Effects of Irrelevant Sounds on Phonological Coding in Reading Comprehension and Short term Memory

The effects of irrelevant sounds on reading comprehension and short-term memory were studied in two experiments. In Experiment 1, adults judged the acceptability of written sentences during irrelevent speech, accompanied and unaccompanied singing, instrumental music, and in silence. Sentences varied in syntactic complexity: Simple sentences contained a right-branching relative clause ( The applause pleased the woman that gave the speech) and syntactically complex sentences included a centre-embedded relative clause ( The hay that the farmer stored fed the hungry animals). Unacceptable sentences either sounded acceptable ( The dog chased the cat that eight up all his food) or did not ( The man praised the child that sight up his spinach). Decision accuracy was impaired by syntactic complexity but not by irrelevant sounds. Phonological coding was indicated by increased errors on unacceptable sentences that sounded correct. These error rates were unaffected by irrelevant sounds. Experiment 2 examined effects of irrelevant sounds on ordered recall of phonologically similar and dissimilar word lists. Phonological similarity impaired recall. Irrelevant speech reduced recall but did not interact with phonological similarity. The results of these experiments question assumptions about the relationship between speech input and phonological coding in reading and the short-term store.

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A Neuropsychological Model for the Role of Articulation in Verbal Short-Term Memory and in Reading Comprehension

Reading and Writing Disorders in Different Orthographic Systems ◽

10.1007/978-94-009-1041-6_20 ◽

1989 ◽

pp. 341-354

Author(s):

Paolo Nichelli ◽

Roberto Cubelli

Keyword(s):

Reading Comprehension ◽

Short Term Memory ◽

Short Term ◽

Term Memory

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Short-term memory and phonological coding in developmental dyslexia

Journal of Neurolinguistics ◽

10.1016/0911-6044(95)00008-9 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 135-146 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Paul Macaruso ◽

John L. Locke ◽

Suzanne T. Smith ◽

Susan Powers

Keyword(s):

Developmental Dyslexia ◽

Short Term Memory ◽

Short Term ◽

Term Memory ◽

Phonological Coding

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Double Literacy Effects on Language and Reading Skills in Italian–English Primary School Children

Journal of Monolingual and Bilingual Speech ◽

10.1558/jmbs.15136 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Francesca Costa ◽

Maria Teresa Guasti ◽

Stefania Sharley

Keyword(s):

Reading Comprehension ◽

Primary School ◽

Primary Schools ◽

Reading Skills ◽

Short Term Memory ◽

Reading Speed ◽

Primary School Children ◽

Control Group ◽

Short Term ◽

Term Memory

Major concerns still surround literacy education in a foreign language during primary school. In this study, we aim to establish (1) whether bilinguals perform worse in Italian literacy tests than monolinguals; (2) whether literacy skills transfer from Italian to English. We tested 97 Italian–English bilingual first, third and fifth graders (attending two bilingual primary schools in Italy, with a simultaneous 50:50 immersion programme) and a control group of 40 monolingual Italian pupils in grades 1 and 3. All participants were tested in Italian, measuring the following skills: vocabulary, phonological awareness, reading proficiency and verbal short-term memory. Bilingual participants – who had been exposed to Italian since birth and to English within the first three years of their lives – were also tested on the same measures in English. The results showed that bilingual first graders outperformed their monolingual peers in verbal short-term memory, thus revealing a possible cognitive advantage in the early stage of literacy acquisition. Monolingual and bilingual firstand third graders did not differ in reading speed. The two groups made an almost similar number of errors, but the small difference turned out to be statistically significant. Bilingual subjects’ reading attainment was found to be within monolingual normal limits in both languages on all measures except for English reading comprehension, which, together with English vocabulary, was found to be below the English norm. Aside from reading comprehension, on all other measures bilingual children’s performance in Italian correlated with their performance in English, suggesting the presence of cross-linguistic transfer of language and reading skills.

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Inferencing Skill and Attentional Control Account for the Connection Between Reading Comprehension and Mathematics

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2021.709944 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Young-Suk Grace Kim

Keyword(s):

Reading Comprehension ◽

Attentional Control ◽

Cognitive Skills ◽

Short Term Memory ◽

First Grade ◽

Mathematics Performance ◽

Shared Resources ◽

Short Term ◽

Term Memory ◽

And Mathematics

We examined the relations of inference, vocabulary, decoding, short-term memory, and attentional control to reading comprehension and mathematics performance for first-grade students in the US (N = 83). The students were composed of 75% Hispanics, 15% Whites, and 6% Asian Americans. Students' performance on mathematics and reading comprehension were very strongly related (r = 0.88). Results from path analysis showed that inference (0.27 ≤ s ≤ 0.38) was independently and positively related to both reading comprehension and mathematics performance after accounting for short-term memory, attentional control, decoding, and vocabulary. Decoding was independently related to reading comprehension, but not mathematics, whereas vocabulary was independently related to mathematics, but not to reading comprehension. Attentional control was directly related to mathematics, and indirectly related to reading comprehension and mathematics via inference, vocabulary, and decoding, with a substantial total effect on reading comprehension and mathematics (0.56 respectively). Short-term memory was not directly nor indirectly related to reading comprehension and mathematics. Overall these results show that language and cognitive skills are shared resources of reading comprehension and mathematics, and highlight the roles of attentional control and inference skill in reading comprehension and mathematics.

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