scholarly journals Modularity, working memory and language acquisition

2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 299-311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan D Baddeley
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Phonological Loop ◽  
Conscious Awareness ◽  
Episodic Buffer ◽  
Temporary Storage ◽  
Fourth Component ◽  
Multicomponent Model

The concept of modularity is used to contrast the approach to working memory proposed by Truscott with the Baddeley and Hitch multicomponent model. This proposes four sub components comprising the central executive, an executive control system of limited attentional capacity that utilises storage based on separate but interlinked temporary storage subsystems. One, the phonological loop, is concerned with the temporary storage of verbal materials and another, the visuo-spatial sketchpad stores visual information. A fourth component, the episodic buffer, allows the various components to interact and enables their content to become available to conscious awareness. After a brief description of the relevance of the model to language acquisition, an account is given of the way in which it has developed in recent years and its relationship to other approaches to working memory.

A Multicomponent Model of Working Memory

2020 ◽  
pp. 10-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Baddeley ◽  
Graham Hitch ◽  
Richard Allen
Keyword(s):  
Storage System ◽  
Central Executive ◽  
Memory Storage ◽  
Phonological Loop ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Episodic Buffer ◽  
Specific Memory ◽  
Fourth Component ◽  
Neuropsychological Evidence ◽  
Multicomponent Model

The multicomponent model aims to provide a broad theoretical framework enabling both more detailed fractionation and analysis of its components, and a capacity for it be used fruitfully beyond the laboratory. In its current form it comprises four interacting components. Two of these are modality-specific memory storage systems, one verbal-acoustic, the phonological loop, and one visuospatial, the sketchpad. Information in both these stores can be temporarily maintained via focused attention termed ‘refreshing’, while the phonological loop can also maintain familiar verbalizable material by subvocal or overt rehearsal. Both subsystems are controlled by a third component, the central executive, a supervisory system with limited resources. The central executive is principally concerned with internally directed attentional control processes but also has a role in the attentional selection of perceptual information. Information from these three components is coordinated with information from perception and long-term memory through the fourth component, a multidimensional, multimodal episodic buffer. This component is capable of holding up to around four episodic chunks, and is a valuable but essentially passive storage system, controlled by the central executive and accessible to conscious awareness. The multicomponent model has been systematically developed using a number of experimental tools. These include, principally, similarity effects to identify the type of coding involved, concurrent task methods to assess the contributions of the various subsystems to complex tasks, and neuropsychological evidence, in particular from the study of single cases with very specific deficits. The model continues to evolve and has proved successful both in accounting for a broad range of data on memory and related cognitive areas and in its application to the understanding of a wide range of cognitive activities and populations.

Multicomponent Working Memory System with Distributed Executive Control

2020 ◽  
pp. 150-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
André Vandierendonck
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Memory System ◽  
General Information ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Episodic Buffer ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Current Task

The working memory model with distributed executive control accounts for the interactions between working memory and multi-tasking performance. The working memory system supports planned actions by relying on two capacity-limited domain-general and two time-limited domain-specific modules. Domain-general modules are the episodic buffer and the executive module. The episodic buffer stores multimodal representations and uses attentional refreshment to counteract information loss and to consolidate information in episodic long-term memory. The executive module maintains domain-general information relevant for the current task. The phonological buffer and the visuospatial module are domain specific; the former uses inner speech to maintain and to rehearse phonological information, whereas the latter holds visual and spatial representations active by means of image revival. For its operation, working memory interacts with declarative and procedural long-term memory, gets input from sensory registers, and uses the motor system for output.

Associations of natural language switching with executive control in early bilinguals

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 1008-1019
Author(s):  
Raúl López-Penadés ◽  
Victor A. Sanchez-Azanza ◽  
Eva Aguilar-Mediavilla ◽  
Lucía Buil-Legaz ◽  
Daniel Adrover-Roig
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Natural Language ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Interference Control ◽  
Language Switching ◽  
Working Memory Updating

AbstractThis study aimed at identifying linguistic factors that could contribute to understanding individual differences in executive control among bilinguals. Directionality and type of natural language switching, age of second language acquisition, and language proficiency were evaluated in a sample of 112 early bilingual adults. Participants performed several computerized tasks tapping into three dimensions of executive control: inhibition of interference, working memory updating, and shifting. Regression analyses showed that frequent switching to the second language was associated with more efficient executive processing, enhanced working memory updating processes, and better shifting ability. Moreover, higher frequency of unintended language switches was associated with lower interference control abilities. Frequency of language switching behavior was the principal predictor of executive control, beyond age of second language acquisition and language proficiency. Results suggest that frequent language switching is related to enhanced executive control, while the unintended switching of languages could be associated with low interference control.

Working Memory in Aphasia: Considering Discourse Processing and Treatment Implications

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (01) ◽  
pp. 040-051 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Henderson ◽  
Hana Kim ◽  
Stephen Kintz ◽  
Nicole Frisco ◽  
Heather Wright
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Discourse Processing ◽  
Phonological Loop ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Limited Capacity ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Memory Impairments ◽  
Episodic Buffer ◽  
Visuospatial Sketchpad

Evidence suggests that persons with aphasia (PWAs) present with working memory impairments that affect a variety of language tasks. Most of these studies have focused on the phonological loop component of working memory and little attention has been paid to the episodic buffer component. The episodic buffer, as a limited capacity, multimodal system that binds and integrates information from the phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, and long-term memory would likely be involved in discourse processing. The purposes of this article were to (1) review discourse level deficits associated with aphasia, (2) describe how a deficit at the level of the episodic buffer could cause such deficits, (3) to review discourse treatment approaches for PWAs, and (4) present preliminary results from a novel discourse treatment study for PWAs.

The bottleneck may be the solution, not the problem

2016 ◽  
Vol 39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arnon Lotem ◽  
Oren Kolodny ◽  
Joseph Y. Halpern ◽  
Luca Onnis ◽  
Shimon Edelman
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Recent Theory ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Selection Pressures ◽  
Biological Trait ◽  
Memory Bottleneck

AbstractAs a highly consequential biological trait, a memory “bottleneck” cannot escape selection pressures. It must therefore co-evolve with other cognitive mechanisms rather than act as an independent constraint. Recent theory and an implemented model of language acquisition suggest that a limit on working memory may evolve to help learning. Furthermore, it need not hamper the use of language for communication.

Executive Control and the Episodic Buffer

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Baddeley ◽  
Richard Allen ◽  
Graham Hitch
Keyword(s):  
Executive Control ◽  
Episodic Buffer
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