Item Identification Time and Rehearsal Rate as Predictors of Memory Span in Children

1989 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 321-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. J. Hitch ◽  
M. S. Halliday ◽  
J. E. Littler
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Word Length ◽  
Articulatory Suppression ◽  
Memory Span ◽  
Developmental Differences ◽  
Memory Model ◽  
Length Effect ◽  
Identification Time ◽  
Word Length Effect ◽  
Working Memory Model

According to the working memory model of Baddeley and Hitch (1974), the sensitivity of memory span to word length arises from the time taken to rehearse items in a speech-based “articulatory loop”. Alternatively, it has been suggested that the word-length effect may result from differences in the speed of perceptual processes of item identification. Changes in the speed of rehearsal and of item identification have also been claimed to contribute to the growth of memory span that is seen in development. In order to compare these two variables directly, groups of children aged 8 and 11 were assessed on memory span for words of one, two, and three syllables; span under articulatory suppression; rehearsal rate; and item identification time. Span was found to be a linear function of rehearsal rate across differences in both word length and age. The word-length effect was unrelated to item identification time and was diminished by articulatory suppression. These results show that the word-length effect reflects rehearsal and not item identification processes. However, the results also suggest that changes in item identification time contribute to developmental differences in span when articulation is suppressed. A distinction between item identification and rehearsal effects can be readily interpreted in terms of the working memory model if it is assumed that they indicate the efficiency of different subsystems involved in span.

Is There a Temporal Basis of the Word Length Effect? A Response to Service (1998)

2000 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 647-660 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nelson Cowan ◽  
Lara D. Nugent ◽  
Emily M. Elliott ◽  
Tara Geer
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Word Length ◽  
Memory Model ◽  
Length Effect ◽  
Word Length Effect ◽  
Word Duration ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Duration Effect ◽  
Temporal Basis ◽  
Working Memory Model

Service (1998) carried out a study of the word length effect with Finnish pseudowords in which short and long pseudowords were identical except for the inclusion of certain phonemes differing only in pronunciation length, a manipulation that is impossible in English. She obtained an effect of phonemic complexity but little or no word duration effect per se — a discrepancy from the expectations generated by the well-known working memory model of Baddeley (1986). In the present study using English words, we controlled for phonemic complexity differences by using the same words for the short- and long-word sets, but with instructions inducing shorter or longer pronunciation of the words. We obtained substantial word duration effects. Concerns raised by Service are addressed, and we conclude that both duration and complexity are likely to contribute to the word length effect in serial recall.

The Effect of Word Length on Immediate Serial Recall Depends on Phonological Complexity, Not Articulatory Duration

1998 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 283-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabet Service
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Word Length ◽  
Length Effect ◽  
Phonological Representations ◽  
Immediate Serial Recall ◽  
Immediate Recall ◽  
Word Length Effect ◽  
Future Work ◽  
Phonological Complexity ◽  
Better Than

Immediate recall for sequences of short words is better than for sequences of long words. This word-length effect has been thought to depend on the spoken duration of the words (Baddeley, Thomson, & Buchanan, 1975) or their phonological complexity (Caplan, Rochon, & Waters, 1992). In Finnish both vowel and consonant quantity distinguish between words. Long phonemes behave like phoneme repetitions. In Experiment 1, subjects were presented with auditory lists of three kinds of pseudowords based on Finnish phonotactics: short CVCV-structures (e.g. / tepa/), long two-syllable items with long phonemes (e.g. / te: p: a/), and long three-syllable items with CVCVCV structures (e.g. / tepalo/). Although both kinds of long stimuli (of identical spoken length) took longer to read, only three-syllable items were more difficult to remember than the short stimuli. Experiment 2 contrasted the effect of number of syllables with number of different phonemes. The long two-syllable items were replaced by two-syllable items of equal spoken duration but containing six different phonemes (e.g. / tiempa/). These two-syllable items were as difficult to recall as were the three-syllable items. Experiment 3 controlled for the possibility that long stimuli might be rehearsed in a shorter form. It is concluded that aspects of phonological complexity are critical for word-length effects. Implications of this finding for working memory theory are discussed, and future work based on multi-layered phonological representations is proposed.

The Word-length Effect and Disyllabic Words

2000 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Lovatt ◽  
S.E. Avons ◽  
Jackie Masterson
Keyword(s):  
Short Duration ◽  
Serial Recall ◽  
Word Length ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Memory Span ◽  
Visual Presentation ◽  
Length Effect ◽  
Word Length Effect ◽  
Semantic Associations ◽  
Disyllabic Words

Three experiments compared immediate serial recall of disyllabic words that differed on spoken duration. Two sets of long- and short-duration words were selected, in each case maximizing duration differences but matching for frequency, familiarity, phonological similarity, and number of phonemes, and controlling for semantic associations. Serial recall measures were obtained using auditory and visual presentation and spoken and picture-pointing recall. In Experiments 1a and 1b, using the first set of items, long words were better recalled than short words. In Experiments 2a and 2b, using the second set of items, no difference was found between long and short disyllabic words. Experiment 3 confirmed the large advantage for short-duration words in the word set originally selected by Baddeley, Thomson, and Buchanan (1975). These findings suggest that there is no reliable advantage for short-duration disyllables in span tasks, and that previous accounts of a word-length effect in disyllables are based on accidental differences between list items. The failure to find an effect of word duration casts doubt on theories that propose that the capacity of memory span is determined by the duration of list items or the decay rate of phonological information in short-term memory.

scholarly journals The role of working memory in sentence processing in normal reading population. A review of related literature.

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (9) ◽  
pp. 19-26
Author(s):  
Grammenou Anastasia
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Memory Span ◽  
Memory Model ◽  
Garden Path ◽  
Normal Reading ◽  
Theory Of Language ◽  
Text Context ◽  
Working Memory Model

This essay aims to describe the factors that influence sentence processing with emphasis given on garden path sentences. The latter grammatical phenomenon has been proved more problematic in people with low working memory span. Predictions of the working memory model of Baddeley and Hich and the theory of language comprehension of Just and Carpenter were used to explain sentence processing within text context.

Reversing the Word-Length Effect: A Comment on Caplan, Rochon, and Waters

1994 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 1047-1054 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Baddeley ◽  
Jackie Andrade
Keyword(s):  
Serial Recall ◽  
Word Length ◽  
Memory Span ◽  
Acoustic Similarity ◽  
Short Word ◽  
Length Effect ◽  
Present Evidence ◽  
Immediate Serial Recall ◽  
Word Length Effect ◽  
Significant Reversal

Caplan, Rochon, and Waters (1992) report a failure to observe the poorer immediate serial recall for words of longer spoken duration obtained by Baddeley, Thomson, and Buchanan (1975) and subsequently replicated by others. Indeed, they find a significant reversal of this effect. We present evidence that the material used by Caplan et al. differs only minimally in spoken duration under speeded articulation conditions (Exp. 1 = 1.9%, Exp 2 = 2.31%), in contrast to a clear difference in the case of the original Baddeley et al. material (24.5%). It is further suggested that the reversal of the word-length effect may result from differences in acoustic similarity between the “long” and “short” word sets used by Caplan et al. We conclude that the evidence continues to indicate that longer spoken duration is associated with reduced memory span.

The Relationship between Speech Rate and Memory Span in Children

1994 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucy A. Henry
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Linear Relationship ◽  
Memory Span ◽  
Speech Rate ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Word Length Effect ◽  
Children's Memory ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Working Memory Model

Evidence of a linear relationship between speech rate and memory span in children has been obtained in several studies (e.g. Hulme, Thomson, Muir, & Lawrence, 1984). This evidence is used to support an explanation of the development of memory span based on the working memory model (Baddeley, 1990). The model argues that speech rate is related to the amount recalled and that developmental increases in speech rate allow faster rehearsal with age and, hence, greater recall. However, the linear relationship between speech rate and memory span has generally been reported in terms of group means for speech rate and memory span rather than individual level correlations between the two variables. The present studies replicate the group relationship, but find that correlations between individual subject's speech rates and memory spans, when the effects of age are partialled out, are no longer significant. Nor was the size of the word length effect related to the difference in speech rate between short and long words. It is argued that the group mean relationship between speech rate and memory span is clear and replicable, but that the speech rates of individual children are not good predictors of those children's memory spans. The implications of these results for the working memory explanation of span development are discussed.

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