Exploring cognitive predictors: Examining varied impact on early number skills in a longitudinal study

Verbal working memory is poorer for children with hearing loss than for peers with normal hearing (NH), even with cochlear implantation and early intervention. Poor verbal working memory can affect academic performance, especially in higher grades, making this deficit a significant problem. This study examined the stability of verbal working memory across middle childhood, tested working memory in adolescents with NH or cochlear implants (CIs), explored whether signal enhancement can improve verbal working memory, and tested two hypotheses proposed to explain the poor verbal working memory of children with hearing loss: (a) Diminished auditory experience directly affects executive functions, including working memory; (b) degraded auditory inputs inhibit children's abilities to recover the phonological structure needed for encoding verbal material into storage. Fourteen-year-olds served as subjects: 55 with NH; 52 with CIs. Immediate serial recall tasks were used to assess working memory. Stimuli consisted of nonverbal, spatial stimuli and four kinds of verbal, acoustic stimuli: nonrhyming and rhyming words, and nonrhyming words with two kinds of signal enhancement: audiovisual and indexical. Analyses examined (a) stability of verbal working memory across middle childhood, (b) differences in verbal and nonverbal working memory, (c) effects of signal enhancement on recall, (d) phonological processing abilities, and (e) source of the diminished verbal working memory in adolescents with cochlear implants. Verbal working memory remained stable across middle childhood. Adolescents across groups performed similarly for nonverbal stimuli, but those with CIs displayed poorer recall accuracy for verbal stimuli; signal enhancement did not improve recall. Poor phonological sensitivity largely accounted for the group effect. The central executive for working memory is not affected by hearing loss or cochlear implantation. Instead, the phonological deficit faced by adolescents with CIs denigrates the representation in storage and augmenting the signal does not help.

Adaptive working memory training is being implemented without an adequate understanding of developmental trajectories of working memory. We aimed to quantify from Grade 1 to Grade 3 of primary school (1) changes in verbal and visuospatial working memory and (2) whether low verbal and visuospatial working memory in Grade 1 predicts low working memory in Grade 3. The study design includes a population-based longitudinal study of 1,802 children (66% uptake from all 2,747 Grade 1 students) at 44 randomly selected primary schools in Melbourne, Australia. Backwards Digit Recall (verbal working memory) and Mister X (visuospatial working memory) screening measures from the Automated Working Memory Assessment (M=100; SD=15) were used to assess Grades 1 and 3 (ages 6-7 and 8-9years) students. Low working memory was defined as ≥1 standard deviation below the standard score mean. Descriptive statistics addressed Aim 1, and predictive parameters addressed Aim 2. One thousand seventy (59%) of 1802 Grade 1 participants were reassessed in Grade 3. As expected for typically developing children, group mean standard scores were similar in Grades 1 and 3 for verbal, visuospatial, and overall working memory, but group mean raw scores increased markedly. Compared to "not low" children, those classified as having low working memory in Grade 1 showed much larger increases in both standard and raw scores across verbal, visuospatial, and overall working memory. Sensitivity was very low for Grade 1 low working memory predicting Grade 3 low classifications. Although mean changes in working memory standard scores between Grades 1 and 3 were minimal, we found that individual development varied widely, with marked natural resolution by Grade 3 in children who initially had low working memory. This may render brain-training interventions ineffective in the early school year ages, particularly if (as population-based programmes usually mandate) selection occurs within a screening paradigm.

The primary goal of this study was to investigate the association between verbal working memory and speech production and to address a number of ongoing questions about the nature of the relationship between these two phonological processes and reading ability. In an effort to clarify these relationships, the following areas were explored. First, previous research has suggested that poor readers generally do not perform as well as their normal-reading peers on phonological processing tasks, but their performance is not consistently worse than younger children reading at the same level. In order to examine this issue, this study compared the performance of less-skilled readers with that of skilled readers of the same age, as well as with the performance of younger children who were reading at the same level. Second, verbal working memory deficits have been found to account for about 10% of the variance in reading ability; however, the relationship between phonological processing skill and the various components of reading has not been clearly delineated. To clarify this relationship, three aspects of reading (i.e., non-word reading, real word reading, comprehension) were assessed in this study. Third, although evidence supports an association between verbal working memory and speech production, the exact nature of this relationship is not clear. This study used a variety of memory and speech production measures to further examine the association between these two phonological processes. And finally, although there is evidence supporting a relationship between accuracy of speech production and reading ability, the link between speed of speech production and reading ability is not as strong. In fact, there are indications that speech rate may be related to chronological age but not to reading. In order to explore this issue, speech production accuracy and speech production speed tasks were administered to skilled and less-skilled readers of the same age, as well as to a group of younger readers. Ninety second- and third-grade children served as subjects for this study. These children were divided equally among three groups who did not differ significantly in cognitive ability: (1) less-skilled third-grade readers; (2) skilled third-grade readers who were the same age as the less-skilled readers; and (3) second-graders who were reading at the same level as the less-skilled readers. In addition to reading and cognitive ability measures, three verbal working memory tasks, two speech production accuracy tasks, and three speech production speed tasks were individually administered to each of the

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to compare the language, cognitive, and speech in noise (SiN) perception abilities of children with cochlear implants (CIs) to those of their peers with NH by grouping them according to their implantation period (12–18 months/19–24 months) and unilateral/bilateral CI use.MethodsThe sample comprised 50 children with cochlear implants (CIs) and 20 children with normal hearing (NH), ages 6–9 years. Children’s language, cognitive, and speech in noise (SiN) perception skills were assessed.ResultsChildren with CIs between 12 and 18 months and 19 and 24 months performed more poorly than children with NH on language, verbal memory (VM), verbal-short-term memory (V-STM), verbal working memory (V-WM), rapid naming, and speech in noise (SiN) perception abilities measures (p < 0.001). In addition, children with CIs between 19 and 24 months performed worse on rapid naming and V-WM tasks than children with CIs between 12 and 18 months (p < 0.017). Children with unilateral and bilateral CI performed more poorly than children with NH on language, VM, V-STM, V-WM, rapid naming, and SiN perception abilities assessments (p < 0.001). Additionally children with unilateral CI users performed poorly than children with bilateral CI users on SiN perception (p < 0.017).ConclusionsIn children with congenital hearing loss (CHL), cochlear implantation between 12 and 18 months or sequential bilateral implantation is not sufficient for these children to perform like their NH peers in language, cognitive, and SiN perception abilities. In addition, intervention approaches should focus not only on increasing language skills, but also on cognitive abilities.

On the role of the supramarginal gyrus in phonological processing and verbal working memory: Evidence from rTMS studies

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Objective To explore the correlation between verbal memory and working memory in patients with alcohol dependence(AD). Methods A total of 40 patients with AD and 40 health controls were included in this study. N-back task was used to evaluate the verbal working memory. 20 sets of phrases were used to evaluate long-term verbal memory. Results Correct number of verbal memory in AD group ((5.15±0.92)times) was lower than that of HC group ((7.35±3.07)times) after one-week baseline test, and the difference was statistically significant (t=4.344, P<0.01). Compared with HC group ((1 436.37±192.50)ms, (1.08±0.89)times, (4.00±0.85)times, respectively), AD group((1 535.40± 192.50)ms, (1.90±1.57 )times, (2.60±1.39)times) showed significantly impaired reply reaction time of 2-back, error number of 1-back and 2-back (t=-2.112, P=0.038; t=-2.899, P=0.005; t=-5.433, P<0.01). The error number of 2-back task in AD group was negative correlated with verbal memory after one-week baseline test (r=-0.427, P=0.006). Conclusion The verbal memory is impaired in AD patients. Long-term verbal memory damage have a certain correlation with working memory. Key words: Alcohol drinking; Working memory; N-back task

Aims and objectives: The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of age of acquisition on verbal working memory (WM) in bilinguals. In light of previous studies that have found a bilingual advantage on non-verbal WM and less consistently on verbal WM, we included participants with native-like second language (L2) proficiency who had benefited from several years of dual language use and who did not differ from the monolinguals in terms of socioeconomic status in order to control for proficiency. Very few studies have looked at bilinguals’ performance on measures of both verbal and non-verbal memory, making it difficult to know how bilingualism influences both types of abilities in the same participants. Therefore, we also compared the groups on non-verbal WM. Methodology: Simultaneous bilingual, early successive bilinguals, and late successive bilinguals were compared with monolingual English speakers. All bilingual participants were selected using three different criteria: self-assessment ratings of English abilities, ratings of nativelikeness by a native English speaker, and scores on a L2 Cloze test. The groups did not differ significantly with respect to their L2 proficiency, or on measures of general cognitive ability. Data and analysis: Fifteen simultaneous bilinguals were compared with 15 early successive bilinguals and 15 late successive bilinguals who acquired English between 4–6 years of age and 7–15 years of age, respectively. The bilinguals were compared with 15 English-speaking monolinguals. Participants were compared using verbal and non-verbal short-term memory and WM tests. Findings: All bilingual groups performed significantly better than the monolinguals on tests of verbal and non-verbal WM, thus supporting a bilingual advantage. The early and late successive bilinguals scored significantly lower than the simultaneous bilinguals, suggesting an age-of-acquisition effect among the bilinguals. Originality and implications: This is the first study to find a bilingual advantage on verbal WM in adults, but also the first study to report an age-of-acquisition effect in groups of bilingual adults carefully selected for their nativelikeness in the L2.

The relative importance of visual-spatial and verbal working memory for mathematics performance and learning seems to vary with age, the novelty of the material, and the specific math domain that is investigated. In this study, the relations between verbal and visual-spatial working memory and performance in four math domains (i.e., addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division) at different ages during primary school are investigated. Children (N = 4337) from grades 2 through 6 participated. Visual-spatial and verbal working memory were assessed using online computerized tasks. Math performance was assessed at the start, middle, and end of the school year using a speeded arithmetic test. Multilevel Multigroup Latent Growth Modeling was used to model individual differences in level and growth in math performance, and examine the predictive value of working memory per grade, while controlling for effects of classroom membership. The results showed that as grade level progressed, the predictive value of visual-spatial working memory for individual differences in level of mathematics performance waned, while the predictive value of verbal working memory increased. Working memory did not predict individual differences between children in their rate of performance growth throughout the school year. These findings are discussed in relation to three, not mutually exclusive, explanations for such age-related findings.

Enhancing working memory through brain stimulation can contribute to the neuroergonomic goal of improving cognitive functioning at work and in everyday life. Imaging and lesion studies suggest that verbal and spatial working memory processing may be controlled in separate brain regions. Specifically, verbal working memory has been associated with the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and spatial working memory with the right DLPFC. The current study used noninvasive brain stimulation to further examine this cortical dissociation between verbal and spatial working memory. We administered 2mA or 0.1mA of anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to the left and right DLPFC while participants performed verbal and spatial working memory tasks. Contrary to our initial hypotheses, stimulation of the left DLPFC improved spatial working memory but not verbal working memory. Furthermore, stimulation of right DLPFC did not affect verbal or spatial working memory.

The purpose of this study was to investigate literacy development beyond the early school years. We investigated mean-level and rank-order changes in two reading (word decoding speed and reading comprehension) and two spelling (word and pseudoword spelling accuracy) tasks during a 4-year period from beginning to the later grades of elementary school, and examined whether rank-order changes in literacy skills could be predicted from verbal working memory, phonological awareness, and morpho-syntactic awareness. The sample consisted of Croatian speaking children, poor (n = 50) and good (n = 61) readers. Croatian is a language with a highly transparent orthography but a rather complex grammar. Word decoding speed and word spelling accuracy improved significantly over the study period, word decoding speed more so among good than among poor readers, supporting the Matthew effect hypothesis. Literacy skills were moderately stable, with the highest stability coefficients obtained for word decoding speed, and the lowest for pseudoword spelling. The predictors of rank-order changes varied across literacy outcomes, but did not differ for poor and good readers. Morpho-syntactic awareness predicted rank-order development of all outcomes except for word spelling. Phonological awareness predicted rank-order development of reading comprehension and word spelling. Verbal working memory predicted rank-order development of word spelling only, and at a low level. The finding that the more language related cognitive variables, i.e., morpho-syntactic and phonological skills, were stronger predictors of literacy development than working memory, for both poor and good readers, suggests remedial focus on these more predictive variables.

The role of early language experience in the development of speech perception and phonological processing abilities: evidence from 5-year-olds with histories of otitis media with effusion and low socioeconomic status

This research has been conducted in order to verify the relationship between verbal intelligence and verbal memory amongst primary and secondary scholars who suffer of dyslexia. A sample of 50 students between six and twelve years of age was analized. These students were submitted to studies of intelligence and memory to evaluate verbal intelligence and verbal memory. The data-analysis was done through descriptive analysis, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient, student’s t distribution and Mann-Whitney U. The results showed that there were no significant differences between the group of dyslexic and the group of non-dyslexic scholars as to verbal short-term memory and verbal long-term memory, neither was there any significant evidence found about the correlation between verbal intelligence and verbal memory amongst the scholars who suffer of dyslexia. On the contrary, related to verbal intelligence and verbal working memory, there were significant differences that stated that the level of verbal intelligence and verbal working memory in dyslexic scholars was significantly inferior to that of non-dyslexic ones. Consequently the group of dyslexic scholars had lower results where verbal intelligence and verbal working memory were tested, which leads to the idea that verbal intelligence and verbal working memory are implied in the dyslexic syndrom. That way it seems that if the verbal intelligence and verbal working memory in the dyslexic primary scholar group are stimulated, their reading process will improve.

Mathematical Problem Solving and Working Memory in Children with Learning Disabilities: Both Executive and Phonological Processes Are Important

Cognitive abilities in the early school years: No effects of shared environment between parents and offspring