Dissociative style and individual differences in verbal working memory span

2004 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 821-828 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michiel B. de Ruiter ◽  
R. Hans Phaf ◽  
Bernet M. Elzinga ◽  
Richard van Dyck
2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
BENJAMIN SWETS ◽  
MATTHEW E. JACOVINA ◽  
RICHARD J. GERRIG

abstractPrevious research has demonstrated that the scope of speakers’ planning in language production varies in response to external forces such as time pressure. This susceptibility to external pressures indicates a flexibly incremental production system: speakers plan utterances piece by piece, but external pressures affect the size of the pieces speakers buffer. In the current study, we explore internal constraints on speech planning. Specifically, we examine whether individual differences in working memory predict the scope and efficiency of advance planning. In our task, speakers described picture arrays to partners in a matching game. The arrays sometimes required speakers to note a contrast between a sentence-initial object (e.g., a four-legged cat) and a sentence-final object (e.g., a three-legged cat). Based on prior screening, we selected participants who differed on verbal working memory span. Eye-movement measures revealed that high-span speakers were more likely to gaze at the contrasting pictures prior to articulation than were low-span speakers. As a result, high-span speakers were also more likely to reference the contrast early in speech. We conclude that working memory plays a substantial role in the flexibility of incremental speech planning.


2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (04) ◽  
pp. 763-782 ◽  
Author(s):  
MEESHA A. WARMINGTON ◽  
SWATHI KANDRU-POTHINENI ◽  
GRAHAM J. HITCH

Studies of the effects of bilingualism on cognition have given results that do not consistently replicate, reflecting at least in part wide differences in criteria for bilingualism and heterogeneity of language combinations within studied samples. We examined the bilingual advantage in attention, working memory and novel-word learning in early sequential Hindi–English bilinguals. We sought to clarify the aspects of cognition that benefit from bilingualism by using multiple measures and a sample sufficiently well-defined to permit independent replication. Bilinguals outperformed monolinguals on response inhibition, novel-word learning and almost all working memory tasks. In contrast, both groups performed comparably on selective attention. Analyses of individual differences showed that bilingual novel-word learning was related to their verbal working memory and ability to inhibit an ongoing action, whereas this was not the case for monolinguals. Results indicate a specific bilingual advantage that is confined to some but not all aspects of cognition.


2014 ◽  
Vol 29 (8) ◽  
pp. 473-478 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Brébion ◽  
C. Stephan-Otto ◽  
E. Huerta-Ramos ◽  
J. Usall ◽  
M. Perez del Olmo ◽  
...  

AbstractObjectiveVerbal working memory span is decreased in patients with schizophrenia, and this might contribute to impairment in higher cognitive functions as well as to the formation of certain clinical symptoms. Processing speed has been identified as a crucial factor in cognitive efficiency in this population. We tested the hypothesis that decreased processing speed underlies the verbal working memory deficit in patients and mediates the associations between working memory span and clinical symptoms.MethodForty-nine schizophrenia inpatients recruited from units for chronic and acute patients, and forty-five healthy participants, were involved in the study. Verbal working memory span was assessed by means of the letter-number span. The Digit Copy test was used to assess motor speed, and the Digit Symbol Substitution Test to assess cognitive speed.ResultsThe working memory span was significantly impaired in patients (F(1,90) = 4.6, P < 0.05). However, the group difference was eliminated when either the motor or the cognitive speed measure was controlled (F(1,89) = 0.03, P = 0.86, and F(1,89) = 0.03, P = 0.88). In the patient group, working memory span was significantly correlated with negative symptoms (r = –0.52, P < 0.0001) and thought disorganisation (r = –0.34, P < 0.025) scores. Regression analyses showed that the association with negative symptoms was no longer significant when the motor speed measure was controlled (β = –0.12, P = 0.20), while the association with thought disorganisation was no longer significant when the cognitive speed measure was controlled (β = –0.10, P = 0.26).ConclusionsDecrement in motor and cognitive speed plays a significant role in both the verbal working memory impairment observed in patients and the associations between verbal working memory impairment and clinical symptoms.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuri G. Pavlov ◽  
Boris Kotchoubey

Abstract Working memory (WM) consists of short-term storage and executive components. We studied cortical oscillatory correlates of these two components in a large sample of 156 participants to assess separately the contribution of them to individual differences in WM. The participants were presented with WM tasks of above-average complexity. Some of the tasks required only storage in WM, others required storage and mental manipulations. Our data indicate a close relationship between frontal midline theta, central beta activity and the executive components of WM. The oscillatory counterparts of the executive components were associated with individual differences in verbal WM performance. In contrast, alpha activity was not related to the individual differences. The results demonstrate that executive components of WM, rather than short-term storage capacity, play the decisive role in individual WM capacity limits.


2002 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 165-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
K.J. Gilhooly ◽  
V. Wynn ◽  
L.H. Phillips ◽  
R.H. Logie ◽  
S. Della Sala

2007 ◽  
Vol 1152 ◽  
pp. 158-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ute Habel ◽  
Kathrin Koch ◽  
Katharina Pauly ◽  
Thilo Kellermann ◽  
Martina Reske ◽  
...  

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 601-618 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Zychowicz ◽  
Adriana Biedroń ◽  
Mirosław Pawlak

Individual differences in second language acquisition (SLA) encompass differences in working memory capacity, which is believed to be one of the most crucial factors influencing language learning. However, in Poland research on the role of working memory in SLA is scarce due to a lack of proper Polish instruments for measuring this construct. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the process of construction and validation of the Polish Listening Span (PLSPAN) as a tool intended to measure verbal working memory of adults. The article presents the requisite theoretical background as well as the information about the PLSPAN, that is, the structure of the test, the scoring procedures and the steps taken with the aim of validating it.


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