task was uncorrelated with reading performance. A second experiment explored further the working memory span task, comparing it with a nonlinguistic span test devised by Case. Kurland, and Goldberg based on memory and counting. While the verbal working memory measure again correlated significantly with comprehension, the counting measure was much more weakly related. As in Experiment 1, vocabulary also correlated significantly with comprehension. It is concluded that reading comprehension is dependent on a number of separable components including vocabulary, working memory, and a general lexical access process.
We present the results of three studies of aphasic comprehension of syntactic structure. Group analysis reveals effects of syntactic structure upon correct interpretation of sentences and indicates that separate aspects of syntactic structure contribute additively to sentence complexity. Identifiable subgroups of patients vary in overall ability on this task, and some subgroups show quite isolated impairments with specific sentence types. Subgroups do not correspond to classical aphasia syndromes, and lesion site does not correlate with patient subgroups. The results bear on the nature of impaired syntactic comprehension in aphasia and on aspects of the normal parser/interpreter.RésuméNous présentons les résultats de trois études sur to compréhension de la structure syntaxique par des aphasiques. L'analyse des données du groupe montre que la structure syntaxique influe sur ('interpr'etation correcte des phrases et indique que différents aspects de cette structure contribuent additivement à la complexité de la phrase. On peut identifier des sous-groupes de patients variant selon leur capacité générale à réaliser la tâche et des sous-groupes présentant des incapacités locales isolées pour des types de phrases spécifiques. Ces sous-groupes ne recouvrent pas les syndromes aphasiques classiques et ne corrèlent pas avec les sites des lésions. Les résultats mettent en jeu la nature de l'atteinte de la compréhension syntaxique dans l'aphasie et les aspects de la segmentation/interprétation normale.
Individual differences in reading comprehension may reflect differences in working memory capacity, specifically in the trade-off between its processing and storage functions. A poor reader's processes may be inefficient, so that they lessen the amount of additional information that can be maintained in working memory. A test with heavy processing and storage demands was devised to measure this trade-off. Subjects read aloud a series of sentences and then recalled the final word of each sentence. The reading span, the number of final words recalled, varied from two to five for 20 college students. This span correlated with three reading comprehension measures, including verbal SAT and tests involving fact retrieval and pronominal reference. Similar correlations were obtained with a listening span task, showing that the correlation is not specific to reading. These results were contrasted with traditional digit span and word span measures which do not correlate with comprehension.
The author investigated the possibility of estimating reading ability using tests of memory and processing speed that have significantly reduced reading requirements. Four hundred three air force trainees were given tests of their working memory and long-term memory processes, as well as a standardized reading test. A multiple correlation of .79 indicated that global reading ability is substantially correlated with memory processes. Additional analyses indicated that word knowledge and comprehension, the two major components of reading ability, were both explained by the same set of memory process factors, namely, long-term memory processes, semantic memory retrieval speed, and working memory capacity. These results, which are consistent with the view that memory ability underlies reading ability, support the endeavor of measuring reading ability with memory and processing speed tasks.
Response selection was studied independently of the stimulus by asking subjects to generate random sequences of letters or numbers. Experiment 1 varied rate of letter generation from ½ sec. to 4 sec. per item and showed that the redundancy of the sequence increased linearly with rate. Experiment 2 added random generation of letters as a secondary task to paced card sorting. Information load per card was varied from 1 through 2 to 4 to 8 alternatives, with sorting rate held constant. As predicted, the redundancy of the sequences generated increased linearly with sorting load. Experiment 3 varied number of items to be randomized. Rate of random generation increased systematically from 2 to 4 to 8 alternatives, but levelled out beyond this point, showing no difference between 16 and 26. In general, these results suggest a response-selection mechanism of limited informational capacity.
Presents a model of reading comprehension that accounts for the allocation of eye fixations of 14 college students reading scientific passages. The model deals with processing at the level of words, clauses, and text units. Readers made longer pauses at points where processing loads were greater. Greater loads occurred while readers were accessing infrequent words, integrating information from important clauses, and making inferences at the ends of sentences. The model accounts for the gaze duration on each word of text as a function of the involvement of the various levels of processing. The model is embedded in a theoretical framework capable of accommodating the flexibility of reading. (70 ref)
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