Larger Working Memory Capacity Research Articles

Individual Differences in Lexical Repetition Priming.

The current research investigated whether individual differences in working memory capacity (WMC) and affective states have differential effects on lexical-semantic repetition priming outcomes based on whether participants were first- or second-language English speakers. Individual differences in priming effects have often been overlooked in the priming literature. Using logistic mixed-effects models to account for within-subject variation, the current paper investigated a three-way interaction between WMC, negative affect (NA) score, and language primacy on lexical-semantic repetition priming outcomes. The results indicate that a statistically significant three-way interaction exists between language primacy, WMC, and NA scores. No significant interaction effect was found for positive affect scores. We present an argument which posits that an individual's primary language and subsequent familiarity with the primed concepts, in conjunction with individual differences in WMC and mood, plays an important role in determining the most effective strategy used to complete a word-stem completion task. The implications of the findings presented highlight that second-language English speakers are more susceptible to priming effects when prime-inducing stimuli are constructed using English lexicon; however, larger WMC and heighted negative affective states help to mitigate these priming effects.

Social exclusion increases the visual working memory capacity of social stimuli

While social exclusion has previously been found to weaken the visual working memory capacity (WMC) of nonsocial stimuli such as colored squares, this study examines the influence of social exclusion on the visual WMC of social stimuli. In Experiment 1 and 2, a Cyber-ball game was used to manipulate social exclusion. Biology motion (BM) in Experiment 1, while in Experiment 2 human faces were used as social stimuli. In Experiment 1, 44 participants were asked to remember 1–5 biology motions. The results demonstrated that socially excluded participants had a larger WMC in BM than the socially included group. In Experiment 2, 54 participants were asked to remember 1–4 human faces showing three different emotions (angry, happy, neutral). The results demonstrated that socially excluded participants had a larger WMC than the control group in all three types of emotional face. The results of experiment 1 and 2 suggest that social exclusion increases the capacity of social stimuli in visual WMC.

Exploring the association among working memory, anxiety and Iranian EFL learners\u2019 listening comprehension

This study was intended to investigate the relationship between working memory, anxiety and Iranian EFL learners’ listening comprehension. For the purpose of this study, 60 Iranian pre-intermediate EFL learners were selected among 80 students at a private language institute in Hamadan, Iran. They participated in a homogeneity test (Oxford Quick Placement Test) to determine their homogeneity level. At first, two working memory span tests was administered to participants. Moreover, foreign language listening anxiety questionnaire and listening comprehension tests were applied as another data gathering instruments. Pearson’s Product moment correlation and one-way ANOVA were used to analyze the data. It was revealed that there was a strong, negative relationship between FL listening comprehension and listening anxiety. The study showed that a large number of the students experience high level of anxiety. Consequently, they were poor in their listening comprehension test implementation. Also, regarding working memory, it was found that working memory is an efficient and paramount prophesier for EFL listening comprehension. Learners with larger working memory capacity more likely have better abilities in listening. In addition, this study provides some pedagogical implications on EFL teaching.

Shifts in Maximum Audiovisual Integration with Age.

Listeners attempting to understand speech in noisy environments rely on visual and auditory processes, typically referred to as audiovisual processing. Noise corrupts the auditory speech signal and listeners naturally leverage visual cues from the talker's face in an attempt to interpret the degraded auditory signal. Studies of speech intelligibility in noise show that the maximum improvement in speech recognition performance (i.e., maximum visual enhancement or VEmax), derived from seeing an interlocutor's face, is invariant with age. Several studies have reported that VEmax is typically associated with a signal-to-noise (SNR) of -12dB; however, few studies have systematically investigated whether the SNR associated with VEmax changes with age. We investigated if VEmax changes as a function of age, whether the SNR at VEmax changes as a function of age, and what perceptual/cognitive abilities account for or mediate such relationships. We measured VEmax on a nongeriatric adult sample (N=64) ranging in age from 20 to 59 years old. We found that VEmax was age-invariant, replicating earlier studies. No perceptual/cognitive measures predicted VEmax, most likely due to limited variance in VEmax scores. Importantly, we found that the SNR at VEmax shifts toward higher (quieter) SNR levels with increasing age; however, this relationship is partially mediated by working memory capacity, where those with larger working memory capacities (WMCs) can identify speech under lower (louder) SNR levels than their age equivalents with smaller WMCs. The current study is the first to report that individual differences in WMC partially mediate the age-related shift in SNR at VEmax.

What’s That You’re Saying? Children With Better Executive Functioning Produce and Repair Communication More Effectively

ABSTRACTYoung children often provide ambiguous referential statements. Thus, the ability to identify when miscommunication has occurred and subsequently repair messages is an essential component of communicative development. The present study examined the impact of listener feedback and children’s executive functioning in influencing children’s ability to repair their messages. Children (ages 4–6 years) completed a referential communication task, in which they described target pictures among an array of similar distractors for a confederate. Stimuli were designed such that children frequently provided ambiguous descriptions. Subsequently, the listener provided the children with feedback (detailed or vague) that they misunderstood the statement. Children also completed executive functioning tasks (working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility). Children with larger working memory capacities and better cognitive flexibility provided more effective initial descriptions of the targets. Children with better cognitive flexibility were also more effective at repairing their statements in response to feedback. Although children provided more effective repairs following detailed feedback (vs. vague feedback), this effect did not significantly interact with the cognitive skills of children. However, limited evidence emerged suggesting that cognitive flexibility may be more important when the listener provides vague feedback.

Effects of age, working memory, and word order on passive-sentence comprehension: evidence from a verb-final language.

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the effects of working-memory (WM) capacity on age-related changes in abilities to comprehend passive sentences when the word order was systematically manipulated. A total of 134 individuals participated in the study. The sentence-comprehension task consisted of the canonical and non-canonical word-order conditions. A composite measure of WM scores was used as an index of WM capacity. Participants exhibited worse performance on sentences with non-canonical word order than canonical word order. The two-way interaction between age and WM was significant, suggesting that WM effects were greater than age effects on the task. WM capacity effects on passive-sentence comprehension increased dramatically as people aged, suggesting that those who have larger WM capacity are less vulnerable to age-related changes in sentence-comprehension abilities. WM capacity may serve as a cognitive reserve associated with sentence-comprehension abilities for elderly adults.

The Effect of working memory capacity on semantic organization strategy training

학습성취에는 인지양식, 자기효능감, 학습동기, 학습전략, 가정환경 등 다양한 요인이 영향을 미친다. 그 중에서도 학습전략의 훈련은 학습수행에 긍정적 효과를 미친다고 알려져 있지만 그 효과는 일관적으로 관찰되지 않고 있다. 이 연구는 정보처리과정에서 작업기억의 용량이 학습전략의 활용에 중요한 역할을 하며 작업기억 용량에 따라 학습전략 훈련의 효과가 다르게 나타날 수 있음을 밝히고자 하였다. 예비연구에서는 읽기 폭 과제를 사용하여 초등학교 2학년과 초등학교 4학년 학생의 작업기억 용량을 측정하였으며, 설문지를 사용하여 초등학생이 학습에 활용하는 학습전략을 조사하였다. 그 결과를 보면 초등학교 2학년 학생은 4학년 학생에 비해 더 작은 작업기억 용량을 가지고 있으며, 시연전략, 의미 조직화전략 등의 학습전략을 더 적게 활용하고 있음이 밝혀졌다. 본 연구에서는 학습전략의 활용에 미숙한 초등학교 2학년 학생에게 의미 조직화 전략을 훈련시키고 전략을 활용하는데 작업기억 용량이 어떤 영향을 미치는지를 알아보았으며 의미 조직화 전략은 범주학습에서 요구되는 인지능력을 기반으로 하는 학습능력의 하나이다. 그 결과를 보면 작업기억 용량이 새로 배운 학습전략을 학습에 얼마나 잘 활용할 수 있을 것인지에 영향을 미친다. 즉, 의미조직화 전략을 똑같이 훈련했음에도 불구하고 작업기억 용량이 큰 집단에서는 기억검사의 수행이 향상되었는데 비해 작업기억 용량이 작은 집단에서는 기억검사의 수행에서 비교집단과 차이를 보이지 않았다. 이러한 결과는 학습전략의 활용에서 작업기억 용량의 중요성을 시사하는 결과라고 할 수 있다. 결론적으로 학습전략을 정보의 처리에 효과적으로 활용하기 위해서는 충분한 작업기억 용량이 요구되며 학습전략 개입프로그램도 이러한 학습자의 개인차를 고려해야 한다.Academic achievement of students depends on several factors such as cognitive style, self efficacy, learning motivation, learning strategies, and family environment, but learning strategies have major roles in academic performances especially. So, various programs for helping students to utilize learning strategies have been developed and applied in class, but these programs did not show consistent effects. This study was planned to investigate the role of working memory capacity in acquiring and utilizing learning strategies and to show that learning strategy training without considering students' working memory capacities can be ineffective. In preparatory study, working memory capacities of elementary school 2 and 4 graders were measured and learning strategies they used for study were surveyed by questionnaires. Results showed that 4 grader had larger working memory capacities than 2 grader and utilized more diverse learning strategies for study such as rehearsal, organization and meta-cognitive strategies. In main study 2, after semantic organization strategy training to 2 graders, memory performances of two experimental groups(high capacity group and low capacity group) were compared with a comparative group(no training). It was found that learning strategy made high capacity students to memorize more words, but there were no differences in memory performances between low capacity group and comparative group. In conclusion, working memory capacity increase with age gradually and sufficient working memory capacity is required for acquiring and utilizing learning strategies effectively.

Selection Demands and Working Memory Mediate Interference during Naming

Selection Demands and Working Memory Mediate Interference during Naming

Early Auditory Evoked Potential Is Modulated by Selective Attention and Related to Individual Differences in Visual Working Memory Capacity

A growing body of research suggests that the predictive power of working memory (WM) capacity for measures of intellectual aptitude is due to the ability to control attention and select relevant information. Crucially, attentional mechanisms implicated in controlling access to WM are assumed to be domain-general, yet reports of enhanced attentional abilities in individuals with larger WM capacities are primarily within the visual domain. Here, we directly test the link between WM capacity and early attentional gating across sensory domains, hypothesizing that measures of visual WM capacity should predict an individual's capacity to allocate auditory selective attention. To address this question, auditory ERPs were recorded in a linguistic dichotic listening task, and individual differences in ERP modulations by attention were correlated with estimates of WM capacity obtained in a separate visual change detection task. Auditory selective attention enhanced ERP amplitudes at an early latency (ca. 70-90 msec), with larger P1 components elicited by linguistic probes embedded in an attended narrative. Moreover, this effect was associated with greater individual estimates of visual WM capacity. These findings support the view that domain-general attentional control mechanisms underlie the wide variation of WM capacity across individuals.

Perceptual consequences of different signal changes due to binaural noise reduction: do hearing loss and working memory capacity play a role?

In a previous study, ) investigated whether pure-tone average (PTA) hearing loss and working memory capacity (WMC) modulate benefit from different binaural noise reduction (NR) settings. Results showed that listeners with smaller WMC preferred strong over moderate NR even at the expense of poorer speech recognition due to greater speech distortion (SD), whereas listeners with larger WMC did not. To enable a better understanding of these findings, the main aims of the present study were (1) to explore the perceptual consequences of changes to the signal mixture, target speech, and background noise caused by binaural NR, and (2) to determine whether response to these changes varies with WMC and PTA. As in the previous study, four age-matched groups of elderly listeners (with N = 10 per group) characterized by either mild or moderate PTAs and either better or worse performance on a visual measure of WMC participated. Five processing conditions were tested, which were based on the previously used (binaural coherence-based) NR scheme designed to attenuate diffuse signal components at mid to high frequencies. The five conditions differed in terms of the type of processing that was applied (no NR, strong NR, or strong NR with restoration of the long-term stimulus spectrum) and in terms of whether the target speech and background noise were processed in the same manner or whether one signal was left unprocessed while the other signal was processed with the gains computed for the signal mixture. Comparison across these conditions allowed assessing the effects of changes in high-frequency audibility (HFA), SD, and noise attenuation and distortion (NAD). Outcome measures included a dual-task paradigm combining speech recognition with a visual reaction time (VRT) task as well as ratings of perceived effort and overall preference. All measurements were carried out using headphone simulations of a frontal target speaker in a busy cafeteria. Relative to no NR, strong NR was found to impair speech recognition and VRT performance slightly and to improve perceived effort and overall preference markedly. Relative to strong NR, strong NR with restoration of the long-term stimulus spectrum and thus HFA did not affect speech recognition, restored VRT performance to that achievable with no NR, and increased perceived effort and reduced overall preference markedly. SD had negative effects on speech recognition and perceived effort, particularly when both speech and noise were processed with the gains computed for the signal mixture. NAD had positive effects on speech recognition, perceived effort, and overall preference, particularly when the target speech was left unprocessed. VRT performance was unaffected by SD and NAD. None of the datasets exhibited any clear signs that response to the different signal changes varies with PTA or WMC. For the outcome measures and stimuli applied here, the present study provides little evidence that PTA or WMC affect response to changes in HFA, SD, and NAD caused by binaural NR. However, statistical power restrictions suggest further research is needed. This research should also investigate whether partial HFA restoration combined with some pre-processing that reduces co-modulation distortion results in a more favorable balance of the effects of binaural NR across outcome dimensions and whether NR strength has any influence on these results.

Do Hearing Loss and Cognitive Function Modulate Benefit From Different Binaural Noise-Reduction Settings?

Although previous research indicates that cognitive skills influence benefit from different types of hearing aid algorithms, comparatively little is known about the role of, and potential interaction with, hearing loss. This holds true especially for noise reduction (NR) processing. The purpose of the present study was thus to explore whether degree of hearing loss and cognitive function modulate benefit from different binaural NR settings based on measures of speech intelligibility, listening effort, and overall preference. Forty elderly listeners with symmetrical sensorineural hearing losses in the mild to severe range participated. They were stratified into four age-matched groups (with n = 10 per group) based on their pure-tone average hearing losses and their performance on a visual measure of working memory (WM) capacity. The algorithm under consideration was a binaural coherence-based NR scheme that suppressed reverberant signal components as well as diffuse background noise at mid to high frequencies. The strength of the applied processing was varied from inactive to strong, and testing was carried out across a range of fixed signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). Potential benefit was assessed using a dual-task paradigm combining speech recognition with a visual reaction time (VRT) task indexing listening effort. Pairwise preference judgments were also collected. All measurements were made using headphone simulations of a frontal speech target in a busy cafeteria. Test-retest data were gathered for all outcome measures. Analysis of the test-retest data showed all data sets to be reliable. Analysis of the speech scores showed that, for all groups, speech recognition was unaffected by moderate NR processing, whereas strong NR processing reduced intelligibility by about 5%. Analysis of the VRT scores revealed a similar data pattern. That is, while moderate NR did not affect VRT performance, strong NR impaired the performance of all groups slightly. Analysis of the preference scores collapsed across SNR showed that all groups preferred some over no NR processing. Furthermore, the two groups with smaller WM capacity preferred strong over moderate NR processing; for the two groups with larger WM capacity, preference did not differ significantly between the moderate and strong settings. The present study demonstrates that, for the algorithm and the measures of speech recognition and listening effort used here, the effects of different NR settings interact with neither degree of hearing loss nor WM capacity. However, preferred NR strength was found to be associated with smaller WM capacity, suggesting that hearing aid users with poorer cognitive function may prefer greater noise attenuation even at the expense of poorer speech intelligibility. Further research is required to enable a more detailed (SNR-dependent) analysis of this effect and to test its wider applicability.

The influence of informational masking on speech perception and pupil response in adults with hearing impairment

A recent pupillometry study on adults with normal hearing indicates that the pupil response during speech perception (cognitive processing load) is strongly affected by the type of speech masker. The current study extends these results by recording the pupil response in 32 participants with hearing impairment (mean age 59 yr) while they were listening to sentences masked by fluctuating noise or a single-talker. Efforts were made to improve audibility of all sounds by means of spectral shaping. Additionally, participants performed tests measuring verbal working memory capacity, inhibition of interfering information in working memory, and linguistic closure. The results showed worse speech reception thresholds for speech masked by single-talker speech compared to fluctuating noise. In line with previous results for participants with normal hearing, the pupil response was larger when listening to speech masked by a single-talker compared to fluctuating noise. Regression analysis revealed that larger working memory capacity and better inhibition of interfering information related to better speech reception thresholds, but these variables did not account for inter-individual differences in the pupil response. In conclusion, people with hearing impairment show more cognitive load during speech processing when there is interfering speech compared to fluctuating noise.

Is overall similarity classification less effortful than single-dimension classification?

It is sometimes argued that the implementation of an overall similarity classification is less effortful than the implementation of a single-dimension classification. In the current article, we argue that the evidence securely in support of this view is limited, and report additional evidence in support of the opposite proposition--overall similarity classification is more effortful than single-dimension classification. Using a match-to-standards procedure, Experiments 1A, 1B and 2 demonstrate that concurrent load reduces the prevalence of overall similarity classification, and that this effect is robust to changes in the concurrent load task employed, the level of time pressure experienced, and the short-term memory requirements of the classification task. Experiment 3 demonstrates that participants who produced overall similarity classifications from the outset have larger working memory capacities than those who produced single-dimension classifications initially, and Experiment 4 demonstrates that instructions to respond meticulously increase the prevalence of overall similarity classification.

Effects of Differences in Working Memory Capacity on Patterns of Word Generation

In recent years, it has been reported that WM (working memory) is concerned with word generation, but many points regarding the relationship between the individual differences of WM capacity and the patterns of word generation remain unclear. This study is to investigate these unclear points by using three types of word fluency task with different strategies. Subjects were 28 healthy native speakers of Japanese with an average age of 22.46 ± 3.26 years old. The experimental design included the following two tasks: (1) Japanese reading span test: Subjects were divided into the high-span, middle-span, and low-span WM capacity groups on the basis of the proportion of words recalled correctly; and (2) Word fluency task (category, letter, and verb conditions): In this task, subjects gave as many words as possible that were associated with each stimulus word within 60 s; four stimulus words in each category were used with 12 words in all. As a result, it has become clear that the high-span group with larger WM capacity can generate more words in number than the other groups and is superior in word generating capacity to them and that the low-span group with smaller WM capacity is the highest in the proportion of words generated in the first 15 s when their vocabulary is abundant, while it is the lowest during 45-60 s when their vocabulary dries up. The results suggest that WM capacity is involved in the ability to extract appropriate vocabulary from long-term memory information in immediate response.

The effect of cognitive training on recall range and speed of information processing in the working memory of dyslexic and skilled readers

Research indicates that impairment of working memory may be one of the factors that impede the ability to read fluently and accurately. Although the capacity of working memory is traditionally considered to be constant, recent data point to a certain plasticity in the neural system that underlies working memory, which can be improved by training. We examined whether dyslexic readers’ recall span and speed of processing in working memory can be increased, enhancing the quality of their reading. Thirty five skilled readers and twenty six dyslexic readers were trained in working memory tasks and compared to control groups of fifteen skilled and fifteen dyslexic readers who complete a self-paced reading training regime. All subjects were trained over a six-week period. Reading and working memory indicators were collected before and after the two trainings. Brain activity using measures of event-related potential (ERP) were collected for the working memory training groups by using a working memory task (Sternberg task). Result indicated after working memory training the ability to store verbal and visual-spatial information in working memory increased, and decoding, reading rate and comprehension scores improved in both groups, although the gap between the dyslexic and the control groups in reading and working memory scores remained constant. The latency of the P300 component decreased and the amplitude increased in all participants following training. No training effect in any parameter was obtained in the self-paced reading training groups. These findings support the notion of plasticity in the neural system underlying working memory and point to the relationships between larger working memory capacity and enhancement of reading skills.

Reflexively mindblind: Using theory of mind to interpret behavior requires effortful attention

People commonly interpret others’ behavior in terms of the actors’ underlying beliefs, knowledge, or other mental states, thereby using their “theory of mind.” Two experiments suggest that using one’s theory of mind is a relatively effortful process. In both experiments, people reflexively used their own knowledge and beliefs to follow a speaker’s instruction, but only effortfully used their theory of mind to take into account a speaker’s intention to interpret those instructions. In Experiment 1, people with lower working memory capacity were less effective than people with larger working memory capacity in applying their theory of mind to interpret behavior. In Experiment 2, an attention-demanding secondary task reduced people’s ability to apply their theory of mind. People appear to be reflexively mindblind, interpreting behavior in terms of the actor’s mental states only to the extent that they have the cognitive resources to do so.

Ritual Behaviour and the Origins of Modern Cognition

This article argues that ritual behaviour was a critical selective force in the emergence of modern cognition. The argument is based on the following observations: (1) Upper Palaeolithic Cro-Magnons exhibited unprecedented levels of social complexity and there is evidence to suggest that this complexity may have begun even earlier in Africa, possibly connected with the Toba eruption. (2) Creating larger, more complex social arrangements, especially those that cut across traditional within-group boundaries, would have required more elaborate and demanding social rituals. (3) Ritual behaviour requiring focused attention and the inhibition of pre-potent responses places demands on areas of the brain known to be associated with working memory. (4) An enhancement of working-memory capacity was very likely necessary for the emergence of modern cognition. (5) The social rituals of traditional societies, which provide the best window on the social rituals of our ancestors, are highly demanding in terms of maintaining focused attention and inhibiting pre-potent responses. (6) Those of our ancestors best able to successfully engage in ritual behaviour would have accrued fitness advantages from increased access to resources, status enhancements and psychophysical health effects. (7) Larger working-memory capacity was very likely a characteristic of these more ritually-capable hominins.

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

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.

Working memory capacity, intelligence, and the magnitude of the attentional blink revisited

The attentional blink (AB) is a well-established phenomenon in the study of attention. This deficit in reporting the second of two targets presented in rapid serial visual presentation when it occurs 200-500 ms after the first is considered to reflect a fundamental limitation in attentional processing. However, we recently reported that some individuals do not show an AB, and presented psychophysiological evidence that target processing differs between blinkers and non-blinkers. One possibility is that non-blinkers may have a larger WM capacity, allowing better attentional control. Here we explore the relation between the magnitude of the AB, general intelligence, and different measures of working memory (WM) and short-term memory (STM) capacity. Surprisingly, no correlation was found between memory capacity measures and AB magnitude, raising doubts about the generalizability of earlier findings of such a relationship.

Individual differences in working memory capacity affect false memories for missing aspects of events

Recently, Gerrie, Belcher, and Garry (2006) found that, when participants watch an event with parts missing, they falsely claim to have seen the missing parts—but they were more likely to claim they had seen less crucial parts than more crucial parts. Their results fit with a source-monitoring framework (SMF; Johnson, Hashtroudi, & Lindsay, 1993) explanation of false memories. In this paper we used individual differences in working memory capacity (WMC) to examine the SMF explanation of false memories for missing aspects of events. An accumulating body of research suggests that WMC is strongly related to controlling attention, including the ability to distinguish between sources of information. The primary purpose of the present study was to examine whether people with larger WMC are better able to ward off false memories for missing information than those with a smaller WMC. We showed that higher WMC reduced false recognition of crucial information, but did not change false recognition of noncrucial information. Additionally, we found that WMC had little effect on participants’ subjective experience of true and false recognition of events, regardless whether the information was crucial or not. These results provide further evidence that people's WMC is related to their source-monitoring ability.