Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this study was to conceptualize the subtle balancing act between language input and prediction (cognitive priming of future input) to achieve understanding of communicated content. When understanding fails, reconstructive postdiction is initiated. Three memory systems play important roles: working memory (WM), episodic long-term memory (ELTM), and semantic long-term memory (SLTM). The axiom of the Ease of Language Understanding (ELU) model is that explicit WM resources are invoked by a mismatch between language input-in the form of rapid automatic multimodal binding of phonology-and multimodal phonological and lexical representations in SLTM. However, if there is a match between rapid automatic multimodal binding of phonology output and SLTM/ELTM representations, language processing continues rapidly and implicitly. Method and Results In our first ELU approach, we focused on experimental manipulations of signal processing in hearing aids and background noise to cause a mismatch with LTM representations; both resulted in increased dependence on WM. Our second-and main approach relevant for this review article-focuses on the relative effects of age-related hearing loss on the three memory systems. According to the ELU, WM is predicted to be frequently occupied with reconstruction of what was actually heard, resulting in a relative disuse of phonological/lexical representations in the ELTM and SLTM systems. The prediction and results do not depend on test modality per se but rather on the particular memory system. This will be further discussed. Conclusions Related to the literature on ELTM decline as precursors of dementia and the fact that the risk for Alzheimer's disease increases substantially over time due to hearing loss, there is a possibility that lowered ELTM due to hearing loss and disuse may be part of the causal chain linking hearing loss and dementia. Future ELU research will focus on this possibility.
Highlights
The purpose of this study was to conceptualize the subtle balancing act between language input and prediction to achieve understanding of communicated content
Our research has focused on Ease of Language Understanding (ELU) that depends on three interacting memory systems: working memory (WM), episodic long-term memory (ELTM), and semantic long-term memory (SLTM; see, e.g., Classon et al, 2013; Ng & Rönnberg, 2019; Rönnberg, 2003; Rönnberg et al, 2011, 2019, 2013, 2010)
We have shown correlations with WM in different paradigms that rely on cognitive processes operating prior to actual stimulus presentations, for example, in repetition priming paradigms (Signoret & Rudner, 2019), or in cued sentence perception
Summary
Cognitive Hearing Science: Three Memory Systems, Two Approaches, and the Ease of Language Understanding Model. The axiom of the Ease of Language Understanding (ELU) model is that explicit WM resources are invoked by a mismatch between language input—in the form of rapid automatic multimodal binding of phonology—and multimodal phonological and lexical representations in SLTM. According to the ELU, WM is predicted to be frequently occupied with reconstruction of what was heard, resulting in a relative disuse of phonological/ lexical representations in the ELTM and SLTM systems. Our research has focused on Ease of Language Understanding (ELU) that depends on three interacting memory systems: WM, episodic long-term memory (ELTM), and semantic long-term memory (SLTM; see, e.g., Classon et al, 2013; Ng & Rönnberg, 2019; Rönnberg, 2003; Rönnberg et al, 2011, 2019, 2013, 2010). In Arlinger et al (2009), a broader historical view on the emergence of Cognitive Hearing Science is presented
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