Does Growth in the Executive System of Working Memory Underlie Growth in Literacy for Bilingual Children With and Without Reading Disabilities?

2015 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 386-407 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Lee Swanson ◽  
Michael J. Orosco ◽  
Milagros Kudo
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Reading Disabilities ◽  
Fluid Intelligence ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Naming Speed ◽  
Significant Group ◽  
L2 Reading ◽  
Executive System ◽  
Not At Risk

This cohort-sequential study explored the components of working memory (WM) that underlie second language (L2) reading growth in 450 children at risk and not at risk for reading disabilities (RD) whose first language is Spanish. English language learners designated as balanced and nonbalanced bilinguals with and without risk for RD in Grades 1, 2, and 3 at Wave 1 were administered a battery of cognitive (short-term memory, WM, naming speed, and inhibition), vocabulary, and reading measures in Spanish and English. These same measures were administered 1 and 2 years later. Two important findings occurred: First, growth in the WM executive component was significantly related to growth in English word identification and passage comprehension when competing measures (phonological processing, naming speed, inhibition, and fluid intelligence) were entered into the multilevel growth model. Second, children defined as at risk for RD in Wave 1 had lower intercepts than children not at risk at Wave 3 across several measures of cognition, language, and achievement. However, except on measures of the executive component of WM, no significant group differences in linear growth emerged. These findings suggest that growth in L2 reading was tied to growth in the executive system of WM.

Literacy and Cognitive Functioning in Bilingual and Nonbilingual Children at or Not at Risk for Reading Disabilities.

2004 ◽  
Vol 96 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Lee Swanson ◽  
Leilani Sáez ◽  
Michael Gerber ◽  
Jill Leafstedt
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Cognitive Functioning ◽  
Reading Disabilities ◽  
Not At Risk

Distinction between Visuo-Spatial Short-Term-Memory and Working Memory Span Tasks

2006 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thierry Lecerf ◽  
Jean-Luc Roulin
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Fluid Intelligence ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Memory Span ◽  
Item Difficulty ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Spatial Span ◽  
Span Test ◽  
Span Tasks

Six experiments are presented that examined the constraints underlying performance in two visuo-spatial span tasks. In the Location Span Test (LST), participants have to memorize the cells of a 5×5 matrix containing arrows, while in the Direction Span Test (DST) they have to memorize the cells pointed at by arrows. The main objective was to assess whether both tasks were similarly influenced by experimental factors. Results showed that performance improved with longer encoding time (1-s. vs. 3-s) only for the DST. Maintenance interval (0-s vs. 5-s) and order of item difficulty (ascending vs. descending) have no effect either on the LST or on the DST. Another experiment indicated that the DST is a better predictor of fluid intelligence. These results seem to provide evidence that the LST and the DST relate to different constructs. Implications of these findings for the distinction between short-term and working memory span tasks are discussed.

Working memory, short-term memory, and general fluid intelligence: A latent-variable approach.

1999 ◽  
Vol 128 (3) ◽  
pp. 309-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randall W. Engle ◽  
Stephen W. Tuholski ◽  
James E. Laughlin ◽  
Andrew R. A. Conway
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Latent Variable ◽  
Fluid Intelligence ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Variable Approach ◽  
Latent Variable Approach

A Cross-Modal Working Memory Binding Span Deficit in Reading Disability

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enrico Toffalini ◽  
Mara Marsura ◽  
Ricardo Basso Garcia ◽  
Cesare Cornoldi
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Reading Disability ◽  
Reading Disabilities ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Phonological Information ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Memory Binding ◽  
Span Tasks ◽  
Significant Deficit ◽  
The Difference

Successful reading demands the ability to combine visual-phonological information into a single representation and is associated with an efficient short-term memory. Reading disability may consequently involve an impaired working memory binding of visual and phonological information. The present study proposes two span tasks for assessing visual-phonological working memory binding. The tasks involved memorizing cross-modal associations between nonsense figures and nonwords, and they were administered, with other working memory measures, to children with and without a reading disability. The tasks required recognizing which figure was associated with a given nonword and recalling which nonword was associated with a given figure. Children with a reading disability had a similar significant deficit in both cross-modal binding tasks when compared with the control children, and the difference remained significant even after controlling for other verbal and nonverbal working memory measures. The cross-modal binding tasks described here seem to capture a core aspect of working memory associated with reading and may be a useful procedure for assessing reading disabilities.

Working Memory, Short-Term Memory, and Reading Disabilities

2009 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 260-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Lee Swanson ◽  
Xinhua Zheng ◽  
Olga Jerman
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Reading Disabilities ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Term Memory

scholarly journals Behavioral and neural signatures of working memory in childhood

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monica D. Rosenberg ◽  
Steven A. Martinez ◽  
Kristina M. Rapuano ◽  
May I. Conley ◽  
Alexandra O. Cohen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Fluid Intelligence ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Memory Function ◽  
The United States ◽  
Reward Processing ◽  
Stop Signal Task ◽  
Back Task

AbstractWorking memory function changes across development and varies across individuals. The patterns of behavior and brain function that track individual differences in working memory during development, however, are not well understood. Here we establish associations between working memory, cognitive abilities, and functional MRI activation in data from over 4,000 9–10-year-olds enrolled in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study, an ongoing longitudinal study in the United States. Behavioral analyses reveal robust relationships between working memory, short-term memory, language skills, and fluid intelligence. Analyses relating out-of-scanner working memory performance to memory-related fMRI activation in an emotional n-back task demonstrate that frontoparietal activity in response to an explicit memory challenge indexes working memory ability. Furthermore, this relationship is domain-specific, such that fMRI activation related to emotion processing during the emotional n-back task, inhibitory control during a stop-signal task, and reward processing during a monetary incentive delay task does not track memory abilities. Together these results inform our understanding of the emergence of individual differences in working memory and lay the groundwork for characterizing the ways in which they change across adolescence.

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