Phonological Short-term Memory Capacity Research Articles

Déjà-lu: When Orthographic Representations are Generated in the Absence of Orthography.

When acquiring novel spoken words, English-speaking children generate preliminary orthographic representations even before seeing the words' spellings (Wegener et al., 2018). Interestingly, these orthographic skeletons are generated even when novel words' spellings are uncertain, at least in transparent languages like Spanish (Jevtović et al., 2022). Here we investigate whether this process depends on the orthographic rules of the language, and specifically, whether orthographic skeletons for words with uncertain spellings are generated even when the probability of generating an incorrect representation is high. Forty-six French adults first acquired novel words via aural instruction and were then presented with words' spellings in a self-paced reading task. Importantly, novel words were presented in their unique (consistent words) or one of their two possible spellings (preferred and unpreferred inconsistent words). A significant reading advantage observed for aurally acquired words indicates that participants indeed generated orthographic representations before encountering novel words' spellings. However, while no differences in reading times were found for aurally acquired words with unique and those presented in their preferred spellings, unpreferred spellings yielded significantly longer reading times. This shows that orthographic skeletons for words with multiple spellings were generated even in a language in which the risk of generating an incorrect representation is high. This finding raises a possibility that generating orthographic skeletons during spoken word learning may be beneficial. In line with this conclusion is the finding showing that - in interaction with good phonological short-term memory capacity - generating orthographic skeletons is linked to better word recall.

First and second language sentence repetition: a screening measure for dual language learners?

The sentence repetition (SR) test is considered as a promising diagnostic tool for detecting language proficiency in monolingual learners, but less is known about its potential to identify dual language learners’ (DLLs) linguistic proficiency. Considering that challenges with language learning, such as developmental language disorders (DLDs), is evident in both first and second language (L1 and L2), it is important to use tools that can assess language functions in both languages whenever feasible. We found that students’ L1 and L2 SR performance levels draw upon their phonological short-term memory capacity, vocabulary and grammar skills in the language being assessed. We also found a positive relationship between students’ L1 phonological memory and L2 SR scores, suggesting that DLLs’ phonological short-term memory capacity assessed in their L1 indicates individual differences in short-term verbal memory that support SR performance, as assessed in L2. The results highlight a challenge in both research and clinical settings which often use monolingual assessment tools and associated norms to identify DLLs who might be at risk of developing DLDs or other learning difficulties.

The role of phonological short-term memory in second language phonology

Abstract This study reports on the production of the five Spanish vowels in stressed and unstressed contexts by English-speaking advanced learners of Spanish at two experience levels who differed according to phonological short-term memory (PSTM) capacity. Our findings indicate that learners with higher PSTM capacity were less likely to reduce both stressed and unstressed vowels in Spanish. Consequently, learners with higher PSTM in fourth-year Spanish courses produced vowels that were more native-like than lower PSTM fourth-year learners. On the other hand, higher PSTM graduate students of Spanish produced a Spanish vowel space that was more expanded than that of native Spanish, particularly for /u/, compared to lower PSTM graduate learners, who were more native-like. These findings suggest that PSTM does play a role in second language phonology, even at advanced levels, and may help to explain why individual differences in pronunciation exist even at very high levels of second language proficiency.

Speech Perception in Noise Predicts Oral Narrative Comprehension in Children With Developmental Language Disorder.

We examined the relative contribution of auditory processing abilities (tone perception and speech perception in noise) after controlling for short-term memory capacity and vocabulary, to narrative language comprehension in children with developmental language disorder. Two hundred and sixteen children with developmental language disorder, ages 6 to 9 years (Mean = 7; 6), were administered multiple measures. The dependent variable was children's score on the narrative comprehension scale of the Test of Narrative Language. Predictors were auditory processing abilities, phonological short-term memory capacity, and language (vocabulary) factors, with age, speech perception in quiet, and non-verbal IQ as covariates. Results showed that narrative comprehension was positively correlated with the majority of the predictors. Regression analysis suggested that speech perception in noise contributed uniquely to narrative comprehension in children with developmental language disorder, over and above all other predictors; however, tone perception tasks failed to explain unique variance. The relative importance of speech perception in noise over tone-perception measures for language comprehension reinforces the need for the assessment and management of listening in noise deficits and makes a compelling case for the functional implications of complex listening situations for children with developmental language disorder.

The Roles of Working Memory and Oral Language Abilities in Elicited Imitation Performance

AbstractWhile an elicited imitation test (EIT) has been widely used as a measure of oral proficiency in second language acquisition (SLA) research, it is still unclear the extent to which memory capacity impacts EIT performance. In light of this gap, the present study sought to clarify the nature of elicited imitation by examining the relative contributions of language ability and phonological short‐term memory (PSTM) to EIT performance. Seventy‐eight second language (L2) learners of Spanish, who were grouped into 3 Spanish experience levels, took a Spanish EIT, an L2 oral narrative task, and a nonword repetition (NWR) task in their first language. Results demonstrated that learners’ EIT performance was primarily predicted by complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) measures extracted from the oral narrative task rather than NWR scores, which served as an index for PSTM capacity. Furthermore, the present study provided suggestive evidence that PSTM capacity may differentially mediate EIT performance depending on the extent of learners’ proficiency in and experience with Spanish. While facilitative effects for PSTM capacity were observed for less experienced learners, no effects were found for more experienced learners.

Exploring variation in nonnative Japanese learners’ perception of lexical pitch accent: The roles of processing resources and learning context

AbstractThis article reports findings on the effects of processing resources and learning context on the perceptual learning of lexical pitch accent in beginning nonnative Japanese learners. Native English speakers in at-home and study-abroad contexts were tested twice during a semester of Japanese study on their ability to judge the correctness of and categorize nouns by their pitch pattern. Regression analyses indicated that the ability to store nonnative-like sound sequences in phonological short-term memory (PSTM), as well as auditory processing ability, predicted a significant degree of perceptual gains made over a 12-week interval. However, these predictors were task specific in that PSTM capacity predicted correctness judgment gains, while auditory processing accounted for variation in categorization. Furthermore, despite learners in the at-home context performing slightly better overall, processing resources adhered to the same predictive pattern when context was taken into account. The results suggest that (a) neither increased input during study-abroad nor targeted instruction is sufficient for most learners to acquire lexical accent; (b) processing resources support the acquisition of lexical prosody, but these may depend on how learning is assessed; and (c) PSTM operates across learning contexts, suggesting it to be a domain-general capacity in early-stage nonnative language acquisition.

Phonological short-term memory capacity and L2 oral performance

AbstractPhonological short-term memory (PSTM) capacity is the ability to retain verbal information briefly (Archibald & Gathercole, 2006). Since PSTM facilitates the storage of verbal material, one expects a positive relationship between PSTM and several aspects of second language (L2) learning. Some studies have found a relationship between PSTM and oral production skills, such as fluency (e.g.,O’Brien et al., 2006). This paper reports on the results of a study that looked at the inter-relations between complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF), and between these dimensions and PSTM. One hundred and thirty-five L2 learners of Spanish participated in the study. Results showed that performance in one L2 speech dimension did not have a negative impact on performance in another dimension, but that as complexity increased or decreased, there was a better chance of fluency than accuracy also increasing or decreasing. PSTM capacity was related to complexity and fluency, but not to accuracy. These results were interpreted as lending some support to Skehan’s Trade-off Hypothesis (Skehan, 2009).

Determining the developmental requirements for hebb repetition learning in young children: Grouping, short-term memory, and their interaction.

The Hebb repetition paradigm has recently attracted attention as a measure of serial order learning, which underlies word-form learning abilities. Although children are good vocabulary learners, it is surprising that previous Hebb learning studies with young children show rather weak Hebb effects. In this study, we conducted two experiments to identify developmental factors that drive an increase of the size of the Hebb effect in young children. Motivated by evidence from adult work, we focused on an ability to group a sequence into consistent subsequences and on phonological short-term memory (STM) capacity. In Experiment 1 (N = 98), it was shown that 3- to 5-year-old children with high phonological STM capacity showed a Hebb effect, particularly in the later experimental trials. In Experiment 2 (N = 97), temporal grouping of the sequences in 2-2 subsequences further encouraged children with high phonological STM capacity to show the Hebb effect even in the earlier experimental trials and children with low STM capacity to show a trend toward a Hebb effect in the later trials. Moreover, across Experiments 1 and 2 we found robust evidence of transfer of the Hebb effect to recall of new sequences that partially overlapped in item-by-item pairings with the Hebb sequence, indicating that children use consistent grouping strategies when learning above-span Hebb sequences. These findings indicate that phonological STM, grouping consistency, and their interaction are developmental requirements for the Hebb effect to emerge. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

The relationship between phonological short-term memory, receptive vocabulary, and fast mapping in children with specific language impairment.

Children with specific language impairment (SLI) often experience word-learning difficulties, which are suggested to originate in the early stage of word learning: fast mapping. Some previous research indicates significantly poorer fast mapping capabilities in children with SLI compared with typically developing (TD) counterparts, with a range of methodological factors impacting on the consistency of this finding. Research has explored key issues that might underlie fast mapping difficulties in children with SLI, with strong theoretical support but little empirical evidence for the role of phonological short-term memory (STM). Additionally, further research is required to explore the influence of receptive vocabulary on fast mapping capabilities. Understanding the factors associated with fast mapping difficulties that are experienced by children with SLI may lead to greater theoretically driven word-learning intervention. To investigate whether children with SLI demonstrate significant difficulties with fast mapping, and to explore the related factors. It was hypothesized that children with SLI would score significantly lower on a fast mapping production task compared with TD children, and that phonological STM and receptive vocabulary would significantly predict fast mapping production scores in both groups of children. Twenty-three children with SLI (mean = 64.39 months, SD = 4.10 months) and 26 TD children (mean = 65.92 months, SD = 2.98) were recruited from specialist language and mainstream schools. All participants took part in a unique, interactive fast-mapping task whereby nine novel objects with non-word labels were presented and production accuracy was assessed. A non-word repetition test and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Fourth Edition (PPVT-IV) were also administered as measures of phonological STM capacity and receptive vocabulary, respectively. Results of the fast-mapping task indicated that children with SLI had significantly poorer fast mapping production scores than TD children. Scores from the non-word repetition task were also significantly lower for the SLI group, revealing reduced phonological STM capacity. Phonological STM capacity and receptive vocabulary emerged as significant predictors of fast mapping performance when the group data were combined in a multiple regression analysis. These results suggest that the word-learning difficulties experienced by children with SLI may originate at the fast mapping stage, and that phonological STM and receptive vocabulary significantly predict fast mapping ability. These findings contribute to the theoretical understanding of word-learning difficulties in children with SLI and may inform lexical learning intervention.

Spanish EFL Learners’ Categorization of /iː-I/ and Phonological Short-Term Memory

This study examined the role of phonological-short-term memory (PSTM) in the weighting of spectral and duration cues in the perception of the English vowel contrast /iː-I/ by Spanish English foreign language (EFL) learners (N=31). Cue-weighting was assessed through a perceptual categorization task with natural and manipulated word stimuli. A serial nonword recognition (SNWR) task was used to obtain a measure of PSTM. The results showed that Spanish EFL learners over-relied on duration in the categorization of /iː-I/ However, when controlling for inter-subject differences in proficiency, learners with higher PSTM capacity used duration as a cue in categorization to a lesser extent than learners with lower PSTM capacity. This suggests that PSTM plays an important role in learners’ development of target-like cue-weighting.

Impact of cognitive and linguistic ability on gaze behavior in children with hearing impairment

In order to explore verbal–nonverbal integration, we investigated the influence of cognitive and linguistic ability on gaze behavior during spoken language conversation between children with mild-to-moderate hearing impairment (HI) and normal-hearing (NH) peers. Ten HI–NH and 10 NH-NH dyads performed a referential communication task requiring description of faces. During task performance, eye movements and speech were tracked. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to model associations between performance on cognitive and linguistic tasks and the probability of gaze to the conversational partner’s face. Analyses compare the listeners in each dyad (HI: n = 10, mean age = 12; 6 years, SD = 2; 0, mean better ear pure-tone average 33.0 dB HL, SD = 7.8; NH: n = 10, mean age = 13; 7 years, SD = 1; 11). Group differences in gaze behavior – with HI gazing more to the conversational partner than NH – remained significant despite adjustment for ability on receptive grammar, expressive vocabulary, and complex working memory. Adjustment for phonological short term memory, as measured by non-word repetition, removed group differences, revealing an interaction between group membership and non-word repetition ability. Stratified analysis showed a twofold increase of the probability of gaze-to-partner for HI with low phonological short term memory capacity, and a decreased probability for HI with high capacity, as compared to NH peers. The results revealed differences in gaze behavior attributable to performance on a phonological short term memory task. Participants with HI and low phonological short term memory capacity showed a doubled probability of gaze to the conversational partner, indicative of a visual bias. The results stress the need to look beyond the HI in diagnostics and intervention. Acknowledgment of the finding requires clinical assessment of children with HI to be supported by tasks tapping phonological processing.

Is phonological short-term memory related to phonological analysis stages in auditory sentence processing?

Despite extensive research, the role of phonological short-term memory (STM) during oral sentence comprehension remains unclear. We tested the hypothesis that phonological STM is involved in phonological analysis stages of the incoming words, but not in sentence comprehension per se. We compared phonological STM capacity and processing times for natural sentences and sentences containing phonetically ambiguous words. The sentences were presented for an auditory sentence anomaly judgement task and processing times for each word were measured. STM was measured via nonword and word immediate serial recall tasks, indexing phonological and lexicosemantic STM capacity, respectively. Significantly increased processing times were observed for phonetically ambiguous words, relative to natural stimuli in same sentence positions. Phonological STM capacity correlated with the size of this phonetic ambiguity effect. However, phonological STM capacity did not correlate with measures of later semantic integration processes while lexicosemantic STM did. This study suggests that phonological STM is associated with phonological analysis processes during sentence processing.

Speech perception and phonological short-term memory capacity in language impairment: preliminary evidence from adolescents with specific language impairment (SLI) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD)

Speech perception and phonological short-term memory capacity in language impairment: preliminary evidence from adolescents with specific language impairment (SLI) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD)

Phonological short-term memory, working memory and foreign language performance in intensive language learning

In our research we addressed the question what the relationship is between phonological short-term and working memory capacity and performance in an end-of-year reading, writing, listening, speaking and use of English test. The participants of our study were 121 secondary school students aged 15–16 in the first intensive language training year of a bilingual education program in Hungary. The participants performed a non-word repetition test and took a Cambridge First Certificate Exam. Fifty students were also tested with a backward digit span test, measuring their working memory capacity. Our study indicates that phonological short-term memory capacity plays a different role in the case of beginners and pre-intermediate students in intensive language learning. The backward digit span test correlated very highly with the overall English language competence, as well as with reading, listening, speaking and use of English (vocabulary and grammar) test scores.

Revisiting problems with foreign language aptitude

This study investigated three of the issues recently raised in connection with the traditional concept of foreign language aptitude: the relationship between foreign language aptitude and working memory and phonological short-term memory capacity, the role of foreign language aptitude in predicting success in the framework of focus-on-form foreign language instruction, and the stability of language aptitude and phonological short-term memory in the course of language learning. The participants of our research were 40 students of an English-Hungarian bilingual secondary school and 21 students in a regular Hungarian secondary school. Language aptitude was assessed both at the beginning and the end of the academic year. Our results support the existence of an effect of language learning experience on language aptitude. We also concluded that foreign language aptitude does not play a highly important role in communicative language teaching combined with focus-on-form instruction.

Dissociable components of short-term memory and their relation to long-term learning

Short-term memory (STM) includes dissociable phonological and semantic components (R.C. Martin, 1993). Previous findings indicate that phonological STM capacity supports learning of novel phonological forms, such as new vocabulary (e.g., Baddeley, Gathercole, & Papagno, 1998). It was hypothesised that semantic STM capacity would support the learning of novel semantic information. Five aphasic patients were tested who demonstrated deficits in the short-term retention of either phonological or semantic information. Four of the five patients demonstrated learning deficits in a paired associate paradigm that corresponded to their STM deficits. One patient with a severe deficit in phonological STM but a better-preserved ability to retain semantic information showed better learning of new semantic information than new phonological information. Three patients with a greater deficit in semantic than phonological STM showed the reverse. A fifth patient with a severe semantic STM deficit failed to show learning for either type of material. Results suggest that the semantic and phonological components of STM are essential for the long-term learning of corresponding representations in long-term memory.

Dissociable components of short-term memory and their relation to long-term learning

Short-term memory (STM) includes dissociable phonological and semantic components (R.C. Martin, 1993). Previous findings indicate that phonological STM capacity supports learning of novel phonological forms, such as new vocabulary (e.g., Baddeley, Gathercole, & Papagno, 1998). It was hypothesised that semantic STM capacity would support the learning of novel semantic information. Five aphasic patients were tested who demonstrated deficits in the short-term retention of either phonological or semantic information. Four of the five patients demonstrated learning deficits in a paired associate paradigm that corresponded to their STM deficits. One patient with a severe deficit in phonological STM but a better-preserved ability to retain semantic information showed better learning of new semantic information than new phonological information. Three patients with a greater deficit in semantic than phonological STM showed the reverse. A fifth patient with a severe semantic STM deficit failed to show learning for either type of material. Results suggest that the semantic and phonological components of STM are essential for the long-term learning of corresponding representations in long-term memory.

Phonological short-term memory and vocabulary development: further evidence on the nature of the relationship

The nature and generality of the developmental association between phonological short-term memory and vocabulary knowledge was explored in two studies. Study 1 investigated whether the link between vocabulary and verbal memory arises from the requirement to articulate memory items at recall or from earlier processes involved in the encoding and storage of the verbal material. Four-year-old children were tested on immediate memory measures which required either spoken recall (nonword repetition and digit span) or recognition of a sequence of nonwords. The phonological memory-vocabulary association was found to be as strong for the serial recognition as recall-based measures, favouring the view that it is phonological short-term memory capacity rather than speech output skills which constrain word learning. In Study 2, the association between phonological memory skills and vocabulary knowledge was found to be strong in teenaged as well as younger children, indicating that phonological memory constraints on word learning remain significant throughout childhood.