Relating verbal and non-verbal auditory spans to language comprehension performance

Abstract

Working memory capacity has often been assessed by various forms of the span task (e.g., reading span, digit span, etc.). Simple span tasks involve storage, whereas complex span tasks involve both storage and processing, and can include verbal and/or non-verbal stimuli. Arguably, daily activities, such as engaging in conversation or understanding a news article, require more storage and processing than recalling a list of numbers. The objective of this study was to determine the relationship of verbal and non-verbal auditory spans to language comprehension performance. Twenty-two normal-hearing adults participated in the study consisting of the following four experiments: forward and reverse digit span, Working Memory Span Task, Pitch Pattern Span Task, and the LISN (Lecture, Interview, and Spoken Narratives) listening comprehension task. Results revealed no significant relationship between non-verbal spans and language comprehension. Also, there was no significant relationship between forward and reverse digit spans to language comprehension. There was a significant correlation between the working memory span task and language comprehension. This suggests that complex language-based tasks that require more storage and processing will be better predictors of language comprehension than simple span tasks or tasks that do not involve language.