Commentary on special issue: Syntax and verbal short term memory

Nick Riches

doi:10.1177/0142723720935242

Abstract

Short term memory (STM) and working memory (WM) performance consistently predict language abilities in children with developmental language disorders. However, causality is not fully established. Moreover, evidence from the fine-grained analysis of STM/WM tasks and comprehension of complex sentences, suggests that long term memory (LTM) representations play an important role. Critical assessment of the articles in the special edition focuses on Zebib et al. and Stanford and Delage. Zebib et al. find that sentence repetition by bilingual language-impaired children more strongly reflects WM than overall linguistic ability. This suggests a dependence on WM when linguistic representations are impoverished. However, the process of ranking predictors is problematic. Stanford and Delage find that STM/WM difficulties affect the processing of complex sentences by individuals with Specific Learning Disabilities. Yet, LTM-based explanations focusing on input frequency may also explain this phenomenon. To make progress we need a combination of experimental studies and large-scale longitudinal studies.

Highlights

Short term memory (STM) and working memory (WM) performance consistently predict language abilities in children with developmental language disorders
The first question is to what extent can STM/WM be separated from long term memory (LTM), in particular the declarative component of LTM which contains the lexicon, and, depending on one’s theoretical orientation, knowledge about language structure? Numerous studies have demonstrated an impact of LTM representations on STM or WM tasks
During non-word repetition, wordlikeness affects performance (Munson et al, 2005), and during sentence repetition, syntactic complexity impacts on recall. These effects are observable even when stimulus length is controlled (e.g. Kidd et al, 2007), suggesting that these effects are unrelated to STM/WM capacity. Such data indicate that performance on STM and WM tasks must involve access to representations in LTM, e.g. phonological and syntactic representations, and we use these during recall tasks, a process sometimes referred to as redintegration

Summary

Introduction

Short term memory (STM) and working memory (WM) performance consistently predict language abilities in children with developmental language disorders. Over the past three decades, a host of studies have demonstrated a strong association between performance on short term memory (STM) and/or working memory (WM) tasks and language abilities in a variety of different populations. Numerous studies have demonstrated an impact of LTM representations on STM or WM tasks.

Results

Conclusion