scholarly journals Effects of Working Memory Capacity on Metacognitive Monitoring: A Study of Group Differences Using a Listening Span Test

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mie Komori
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Metacognitive Monitoring ◽  
Span Test

Phonological short-term memory, working memory and foreign language performance in intensive language learning

2008 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 261-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
JUDIT KORMOS ◽  
ANNA SÁFÁR
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Digit Span ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Digit Span Test ◽  
Span Test

In our research we addressed the question what the relationship is between phonological short-term and working memory capacity and performance in an end-of-year reading, writing, listening, speaking and use of English test. The participants of our study were 121 secondary school students aged 15–16 in the first intensive language training year of a bilingual education program in Hungary. The participants performed a non-word repetition test and took a Cambridge First Certificate Exam. Fifty students were also tested with a backward digit span test, measuring their working memory capacity. Our study indicates that phonological short-term memory capacity plays a different role in the case of beginners and pre-intermediate students in intensive language learning. The backward digit span test correlated very highly with the overall English language competence, as well as with reading, listening, speaking and use of English (vocabulary and grammar) test scores.

Individual Differences in Working Memory Capacity in Recency Effects: From the Recall Process

2009 ◽  
Vol 104 (2) ◽  
pp. 545-548 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takashi Sasaki
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Predictive Power ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Recall Accuracy ◽  
Recency Effects ◽  
Span Test ◽  
Backward Recall

The purpose was to investigate the role of individual differences in working memory capacity in recency effects on free, forward, and backward recall tasks. In Exp. 1, correlations between scores on a listening-span test and recall accuracy of recent items were positive and significant under all conditions. This result suggested participants with large working memory capacity are likely to show a stronger recency effect. Predictive power of the listening-span test was still significant after the word-span score was partialled out. In Exp. 2, the predictive power of the listening-span test scores was not significant when a delay was introduced between study and recall phases. Analysis suggested participants with a larger working memory capacity, and particularly with higher cognitive function, were sensitive to the recollection process.

scholarly journals High working memory performers have efficient eye movement control systems under Reading Span Test

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Miyuki Azuma ◽  
Takashi Ikeda ◽  
Takehiro Minamoto ◽  
Mariko Osaka ◽  
Naoyuki Osaka
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Movement Control ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Fixation Time ◽  
Reading Span ◽  
Eye Movement Control ◽  
Span Test

Controlled eye movements are critical in performing highly goal oriented behavior such as text reading. Previous studies have examined the relationship between working memory capacity and eye movement control during working memory task. However, the results were inconsistent, due to a methodological issue including the predictability of target location. In the present study, we used Japanese version of reading span test, where the position of to-be-remembered word is not predictable so that more efficient attentional control is required, and investigated how working memory capacity contributes to eye movement control during reading span test. Results based on total fixation time revealed that highworking memory performers efficiently control or shift their attention under high memory load.

scholarly journals Working memory capacity across L2 speech proficiency levels

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 441-462
Author(s):  
Gicele Vergine Vieira Prebianca ◽  
Kyria Rebeca Finardi ◽  
Janaina Weissheimer
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Adult Learners ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Span Test ◽  
The Relationship

This study investigates whether working memory capacity (WMC) varies across languages and in the course of L2 speech proficiency levels. Following suggestions in Finardi and Weissheimer (2009) and Prebianca (2010), who found that WMC varied as a function of L2 speech proficiency, the present study assessed three proficiency levels (elementary, intermediate and advanced) and two languages (L1-Portuguese and L2-English). Two WM tests were used, one in the L1 and another in the L2, both in the speaking mode. Sixty adult learners of English as a foreign language participated in the study: 19 elementary, 19 intermediate and 22 advanced learners. Results of Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests corroborate Finardi and Weissheimer (2009) and Prebianca (2010) suggesting that WMC measured with a speaking span test in L2 seems to conflate the relationship between speech proficiency levels and WMC.

scholarly journals Neural Correlates of Mental Rotation in Preschoolers With High or Low Working Memory Capacity: An fNIRS Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinfeng Yang ◽  
Dandan Wu ◽  
Jiutong Luo ◽  
Sha Xie ◽  
Chunqi Chang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Mental Rotation ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy

This study explored the differentiated neural correlates of mental rotation (MR) in preschoolers with high and low working memory capacity using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Altogether 38 Chinese preschoolers (M = 5.0 years, SD = 0.69 years) completed the Working Memory Capacity (WMC) test, the Mental Rotation (MR), and its Control tasks (without MR). They were divided into High-WMC (N1 = 9) and Low-WMC (N2 = 18) groups based on the WMC scores. The behavioral and fNIRS results indicated that: (1) there were no significant differences in MR task performance between the High-WMC (Mmr = 23.44, SD = 0.88) and Low-WMC group (Mmr = 23.67, SD = 0.59); (2) the Low-WMC group activated BA6, BA8, BA 9, and BA 44, whereas the High-WMC group activated BA8, BA10 and BA 44 during mental rotation; (3) significant differences were found in the activation of BA44 and BA9 between the High-WMC and Low-WMC groups during mental rotation; and (4) the High-WMC and Low-WMC groups differed significantly in the activation of BA 9 and BA10 during the control tasks, indicating that both areas might be responsible for the group differences in working memory.

L2 Working Memory Capacity and L2 Reading Skill

1992 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Harrington ◽  
Mark Sawyer
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
First Language ◽  
Reading Skill ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Reading Span ◽  
L2 Reading ◽  
Span Test ◽  
Reading Measures ◽  
Processing And Storage

Working memory capacity refers to the ability to store and process information simultaneously in real time and has been shown to correlate highly with first language (L1) reading skill. This study examines the sensitivity of second language (L2) working memory capacity to differences in reading skill among advanced L2 learners. The index of working memory capacity used was the reading span test (Daneman & Carpenter, 1980). Subjects with larger working memory capacities scored higher on measures of reading skill, in contrast with the lack of strong correlations between measures of passive short-term storage (memory for strings of random words or digits) and the same reading measures. This result is consistent with an interpretation of the reading span test as an index of working memory capacity, in which capacity is defined functionally in terms of a trade-off between active processing and storage. Issues involved in investigating working memory capacity are discussed and the role of capacity limitations in models of L2 comprehension is considered.

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