Selective updating of sentences: Introducing a new measure of verbal working memory

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 275-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
DANIEL FELLMAN ◽  
ANNA SOVERI ◽  
CHARLOTTE VIKTORSSON ◽  
SARAH HAGA ◽  
JOHANNES NYLUND ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Internal Consistency ◽  
Concurrent Validity ◽  
Human Performance ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
Reading Span ◽  
Sentence Level ◽  
Positive Correlations ◽  
Adequate Internal Consistency

ABSTRACTWorking memory (WM) is one of the most studied cognitive constructs in psychology, because of its relevance to human performance, including language processing. When measuring verbal WM for sentences, the reading span task is the most widely used WM measure for this purpose. However, comparable sentence-level updating tasks are missing. Hence, we sought to develop a WM updating task, which we termed the selective updating of sentences (SUS) task, which taps the ability to constantly update sentences. In two experiments with Finnish-speaking young adults, we examined the internal consistency and concurrent validity of the SUS task. It exhibited adequate internal consistency and correlated positively with well-established working memory measures. Moreover, the SUS task also showed positive correlations with verbal episodic memory tasks employing sentences and paragraphs. These results indicate that the SUS task is a promising new task for psycholinguistic studies addressing verbal WM updating.

scholarly journals The Working Memory as Predictor of Performance in Arithmetic of Brazilian Students

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernanda David Vieira ◽  
Denise Oliveira Ribeiro ◽  
Heitor Blesa Farias ◽  
Patricia Martins Freitas
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
School Performance ◽  
Predictive Power ◽  
Performance Test ◽  
Fluid Intelligence ◽  
Strong Predictor ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
School Learning ◽  
Brazilian Students ◽  
Positive Correlations

Abstract Working memory (WM) is a predictor of school learning. This study aimed to investigate the predictive power of verbal and non-verbal working memory (WM) on students’ performance in arithmetic. 126 children between 6 and 11 years old participated in the research. The instruments were: School Performance Test, Raven’s Colored Progressive Matrices, Corsi Block-tapping Test, and Digits Subtest. The results showed strong and positive correlations of school performance with fluid intelligence r = 0.64, with verbal WM and non-verbal WM, both with r = 0.51 (p < 0.001). After multiple linear regression, it was found that the performance in visuospatial WM was a strong predictor for arithmetic, an effect not found for reading. The regression showed that WM explains 38% of the variance for arithmetic. It is concluded that WM has an expressive contribution to school performance, being more specific the contributions of visuospatial WM for arithmetic.

An Examination of Verbal Working Memory Capacity in Children With Specific Language Impairment

1999 ◽  
Vol 42 (5) ◽  
pp. 1249-1260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Ellis Weismer ◽  
Julia Evans ◽  
Linda J. Hesketh
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Word Recall ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
Specific Language

This study investigated verbal working memory capacity in children with specific language impairment (SLI). The task employed in this study was the Competing Language Processing Task (CLPT) developed by Gaulin and Campbell (1994). A total of 40 school-age children participated in this investigation, including 20 with SLI and 20 normal language (NL) age-matched controls. Results indicated that the SLI and NL groups performed similarly in terms of true/false comprehension items, but that the children with SLI evidenced significantly poorer word recall than the NL controls, even when differences in nonverbal cognitive scores were statistically controlled. Distinct patterns of word-recall errors were observed for the SLI and NL groups, as well as different patterns of associations between CLPT word recall and performance on nonverbal cognitive and language measures. The findings are interpreted within the framework of a limited-capacity model of language processing.

scholarly journals The Sentiment is in the Details: A Language-agnostic Approach to Sentence-level Sentiment Analysis in News Media

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik de Vries
Keyword(s):  
Predictive Validity ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
News Media ◽  
Concurrent Validity ◽  
Negativity Bias ◽  
Newspaper Article ◽  
Political News ◽  
Linguistic Resources ◽  
Sentence Level ◽  
The Individual

Determining the sentiment in the individual sentences of a newspaper article in an automated fashion is a major challenge. Manually created sentiment dictionaries often fail to meet the required standards. And while computer-generated dictionaries show promise, they are often limited by the availability of suitable linguistic resources. I propose and test a novel, language-agnostic and resource-efficient way of constructing sentiment dictionaries, based on word embedding models. The dictionaries are constructed and evaluated based on four corpora containing two decades of Danish, Dutch (Flanders and the Netherlands), English, and Norwegian newspaper articles, which are cleaned and parsed using Natural Language Processing. Concurrent validity is evaluated using a dataset of human-coded newspaper sentences, and compared to the performance of Polyglot dictionaries. Predictive validity is tested through two long-standing hypotheses on the negativity bias in political news. Results show that both the concurrent validity and predictive validity is good. The dictionaries outperform their Polyglot counterparts, and are able to detect a negativity bias, which is stronger for tabloids. The method is resource-efficient in terms of manual labor when compared to manually constructed dictionaries, and requires a limited amount of computational power.

scholarly journals Verbal working memory assessment in Russian-Brazilian Portuguese bilinguals

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. e572
Author(s):  
Aleksandra S. Skorobogatova ◽  
Anna Smirnova Henriques ◽  
Svetlana Ruseishvili ◽  
Irina Sekerina ◽  
Sandra Madureira
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Brazilian Portuguese ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
First Generation Immigrants ◽  
Memory Assessment

In Brazil, the learning of a second language (L2) by native Brazilian Portuguese speakers has been extensively explored, but studies on language processing and language interaction among bilinguals are quite recent. The late bilingualism of the first-generation immigrants has been studied mainly from the perspective of their difficulties in learning Brazilian Portuguese. Brazil has numerous communities of heritage speakers of many languages such as Japanese, German, Italian, Polish, Ukrainian, and Russian. However, the number of studies that focus on the bilingual speech of heritage speakers in Brazil is also quite limited. The aim of the current study is to evaluate the working memory in Russian-Brazilian Portuguese bilinguals as a function of the language and type of bilingualism. For this purpose, 49 first-generation Russophone immigrants and 28 older Russian heritage speakers, all residing in Brazil, were tested in Russian and Portuguese using a Month-Ordering task. We found that the working memory scores of the first-generation Russophone immigrants were not statistically different between both languages, but the median working memory score of the older Russian heritage speakers in Russian was 1.5-fold lower than in Portuguese. As next steps, we plan to verify the relation between the working memory capacity and narrative production abilities of the older Russian heritage-Brazilian Portuguese bilinguals in their heritage and societal languages.

scholarly journals Die persoonlikheidseienskappe en bestuurspotensiaal van bestuursgemotiveerde persone

1994 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. S. Engelbrecht
Keyword(s):  
Construct Validity ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Internal Consistency ◽  
Motivation Theory ◽  
Positive Correlations ◽  
Adequate Internal Consistency ◽  
Comprehensive Study

The personality traits and managerial potential of managerial motivated persons: In the ligth of criticisms of the psychometric suitability of existing measures of managerial motivation a new scale, the Managerial Motivation Questionnaire (MMQ), was developed. This was done on the basis of a comprehensive study of the literature on managerial motivation and the role-motivation theory of Miner. The MMQ demonstrated adequate internal consistency. The aim of this study is to clarify the construct validity of the MMQ. Significant and positive correlations were found between managerial motivation, overall managerial potential, and nine managerial dimensions. The construct validity of the MMQ was further supported by correlations between sixteen personality traits and managerial motivation. Opsomming In die lig van kritiek teen die psigometriese geskiktheid van bestaande meetinstrumente van bestuursmotivering is 'n nuwe skaal, die Bestuursmotiveringsvraelys (BMV)/ ontwikkel. Dit is gedoen op grond van die konseptuele omiyning van bestuursmotivering en die rolmotiveringsteorie van Miner. Die BMV vertoon toereikende interne konsekwentheid. Die doel van hierdie studie is om die konstrukgeldigheid van die BMV verder op te klaar. Beduidend positiewe korrelasies is tussen bestuursmotivering/ globale bestuurspotensiaal en nege bestuursdimensies gevind. Hierbenewens het die korrelasies tussen sestien persoonlikheidseienskappe en bestuursmotivering verdere ondersteunende bewyse gelewer van die konstrukgeldigheid van die BMV.

scholarly journals Verbal Working Memory, Long-Term Knowledge, and Statistical Learning

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 340-345
Author(s):  
Satoru Saito ◽  
Masataka Nakayama ◽  
Yuki Tanida
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Statistical Learning ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Serial Order ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
Learning Mechanisms ◽  
Learning Techniques ◽  
Statistical Learning Techniques

Evidence supporting the idea that serial-order verbal working memory is underpinned by long-term knowledge has accumulated over more than half a century. Recent studies using natural-language statistics, artificial statistical-learning techniques, and the Hebb repetition paradigm have revealed multiple types of long-term knowledge underlying serial-order verbal working memory performance. These include (a) element-to-element association knowledge, which slowly accumulates through extensive exposure to an exemplar; (b) position–element knowledge, which is acquired through several encounters with an exemplar; and (c) whole-sequence knowledge, which is captured by the Hebb repetition paradigm and acquired rapidly with a few repetitions. Arguably, the first two are a basis for fluent and efficient language usage, and the third is a basis for vocabulary learning. Thus, statistical-learning mechanisms (and possibly episodic-learning mechanisms) may form the foundation of language acquisition and language processing, which characterize linguistic long-term knowledge for verbal working memory.

scholarly journals Desarrollo y validación de un cuestionario sobre compromiso organizacional normativo: Un estudio piloto en trabajadores Mexicanos.

2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 393
Author(s):  
Norma Betanzos-Diaz ◽  
Cynthia Shugey Rodríguez-Loredo ◽  
Francisco Paz-Rodríguez
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Organizational Commitment ◽  
Reliability Analysis ◽  
Internal Consistency ◽  
Concurrent Validity ◽  
Pearson Correlation ◽  
Item Bank ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
Normative Dimension ◽  
Adequate Internal Consistency

A questionnaire for measuring commitment in its normative dimension, based on reciprocity and responsibility as value to the work where a link to the organization based on loyalty of workers set was developed. An initial 30 item bank, built and reviewed with rigorous criteria were applied to a sample of 298 employees in a departament store chain (168 women, 56.4%, 130 men), aged between 18 and 65 (<em>M</em> = 32.5, <em>SD</em> = 9.6) years and schooling Baccalaureate (199, 67.8%). The seniority ranging from 1 to 34 years (<em>M</em> = 4.4 years, <em>SD</em> = 5.7). Using exploratory factor analysis with 28 items two factors explaining 45.1% of variance was identified: the first known loyalty-reciprocity; and the second compliance-responsibility. Reliability analysis indicated adequate internal consistency, α = .88. Concurrent validity was assessed by Pearson correlation with Organizational Commitment Questionnaire and Scale Values to Work. The results indicated that the dimensions of the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire Standards may be an option to assess this construct.

Verbal working memory and its relationship to sentence‐level reading and listening comprehension in persons with aphasia

Aphasiology ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 23 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 1040-1052 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jee Eun Sung ◽  
Malcolm R. McNeil ◽  
Sheila R. Pratt ◽  
Michael Walsh Dickey ◽  
William D. Hula ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Listening Comprehension ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
Sentence Level

scholarly journals White Matter Integrity Correlates of the Reading Span

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ekaterina V. Pechenkova ◽  
Yana R. Panikratova ◽  
Maria A. Fomina ◽  
Elena A. Mershina ◽  
Daria A. Bazhenova ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
White Matter ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Diffusion Tensor ◽  
Structural Connectivity ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
The Body ◽  
White Matter Integrity ◽  
Reading Span ◽  
The Right

Although working memory (WM) is crucial for intellectual abilities, not much is known about its brain underpinnings, especially the structural connectivity. We used diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to look across the whole brain for the white matter integrity correlates of the individual differences in the reading span (verbal WM capacity during reading) in healthy adults. Right-handed healthy native Russian speakers (N = 67) underwent DTI on a 3T Philips Ingenia scanner. Verbal WM was assessed with the Daneman-Carpenter reading span test (Russian version). Fractional anisotropy maps from each participant were entered into the group tract-based spatial statistics analysis with the reading span as a covariate; the results were TFCE-corrected. After taking into account effects of age, sex, education and handedness, reading span positively correlated with the white matter integrity in multiple sites: the body, the genu and the splenium of corpus callosum; bilateral corona radiata (anterior, posterior, and superior); bilateral superior longitudinal fasciculus; several tracts in the right hemisphere only, including the internal and external capsule; bilateral superior parietal and frontal white matter. Although the left hemisphere is central for verbal processing, we revealed the important role of the right hemisphere white matter for the verbal WM capacity. Our finding indicates that larger verbal working memory span may originate from additional processing resources of the right hemisphere.

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