双重缺陷汉语发展性阅读障碍儿童的言语工作记忆和阅读能力研究

选取语音意识和快速自动命名双重缺陷的汉语发展性阅读障碍儿童,探讨其言语工作记忆和阅读能力的发展特点。实验选取双重缺陷的发展性阅读障碍（DD）、年龄匹配（CA）和能力匹配（RL）三组儿童各25名,要求他们完成言语工作记忆（数字广度、汉字广度）和阅读（一分钟词汇阅读、三分钟句子阅读）任务。结果发现,DD儿童的数字倒背位数、一分钟读词数、三分钟读过字数和句子理解正确率均显著低于CA儿童,而与RL儿童差异不显著;DD儿童的句子阅读正确率显著低于CA、RL儿童。表明双重缺陷DD儿童在言语工作记忆和阅读能力上存在一定程度的发展滞后和缺陷。     

汉、英工作记忆的加工和储存对中学生英语阅读理解的影响

本研究采用"视空间和言语交替"任务范式分离言语工作记忆的加工和储存两个成分,分别探讨了英语工作记忆的加工和储存成分对我国中学生英语阅读理解的作用及其途径,以及汉语工作记忆的加工和储存成分对中学生英语阅读理解是否具有跨语言影响。98名初中二年级学生完成了一般认知能力、英语阅读理解、汉语和英语工作记忆任务。结果表明:(1)英语工作记忆的加工和储存成分对英语阅读理解均有显著的独立预测作用;(2)英语工作记忆的储存成分对英语阅读理解的作用部分是由加工成分引起的;(3)汉语工作记忆的加工成分对英语阅读理解没有显著的直接预测作用,但却以英语工作记忆的加工成分为中介间接作用于英语阅读理解;汉语工作记忆的储存成分对英语阅读理解没有显著的预测作用。可见,言语工作记忆是一个多成分系统,加工和储存两个成分是相对分离的,并且它们具有不同的跨语言特性,加工存在跨语言一般性,而储存则具有语言特异性。     

工作记忆和句法复杂性对汉语判断单句的影响

采用自控步速移动窗口技术,研究了言语工作记忆与句法复杂性对汉语判断单句加工的影响.实验结果表明:汉语判断单句语义提取和命题表征受句法复杂性和言语工作记忆容量的影响;加工模式上,结构相同但句法难度不同的判断单句存在相同的语义焦点;句子-图片验证过程中,高容量者受句法难度、语义失配影响较小,验证时间显著短于低容量者.     

言语工作记忆对视觉工作记忆的影响

工作记忆是当前认知心理学中的一个研究热点,而其言语子系统与视觉子系统之间的关系又是一个颇具争论性的问题。实验1、2采用双任务范式考察了言语工作记忆对视觉工作记忆的影响。结果发现,满负荷言语负载条件下的视觉记忆的成绩显著低于无言语负载条件。这表明,言语工作记忆影响了视觉工作记忆任务的完成。     

自我解释与工作记忆对汉语阅读理解的影响

采用组间实验设计,以汉语科技说明文为阅读材料,探讨自我解释与工作记忆对汉语阅读理解的影响以及工作记忆对自我解释活动本身的影响.结果表明:(1)自我解释活动促进了被试对文本的理解.(2)较高的言语工作记忆容量对汉语阅读理解有促进作用.(3)高工作记忆容量组比低工作记忆容量组不仅在阅读过程中产生了更多数量的自我解释,而且还更多地使用衔接和推理的解释模式.     

阅读理解中的长时工作记忆

工作记忆是阅读理解研究中经常要涉及到的问题,然而它的性质还需要进一步的探讨。Ｅｒｉｃｓｏｎ＆Ｋｉｎｔｓｃｈ根据大量相关研究,于１９９５年提出了长时工作记忆的概念,并对阅读理解中长时记忆的信息提取和存储进行了详细的分析。长时工作记忆的核心是,人们从事非常熟练的认知活动时,长时记忆中的一部分信息提取和存储具有短时记忆信息加工的性质;工作记忆应该包括短时工作记忆和长时工作记忆两部分。其他一些研究者也提出了长时记忆中信息的快速提取和存储问题。     

视觉与言语工作记忆表征对视觉注意的引导

通过三个实验,探讨不同时间进程下视觉和言语工作记忆表征对视觉注意的引导。实验1采用注意引导与注意探测任务同时呈现的范式,探讨不同记忆项与注意项时间间隔(SOA)条件下言语工作记忆表征对视觉注意的引导。结果发现,当SOA较短时言语工作记忆表征对视觉注意有引导效应,而SOA较长时未观察到引导效应;实验2、3采用注意引导任务与注意探测任务分离范式,分别探讨在不同SOA条件下言语和视觉工作记忆表征对视觉注意的引导。结果发现,不同SOA条件下言语和视觉工作记忆表征均能引导视觉注意。研究表明,不同实验范式对言语工作记忆表征对视觉注意的引导有明显影响,视觉比言语工作记忆表征能在更广泛条件下引导视觉注意。     

句子记忆、理解的策略初探

言语理解是将输入言语和贮存信息结合在一起获得新信息的过程。言语理解包括词的理解、句子理解和篇章理解,本文只涉及句子理解。心理语言学和神经心理学的研究表明:言语理解的首要前提是言语感知,言语理解的必要条件是言语记忆。言语记忆不仅指在记忆中贮存关于语言体系的一般信息;而且指在言语记忆中保持输入言语的全部成分,使之能同时性、综合性地呈现,在理解者的心理上形成多维的立体关系。但言语感知、记忆并非镜像式地反映输入言语,它们也受到言语理解的制约和支配,成为一个在时空中无法分割的相互作用的动态过程。     

语文学习困难儿童的工作记忆与加工速度

加工速度和工作记忆反应了不同的认知加工过程,在认知发展研究中,加工速度和工作记忆所起的作用仍存在较大的分歧.采用多因素混合实验设计,在严格控制条件下,比较了语文学习困难和控制组儿童的工作记忆和加工速度.结果发现,与控制组相比,语文学习困难儿童在工作记忆和加工速度方面均存在明显的不足,但加工速度不能解释不同能力组之间的差异,语文学习困难儿童的缺陷在于工作记忆能力的下降.工作记忆的缺陷在于言语工作记忆和中央执行功能的不足,与视空间工作记忆能力无关.语文学习困难既存在一般的工作记忆缺陷(中央执行功能)也存在特定的工作记忆(言语工作记忆)能力的不足.     

工作记忆和语言理解

0引言为了研究短时记忆系统的特性，Baddeley等[1]于1974年提出了工作记忆的概念，用以描述暂时性的信息加工和存储。这种形式的信息加工和存储方式．在许多复杂的认知活动中。如推理，语言理解，学习，心算等．起着非常重要的作用。工作记忆概念提出后．出现了大量的相关研究工作。其中的许多研究是以人的言语活动与工作记忆的关系为研究对象的。大多数成年人都能够快速、准确地生成和理解其母语。在从事日常活动时．无需额外的资源消耗，人们就可以进行言语活动。通过不断的实践和发展，每个人都能够形成记载了母语词汇音、形、义的心理…     

Verbal working memory and sentence comprehension

This target article discusses the verbal working memory system used in sentence comprehension. We review the concept of working memory as a short-duration system in which small amounts of information are simultaneously stored and manipulated in the service of accomplishing a task. We summarize the argument that syntactic processing in sentence comprehension requires such a storage and computational system. We then ask whether the working memory system used in syntactic processing is the same as that used in verbally mediated tasks that involve conscious controlled processing. Evidence is brought to bear from various sources: the relationship between individual differences in working memory and individual differences in the efficiency of syntactic processing; the effect of concurrent verbal memory load on syntactic processing; and syntactic processing in patients with poor short-term memory, patients with poor working memory, and patients with aphasia. Experimental results from these normal subjects and patients with various brain lesions converge on the conclusion that there is a specialization in the verbal working memory system for assigning the syntactic structure of a sentence and using that structure in determining sentence meaning that is separate from the working memory system underlying the use of sentence meaning to accomplish other functions. We present a theory of the divisions of the verbal working memory system and suggestions regarding its neural basis.     

Sentence Comprehension Deficits in Alzheimer''s Disease: A Comparison of Off-Line vs. On-Line Sentence Processing

Two studies explored whether sentence comprehension impairments in Alzheimer's disease (AD) are due to deficits in syntactic processing or memory. Study 1 used a picture-pointing sentence comprehension task to measure the final outcome of comprehension in an off-line fashion. It showed the comprehension of 30 patients with AD to be impaired, but suggested that the deficits could not be attributed solely to syntactic impairments. Study 2 investigated the effects of memory on sentence comprehension by comparing off-line (grammaticality judgment) with on-line (cross-modal naming) language processing in 11 AD and 9 control subjects. The results revealed impaired performance in the off-line task but normal performance in the on-line task using the same sentences. Performance on the off-line task correlated with independent measures of verbal working memory. These data are used to argue that sentence comprehension impairments are related to verbal working memory deficits in AD.     

The relationship between age, verbal working memory, and language comprehension

A structural modeling approach was used to examine the relationships between age, verbal working memory (vWM), and 3 types of language measures: online syntactic processing, sentence comprehension, and text comprehension. The best-fit model for the online-processing measure revealed a direct effect of age on online sentence processing, but no effect mediated through vWM. The best-fit models for sentence and text comprehension included an effect of age mediated through vWM and no direct effect of age. These results indicate that the relationship among age, vWM, and comprehension differs depending on the measure of language processing and support the view that individual differences in vWM do not affect individuals' online syntactic processing.     

The relationship between age, processing speed, working memory capacity, and language comprehension

A total of 50 elderly individuals and 48 college students were tested on several measures of processing speed and of working memory capacity. Language processing was tested with an on-line measure of sentence processing efficiency, an end-of-sentence acceptability judgement task, and a paragraph comprehension test. Elderly individuals performed more poorly than college students on the speed of processing and working memory measures and had longer listening times overall on the sentence processing measures. Elderly individuals did not, however, have overall longer listening times at the most capacity-demanding regions of the harder sentence types. Correlational analyses failed to establish a relationship between the increase in syntactic processing load at the capacity-demanding region of the harder sentence type and the measures of working memory capacity, but did establish a relationship between paragraph comprehension and working memory capacity. The data are argued to provide evidence that the WM system used to structure sentences syntactically is separate from that used in other aspects of language comprehension.     

Memory mechanisms supporting syntactic comprehension

Efforts to characterize the memory system that supports sentence comprehension have historically drawn extensively on short-term memory as a source of mechanisms that might apply to sentences. The focus of these efforts has changed significantly in the past decade. As a result of changes in models of short-term working memory (ST-WM) and developments in models of sentence comprehension, the effort to relate entire components of an ST-WM system, such as those in the model developed by Baddeley (Nature Reviews Neuroscience 4: 829–839, 2003) to sentence comprehension has largely been replaced by an effort to relate more specific mechanisms found in modern models of ST-WM to memory processes that support one aspect of sentence comprehension—the assignment of syntactic structure (parsing) and its use in determining sentence meaning (interpretation) during sentence comprehension. In this article, we present the historical background to recent studies of the memory mechanisms that support parsing and interpretation and review recent research into this relation. We argue that the results of this research do not converge on a set of mechanisms derived from ST-WM that apply to parsing and interpretation. We argue that the memory mechanisms supporting parsing and interpretation have features that characterize another memory system that has been postulated to account for skilled performance—long-term working memory. We propose a model of the relation of different aspects of parsing and interpretation to ST-WM and long-term working memory.     

Role of Working Memory in Typically Developing Children’s Complex Sentence Comprehension

The influence of three mechanisms of working memory (phonological short-term memory (PSTM capacity), attentional resource control/allocation, and processing speed) on children's complex (and simple) sentence comprehension was investigated. Fifty two children (6-12 years) completed a nonword repetition task (indexing PSTM), concurrent verbal processing-storage task (indexing resource control/allocation), auditory-visual reaction time (RT) task (indexing processing speed), and a sentence comprehension task that included complex and simple sentences. Correlation and regression analyses were run to determine the association between the memory variables and sentence comprehension accuracy. Results revealed: (1) none of the memory variables correlated with simple sentence comprehension, (2) resource control/allocation and processing speed correlated significantly with complex sentence comprehension, even after covarying for age, and (3) attentional functioning and processing speed predicted complex sentence comprehension (after accounting for age). Results were interpreted to suggest that working memory is significantly involved in school age children's comprehension of familiar complex sentence structures.     

The relationship between age,processing speed,working memory capacity,and language comprehension

A total of 50 elderly individuals and 48 college students were tested on several measures of processing speed and of working memory capacity. Language processing was tested with an on‐line measure of sentence processing efficiency, an end‐of‐sentence acceptability judgement task, and a paragraph comprehension test. Elderly individuals performed more poorly than college students on the speed of processing and working memory measures and had longer listening times overall on the sentence processing measures. Elderly individuals did not, however, have overall longer listening times at the most capacity‐demanding regions of the harder sentence types. Correlational analyses failed to establish a relationship between the increase in syntactic processing load at the capacity‐demanding region of the harder sentence type and the measures of working memory capacity, but did establish a relationship between paragraph comprehension and working memory capacity. The data are argued to provide evidence that the WM system used to structure sentences syntactically is separate from that used in other aspects of language comprehension.     

The roles of sequencing and verbal working memory in sentence comprehension deficits in Parkinson's disease

Studies of sentence comprehension deficits in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients suggest that language processing involves circuits connecting subcortical and cortical regions. Anatomically segregated neural circuits appear to support different cognitive and motor functions. To investigate which functions are implicated in PD comprehension deficits, we tested comprehension, verbal working memory span, and cognitive set-switching in a non-linguistic task in 41 PD patients; we also obtained speech measurements reflecting motor sequencing processes that may be involved in articulatory rehearsal within working memory. Comprehension of sentences with center-embedded or final relative clauses was impaired when they could not be understood from lexical semantic content alone. Overall comprehension error rates correlated strongly with impaired set-switching and significantly with reduced working memory span and speech motor sequencing deficits. Correlations with comprehension of different sentence structures indicate that these impairments do not represent a single deficit; rather, PD comprehension deficits appear to arise from several independent mechanisms. Deficits in cognitive set-switching or underlying inhibitory processes may compromise the ability to process relative clauses. Deficits in verbal working memory appear to impair comprehension of long-distance dependencies. Speech sequencing correlated with neither set-switching nor verbal working memory span, consistent with their being supported by independent, segregated cortico-subcortical circuits.     

Visuospatial working memory and mental representation of spatial descriptions

The purpose of the present research is to investigate whether different components of working memory (WM) are involved in processing spatial and nonspatial texts. The interference effects of two concurrent tasks on comprehension and recall of two kinds of text were investigated in two experiments. Each participant listened to a spatial and a nonspatial text, with one of two concurrent tasks: articulatory suppression or spatial tapping. The dependent variables in Experiment 1 were accuracy of recall and verification of information inferred from the texts. In Experiment 2 response times in the verification task were also considered. Results support the hypothesis that verbal and spatial components of working memory are differentially involved in the comprehension and memory of spatial and nonspatial texts, with a selective interference effect of the spatial concurrent task on the spatial text and an interference effect of the verbal concurrent task on both the spatial and nonspatial texts. These effects emerged for recall, sentence verification, and response times. Our findings confirm previous results showing that the verbal component of working memory is involved in the process of text comprehension and memory. In addition, they show that visuospatial working memory is involved, in so far as the text conveys visuospatial information.     

The Measurement of Verbal Working Memory Capacity and Its Relation to Reading Comprehension

Ninety-four subjects were tested on the Daneman and Carpenter (1980) reading span task, four versions of a related sentence span task in which reaction times and accuracy on sentence processing were measured along with sentence-final word recall, two number generation tasks designed to test working memory, digit span, and two shape-generation tasks designed to measure visual-spatial working memory. Forty-four subjects were retested on a subset of these measures at a 3-month interval. All subjects were tested on standard vocabulary and reading tests. Correlational analyses showed better internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the sentence span tasks than of the Daneman-Carpenter reading span task. Factor analysis showed no factor that could be related to a central verbal working memory; rotated factors suggested groupings of tests into factors that correspond to digitrelated tasks, spatial tasks, sentence processing in sentence span tasks, and recall in sentence span tasks. Correlational analyses and regression analyses showed that the sentence processing component of the sentence span tasks was the best predictor of performance on the reading test, with a small independent contribution of the recall component. The results suggest that sentence span tasks are unreliable unless measurements are made of both their sentence processing and recall components, and that the predictive value of these tasks for reading comprehension abilities lies in the overlap of operations rather than in limitations in verbal working memory that apply to both.