Phonological Working Memory Tasks Research Articles

Processamento auditivo central e processamento fonológico em bilíngues do português brasileiro - inglês

ABSTRACT Purpose: to compare temporal auditory processing (temporal ordering) and phonological processing skills in bilingual and monolingual subjects. Methods: 100 undergraduate and postgraduate university students divided into a bilingual group (BG; n = 50) and a monolingual group (MG; n = 50). The study assessed the two groups’ phonological processing skills (phonological awareness, working memory - phonological loop, and rapid lexicon access) and temporal auditory processing skills (Frequency Pattern and Duration Pattern Tests). The Mann-Whitney test (p = 0.05) was used for statistical analysis. Results: BG performed better than MG in phonological awareness and phonological working memory tasks - nonword repetition and rapid naming tasks, except for color naming, and the two auditory processing tests. Conclusion: Bilinguals performed better on phonological and auditory tests. These skills help them identify and discriminate variations in the phonology of both languages, influencing their performance.

Processamento auditivo central e processamento fonológico em bilíngues do português brasileiro - inglês

ABSTRACT Purpose: to compare temporal auditory processing (temporal ordering) and phonological processing skills in bilingual and monolingual subjects. Methods: 100 undergraduate and postgraduate university students divided into a bilingual group (BG; n = 50) and a monolingual group (MG; n = 50). The study assessed the two groups’ phonological processing skills (phonological awareness, working memory - phonological loop, and rapid lexicon access) and temporal auditory processing skills (Frequency Pattern and Duration Pattern Tests). The Mann-Whitney test (p = 0.05) was used for statistical analysis. Results: BG performed better than MG in phonological awareness and phonological working memory tasks - nonword repetition and rapid naming tasks, except for color naming, and the two auditory processing tests. Conclusion: Bilinguals performed better on phonological and auditory tests. These skills help them identify and discriminate variations in the phonology of both languages, influencing their performance.

How Arabic diglossia affects the performances on phonological working memory tasks: Research evidence among first graders

The effect of bilingualism on verbal learning and memory was explored in different studies. Different researchers assume that the Arabic diglossia, represents a case of bilingualism in the lingual context. Hence, the current study aimed to investigate the impact of diglossia in Arabic on the phonological working memory among beginner readers. Forty-one Arabic first graders (M = 7.13, SD = .73) were administered three tasks of phonological working memory in two versions (i.e., spoken and standard language); Two tasks were designed to test verbal retrieval and one task was designed to test remembering of instructions. The participants showed significant diglossic differences between spoken and standard stimuli in verbal retrieval tasks while no such significant differences appeared in remembering of instructions’ task, especially, when the processing demands increased. In addition, the findings may shed light on the importance of developing research tools and tasks with a higher level of sensitivity in order to examine the diglossic effect on memory functions in general and verbal working memory in particular. The results were discussed considering the impact of the Arabic diglossia on cognitive and memory processing skills.

Phonological working memory in children with and without ADHD: A systematic evaluation of recall errors.

Phonological working memory impairments associated with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have garnered interest due to reliable evidence of moderate- to large-magnitude between-group (ADHD vs. control) effects, as well their association with a wide range of secondary impairments. However, previous studies are methodologically limited in their ability to identify potential underlying mechanistic processes. This study aimed to examine converging and diverging patterns of omission, intrusion, and transposition errors to parse-specific mechanistic processes that contribute to ADHD-related phonological working memory deficits. Fifty-four children with ADHD (45 males, nine females) and 65 typically developing (TD; 50 males, 15 females) children aged 8-12 (M = 9.62, SD = 1.52) years completed a computer-based phonological working memory task that aurally presented a random series of jumbled numbers and one letter. Children were instructed to verbally respond by stating the numbers from least to greatest, followed by the letter. Children's incorrect responses were coded as errors of omission, intrusion errors, or transposition errors. Results indicated a significant moderate-magnitude between-group difference in total omission and transposition errors, and a significant small-magnitude between-group difference in total intrusion errors. An examination of specific error types supported evidence of ADHD-related deficits in reordering and updating central executive processes. Collectively, these findings contribute to a more precise understanding of underlying mechanistic processes in ADHD-related working memory deficits and hold potential to inform the development of novel working memory metrics and working memory-based interventions for ADHD. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

The importance of the dorsal branch of the arcuate fasciculus in phonological working memory.

Phonological working memory (PWM) is important for language learning and processing. The most studied language brain regions are the classical Broca's area on the inferior frontal gyrus and Wernicke's area on the posterior temporal region and their anatomical connection via the classic arcuate fasciculus (AF) referred to here as the ventral AF (AFv). However, areas on the middle frontal gyrus (MFG) are essential for PWM processes. There is also a dorsal branch of the AF (AFd) that specifically links the posterior temporal region with the MFG. Furthermore, there is the temporo-frontal extreme capsule fasciculus (TFexcF) that courses ventrally and links intermediate temporal areas with the lateral prefrontal cortex. The AFv, AFd and TFexcF were dissected virtually in the same participants who performed a PWM task in a functional magnetic resonance imaging study. The results showed that good performance on the PWM task was exclusively related to the properties of the left AFd, which specifically links area 8A (known to be involved in attentional aspects of executive control) with the posterior temporal region. The TFexcF, consistent with its known anatomical connection, was related to brain activation in area 9/46v of the MFG that is critical for monitoring the information in memory.

Working and short-term memory in children with ADHD: an examination of prefrontal cortical functioning using functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS)

ABSTRACT Working memory impairments are an oft-reported deficit among children with ADHD, and complementary neuroimaging studies implicate reductions in prefrontal cortex (PFC) structure and function as a neurobiological explanation. Most imaging studies, however, rely on costly, movement-intolerant, and/or invasive methods to examine cortical differences. This is the first study to use a newer neuroimaging tool that overcomes these limitations, functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS), to investigate hypothesized prefrontal differences. Children (aged 8–12) with ADHD (N = 22) and typically developing (N = 18) children completed phonological working memory (PHWM) and short-term memory (PHSTM) tasks. Children with ADHD evinced poorer performance on both tasks, with greater differences observed in PHWM (Hedges’ g = 0.67) relative to PHSTM (g = 0.39). fNIRS revealed reduced hemodynamic response among children with ADHD in the dorsolateral PFC while completing the PHWM task, but not within the anterior or posterior PFC. No between-group fNIRS differences were observed during the PHSTM task. Findings suggest that children with ADHD exhibit an inadequate hemodynamic response in a region of the brain that underlies PHWM abilities. The study also highlights the use of fNIRS as a cost-effective, noninvasive neuroimaging technique to localize/quantify neural activation patterns associated with executive functions.

Bilingual language experience and the neural underpinnings of working memory

A longstanding question in cognitive neuroscience and in the bilingualism literature is how early language experience influences brain development and cognitive outcomes, and whether these effects are global or specific to language-related processes. The current investigation examined the effect of the timing of language learning on the performance and neural correlates of phonological and non-verbal working memory, subcomponents of executive function. Three groups of bilinguals, who varied in terms of the timing of second language learning (i.e., simultaneous bilinguals learned their two languages from birth; early and late bilinguals who learned their second language before or after 5 years of age, respectively), performed phonological and non-verbal working memory tasks in the magnetic resonance imaging scanner. Results showed that there were no group differences in performance on either of the tasks, or in the neural correlates of performance of the non-verbal task. However, critically, we showed that despite similar behavioural performance, the groups differed in the patterns of neural recruitment during performance of the phonological working memory task. The pattern of group differences was non-linear, demonstrating similar neural recruitment for simultaneous and late bilinguals that differed from early bilinguals. Findings from the current study suggest a dynamic mapping between the brain and cognition, contributing to our current understanding of the effect of the timing of language learning on cognitive processes and demonstrating a specific effect on language-related executive function.

Screening for reading disability in university students with phonological processing and working memory tasks.

Many students in higher education have undiagnosed reading disabilities (RDs), but there are few measures to screen for RD in this population. The aim of this study was to determine the ability of tasks that are sensitive to RDs-such as measures of phonemic awareness and working memory-to differentiate university students previously diagnosed with RDs from controls. Participants were university students with an RD (n = 26), a clinical control group diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (n = 24), and neurotypical controls (n = 44). Participants completed brief phonological processing and working memory tasks. The RD group scored significantly lower on all tasks than both control groups. The phonological processing tasks alone-without the working memory task-discriminated participants with RDs from controls with excellent sensitivity and specificity. A brief battery of phonemic tasks could be an effective screening instrument for persons with RDs on university campuses.

Working memory load affects early affective responses to concrete and abstract words differently: Evidence from ERPs.

Early posterior negativity (EPN) is an early-occurring, event-related, potential that is elicited by pictures and words that have highly arousing characteristics. Whilst EPN has been found with words presented in isolation several times, different types of words have shown quite different effects across different types of tasks. One possible reason for this is that memory and attentional demands may affect the way semantic features of words are processed, and this may modulate EPN. This was investigated in a silent reading task using abstract and concrete words of negative and neutral valence and a dual phonological working memory task to manipulate memory load. The results showed that abstract but not concrete words elicited EPN, and this may have affected downstream processing. Further analyses examining alpha desynchronization showed that negative concrete words appeared to be significantly affected by the memory load manipulation, unlike negative abstract words. These results provide evidence that the processing of features in negative concrete words is more affected by working memory and attentional demands than the processing of features in negative abstract words, and this may be responsible for the failure of negative concrete words to elicit EPN in this study. Thus, the extent to which words elicit EPN appears to be dependent on both their semantic representations and competing cognitive processes. These results provide a potential explanation for some of the differences that have been reported in previous experiments as well as insight into how memory and attention can affect the processing of the semantic features of words.

Abnormal neural response to phonological working memory demands in persistent developmental stuttering.

Persistent developmental stuttering is a neurological disorder that commonly manifests as a motor problem. Cognitive theories, however, hold that poorly developed cognitive skills are the origins of stuttering. Working memory (WM), a multicomponent cognitive system that mediates information maintenance and manipulation, is known to play an important role in speech production, leading us to postulate that the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying stuttering may be associated with a WM deficit. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we aimed to elucidate brain mechanisms in a phonological WM task in adults who stutter and controls. A right-lateralized compensatory mechanism for a deficit in the rehearsal process and neural disconnections associated with the central executive dysfunction were found. Furthermore, the neural abnormalities underlying the phonological WM were independent of memory load. This study demonstrates for the first time the atypical neural responses to phonological WM in PWS, shedding new light on the underlying cause of stuttering.

Prevalence of Developmental Dyslexia in Spanish University Students.

A recent concern in the field of dyslexia studies is the lack of awareness and attention to university students suffering from this condition. If this problem is serious in countries where the relative opacity of the writing system allows for an early detection and, therefore, effective interventions, it is most critical in countries where transparent spelling makes such detection difficult, except in the most severe cases. In Spain, the diagnosis of dyslexia is rare among university-level adults. The present study pursues three aims: (a) to put forward a screening instrument for the detection of university students at risk of dyslexia, (b) to determine the ratio of university students that could be at risk of dyslexia by means of two different procedures, and (c) to create awareness for a disorder that causes hitherto unrecognized difficulties for an important subgroup of the college population. Six hundred and eighty-six university students in four different fields of study within the general area of Social Sciences from a public University in Madrid completed a Spanish-adapted version of a protocol including stress assignment, spelling words and nonwords, and timed phonological working memory of reading and writing task. Results showed that between 1.6% and 6.4% of this population could be at risk of suffering dyslexia. Such risk is not evenly distributed across the four fields of study. As for gender, the first criterion used yields 1.8 males at risk for every female, but the second criterion has as many males as females at risk. Women were significantly better than men in word spelling. Spelling was best predicted by the timed phonological working memory task of reading and writing.

Past experience shapes ongoing neural patterns for language.

Early experiences may establish a foundation for later learning, however, influences of early language experience on later neural processing are unknown. We investigated whether maintenance of neural templates from early language experience influences subsequent language processing. Using fMRI, we scanned the following three groups performing a French phonological working memory (PWM) task: (1) monolingual French children; (2) children adopted from China before age 3 who discontinued Chinese and spoke only French; (3) Chinese-speaking children who learned French as a second language but maintained Chinese. Although all groups perform this task equally well, brain activation differs. French monolinguals activate typical PWM brain regions, while both Chinese-exposed groups also activate regions implicated in cognitive control, even the adoptees who were monolingual French speakers at testing. Early exposure to a language, and/or delayed exposure to a subsequent language, continues to influence the neural processing of subsequently learned language sounds years later even in highly proficient, early-exposed users.

Consciência fonológica e desenvolvimento da escrita na síndrome de Down: um estudo de caso longitudinal

Os objetivos deste estudo foram: verificar a existência de avanços em habilidades de consciência fonológica e escrita em uma criança com síndrome de Down, falante do português brasileiro, em um intervalo de tempo de quatro anos e oito meses; identificar quais habilidades de consciência fonológica desenvolveram-se e quais continuaram sendo de difícil resolução; verificar o desempenho do participante em testes de memória de trabalho fonológica e de inteligência verbal e de execução. A criança frequenta escola regular e tinha 7 anos de idade cronológica no início do estudo. A consciência fonológica e a escrita foram avaliadas em três momentos (T1, T2, T3) em um período de 4 anos e 8 meses. Para a avaliação da consciência fonológica foi utilizado o teste Consciência fonológica: instrumento de avaliação sequencial (CONFIAS). No T1 e T2, a escrita foi avaliada de acordo com critérios do mesmo instrumento; no T3, foi utilizado o subteste de escrita do Instrumento de Avaliação Neuropsicológica Breve Infantil (NEUPSILIN-INF). No T1, a memória de trabalho fonológica foi avaliada por meio do span de palavras e, no T3, foi utilizado o subteste de pseudopalavras do NEUPSILIN-INF. Para avaliação da inteligência verbal e de execução (T3), utilizou-se a Escala de Inteligência Wechsler Abreviada (WASI). Foram verificados progressos em habilidades de escrita e consciência fonológica ao longo do estudo. Algumas habilidades de consciência silábica aprimoraram-se, já tarefas que exigem manipulação de constituintes fonêmicos e consciência de rima continuaram de difícil acesso. O participante apresentou um bom desempenho no teste de repetição de palavras reais. O span de palavras reais foi superior ao span de pseudopalavras. O quociente de inteligência geral foi considerado limítrofe. Acredita-se que, neste caso, habilidades linguísticas e cognitivas, como o vocabulário verbal, a memória de trabalho fonológica e a capacidade intelectual, influenciaram o desempenho no teste de consciência fonológica e capacitaram a criança para o aprendizado da língua escrita.

Brain Activation and Psychophysiologic Interaction in Association with a Phonological Working Memory Task

Brain activation within, and psychophysiologic interaction between, significantly activated regions in the brain obtained from a phonological working memory experiment on a single participant were studied. Given that working memory and speech processing are key functions of human behaviour, this type of investigation is of fundamental importance to our understanding of brain-behaviour relationships. The study objectives were to determine the areas that respond significantly to a phonological working memory task and to investigate the influence of babble noise on their activation and the psychophysiologic interactions (PPI) between the source region and those activated areas. Three conditions were used during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans which were working memory in quiet (WMQ), working memory in noise (WMN) and listening to babble noise (N). More voxels are activated in the right temporal lobe than in the left during N condition due to the non-speech stimulus. However, a higher mean stimulus efficacy (?) of the point of maximum intensity in the left temporal lobe causes its signal intensity to be higher than in the right temporal lobe. Both the WMQ and WMN conditions resulted in similar activated regions in the brain but with a higher number of activated voxels (NOV) during WMQ for the right hemispheric areas in association with the working memory task. This is due to the sensitivity of those regions in perceiving and performing the phonological working memory task in quiet to a level that actually exceeds the activation enhancement commonly associated with the performance of working memory task in noise. This is supported by the PPI results that performing the working memory task is less influenced by noise for that particular brain region.

Working memory deficits in boys with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): An examination of orthographic coding and episodic buffer processes

The episodic buffer component of working memory was examined in children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and typically developing peers (TD). Thirty-two children (ADHD = 16, TD = 16) completed three versions of a phonological working memory task that varied with regard to stimulus presentation modality (auditory, visual, or dual auditory and visual), as well as a visuospatial task. Children with ADHD experienced the largest magnitude working memory deficits when phonological stimuli were presented via a unimodal, auditory format. Their performance improved during visual and dual modality conditions but remained significantly below the performance of children in the TD group. In contrast, the TD group did not exhibit performance differences between the auditory- and visual-phonological conditions but recalled significantly more stimuli during the dual-phonological condition. Furthermore, relative to TD children, children with ADHD recalled disproportionately fewer phonological stimuli as set sizes increased, regardless of presentation modality. Finally, an examination of working memory components indicated that the largest magnitude between-group difference was associated with the central executive. Collectively, these findings suggest that ADHD-related working memory deficits reflect a combination of impaired central executive and phonological storage/rehearsal processes, as well as an impaired ability to benefit from bound multimodal information processed by the episodic buffer.

Effects of conversation on situation awareness and working memory in simulated driving.

In the present research, we investigated the hypothesis that working memory mediates conversation-induced impairment of situation awareness (SA) while driving. Although there is empirical evidence that conversation impairs driving performance, the cognitive mechanisms that mediate this relationship remain underspecified. Researchers have reported that a phonological working memory task decreased drivers' SA for vehicles located behind them whereas a visuospatial working memory task impaired SA for vehicles ahead. Conversation, therefore, might impair SA for vehicles behind the driver by preferentially taxing the phonological loop. A 20-questions task was used as a proxy for natural conversation. In Experiment I, driving performance was measured across three within-subjects conversation conditions (i.e., no conversation, driver asks questions, driver answers questions) with the use of a driving simulator. In Experiment 2, participants drove in the same simulator while either conversing (20-questions task) or not Participants estimated the positions of other vehicles after the screens were blanked at the end of each trial. Speed monitoring and responses to visual probes were impaired by the 20-questions conversation task (Experiment 1). As predicted, conversation impaired SA for the location of other vehicles more for vehicles located behind the driver than for those in front (Experiment 2). Conversation impairs drivers' SA of vehicles behind them by taxing working memory's phonological loop and impairs SA generally by taxing working memory's central executive. Provides a theoretical framework that links driver SA to working memory and a mechanism for understanding why conversation impairs driving performance.

Domain-specific control of semantic cognition: A dissociation within patients with semantic working memory deficits

Background: Semantic cognition depends on (a) semantic representations that code knowledge and (b) executive control processes that regulate access to this information such that relevant aspects are brought to the fore. It is not clear whether this second element, termed semantic control, draws on the same resources as executive processing in other domains. Aims: We investigated the degree of independence between semantic control and domain-general executive function by studying non-semantic executive control in three patients who had semantic control deficits, and problems maintaining task-relevant conceptual knowledge in working memory. Methods & Procedures: Patients completed (a) a phonological working memory task that manipulated executive demands and (b) a series of working memory tasks that loaded a variety of executive functions: updating information, dividing attention, and manipulating the contents of working memory. These tasks featured digits and letters, placing minimal demands on semantic processing. Outcomes & Results: While two patients displayed clear executive deficits on these non-semantic tasks, the third case (patient JB) showed fully intact non-semantic control despite a clear control deficit for semantic tasks. Conclusions: This dissociation suggests that executive control over semantic knowledge relies on partially distinct neural mechanisms to those involved in domain-general control.

Working memory capacity in preschool children contributes to the acquisition of school relevant precursor skills

The aim of the present study was to investigate whether preschool children with limitations in the visual or phonological working memory are disadvantaged in the acquisition of school relevant precursor skills at school entry. A sample of 92 children was divided into three subgroups depending on their performance in visual and phonological working memory tasks in their last year before school entry (T1). At T1 the children were tested on cognitive measures as well as quantity–number competencies and phonological awareness tasks. Shortly after school entry (T2), the precursor skills were assessed again. The findings indicate that preschool children with reduced phonological working memory capacity show weaker numerical competencies before school entry and weaker phonological awareness skills at the beginning of school compared to an unimpaired control group. On the other hand, visual working memory limitations in preschool only affect numerical competencies before and particularly after school entry.

Relationships Between Working Memory and Academic Skills: Are There Differences Between Children With Intellectual Disabilities and Typically Developing Children?

In typically developing children, working memory is linked to academic skills. However, little is known about the role working memory plays for learning in children with intellectual disabilities (ID). Therefore, the aims of this study were to examine whether different working memory functions are related to reading, spelling, and calculating in children with ID of nonspecific etiology and whether these relationships are different from the ones found in typically developing children. Forty-seven children with mild-to-borderline ID and 47 children matched for mental age were tested. Although in typically developing children, only phonological short-term memory tasks were predictive for literacy, for children with ID, visuospatial working memory tasks also accounted for variance. In typically developing children, calculation skills were predicted by phonological working memory tasks, whereas visuospatial working memory resources were crucial for children with ID. Several possible explanations are discussed for discrepancies in prediction patterns.

P-360 - Cognitive functioning in psychosis spectrum

Introduction Cognitive impairment contributes to the development and the outcome of schizophrenia (SZ), but there is considerable less data about cognitive functioning in schizoaffective (SZAFF) and bipolar (BD) disorder with psychotic symptoms. Objectives Seven basic cognitive functions were examined in patients with SZ, BD and SZAFF to assess the cognitive deficits and their patterns. Aims The aim of the study was to obtain data on the structure of cognitive functions in psychosis spectrum in an effort to employ these findings to improve the therapeutic interventions. Methods Twenty SZ, 21 BD and 20 SZAFF outpatients were involved in the study. The following cognitive functions were examined: phonological and visual working memory (WM), perseveration, planning and learning during task solving. The severity of the clinical symptoms was also assessed. Results BD patients performed better than the SZ (p = 0.025) and the SZAFF (p = 0.025) group on one phonological WM task. Patients with SZ had significantly lower level of conceptual choices in the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) compared to BD (p = 0.007). Correlations between the different measures of the WCST and the clinical state of the patients might indicate that the severity of the residual symptoms results in weaker performance on working memory tasks. Conclusion According to our data SZ patients show poorer performance on the cognitive tasks considered. As these cognitive processes play an important role in everyday life and they might contribute to the functional outcome of psychotic disorders, these cognitive areas should be part of the rehabilitation programmes of SZ.