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.

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.

scholarly journals Neural mechanisms of interference control underlie the relationship between fluid intelligence and working memory span.

2011 ◽  
Vol 140 (4) ◽  
pp. 674-692 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory C. Burgess ◽  
Jeremy R. Gray ◽  
Andrew R. A. Conway ◽  
Todd S. Braver
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Fluid Intelligence ◽  
Memory Span ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Interference Control ◽  
The Relationship

Working memory in children

1983 ◽  
Vol 302 (1110) ◽  
pp. 325-340 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Memory Span ◽  
Developmental Change ◽  
Central Processor ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Developmental Growth ◽  
Children's Memory ◽  
Subvocal Rehearsal

It is frequently assumed that the development of children’s abilities in short-term memory reflects changes in a unitary short-term store. This approach makes only poor contact with recent research on adults, which suggests the idea of a more complex ‘ working memory ’ system consisting of a limited-capacity central processor controlling a number of special-purpose stores. Two such stores are (i) the articulatory loop, a subsystem involved in subvocal rehearsal and associated with memory span, and (ii) the visuo-spatial scratch-pad, involved in imagery. This paper considers the applicability of the working memory framework to the study of children’s memory. In adults, memory span for words is affected by their length, varying linearly with the rate at which they can be articulated, and thus presumably rehearsed. Studies of the developmental growth of memory span in children show that the same linear relation describes performance, with older children’s better memory associated with faster rates of articulation. It appears from this that developmental change corresponds to an increase in the efficiency of subvocal rehearsal, with the decay characteristic of the articulatory loop remaining constant. However, although this simple developmental pattern is observed in memory for sequences of spoken words it is not present when the items are nameable pictures. Further investigation shows that older children use the articulatory loop to remember picture names: their performance is sensitive to phonemic similarity of the names and articulatory interference. However, younger children’s performance is not affected by either of these factors but is sensitive to visual similarity. It is suggested that such children may be storing material in the visuo-spatial scratch-pad. An additional aspect of working memory is that separate mechanisms are thought to be involved in memory span and the ‘recency effect’, the tendency for recent items in a list to be remembered well in unordered recall. A review of evidence obtained with children suggests that age differences in these two phenomena are independent. In general, therefore, it seems difficult to interpret the developmental changes reported here in terms of a unitary short-term store, and it is concluded that working memory provides a more promising approach.

scholarly journals The use of intragastric nutrition to study saliva secretion and the relationship between rumen osmotic pressure and water transport

1995 ◽  
Vol 73 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Y. Zhao ◽  
M. Durić ◽  
N. A. Macleod ◽  
E. R. ØRskov ◽  
F. D. Deb. Hovell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Linear Relationship ◽  
Osmotic Pressure ◽  
Water Transport ◽  
Rumen Fluid ◽  
Salivary Secretion ◽  
Saliva Secretion ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Water Outflow ◽  
The Relationship

Four sheep sustained by intragastric nutrition were used to study saliva secretion and the relationship between osmotic pressure in the rumen and net water transport across the rumen wall. Different concentrations of buffer were infused into the rumen to change the rumen osmotic pressure. Salivary secretion was estimated from entrance of P into the rumen. Net water transport across the rumen wall was calculated as the difference between water inflow and water outflow from the rumen. A negative linear relationship between the rumen osmotic pressure (X, mOsm/kg) and the water absorption across the rumen wall (Y, ml/h) was found: Y = (394 SE 8·3)–(l·22 SE 0·03) X, r20·83, (P < 0·001), and a positive linear relationship was found between the rumen osmotic pressure (X, mOsm /kg) and the outflow rate of rumen fluid (Y, ml/h): Y = (34·0 SE 8·0) + (0·97 SE 0·03), X, r2 0·56, (P < 0·001). The implication is that rumen osmotic pressure can be a key factor in the control of the net water transport across the rumen wall, the outflow of rumen fluid to omasum and the rumen liquid dilution rate. A method is suggested by which salivary secretion in sheep may be calculated from the water balance in the rumen.

The Rate of Change of Mouth Occlusion Pressure during Exercise

1979 ◽  
Vol 56 (5) ◽  
pp. 455-461 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Siafakas ◽  
A. J. R. Morris ◽  
F. J. Prime
Keyword(s):  
Steady State ◽  
Linear Relationship ◽  
Regression Line ◽  
Constant Load ◽  
Rate Of Change ◽  
Significant Linear Relationship ◽  
Progressive Exercise ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Mouth Occlusion Pressure ◽  
The Relationship

1. The initial rate of change of pressure at the mouth (dP/dt) during a brief occlusion of the airways at the beginning of inspiration has been estimated in nine healthy subjects at rest, during exercise and during the first 2 min of recovery. Exercise was carried out with progressively increasing loads to the maximum tolerated (progressive exercise) and also for a period of 6 min at a constant load of 60% of the maximum (steady-state exercise). 2. A highly significant linear relationship was found between work loads and dP/dt during progressive exercise in all our subjects. 3. A highly significant linear relationship was found between ventilation and dP/dt in both forms of exercise, but the slope of the regression line was steeper during progressive than during steady-state exercise in six out of nine subjects. 4. The pattern of breathing (VT, f, VT/Tinsp., Tinsp./Ttot.) did not account for the difference in the relationship between dP/dt and ventilation during the two forms of exercise. 5. These results are in agreement with the hypothesis that dP/dt is an index of central inspiratory drive.

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.

scholarly journals The Relationship between Visual-Spatial and Auditory-Verbal Working Memory Span in Senegalese and Ugandan Children

PLoS ONE ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. e8914 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Boivin ◽  
Paul Bangirana ◽  
Rebecca C. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Memory Span ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
Visual Spatial ◽  
The Relationship

Complex working memory span tasks and higher-order cognition: A latent-variable analysis of the relationship between processing and storage

Memory ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 635-654 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nash Unsworth ◽  
Thomas S. Redick ◽  
Richard P. Heitz ◽  
James M. Broadway ◽  
Randall W. Engle
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Latent Variable ◽  
Memory Span ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Latent Variable Analysis ◽  
Span Tasks ◽  
Processing And Storage ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
And Storage ◽  
Variable Analysis

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.

scholarly journals Age & Achievement

2004 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 49 ◽  
Author(s):  
James B. Grissom
Keyword(s):  
Linear Relationship ◽  
Educational Achievement ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
First Grade ◽  
Older Students ◽  
Transitional Kindergarten ◽  
Positive Linear Relationship ◽  
Grade Levels ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Relationship

There is continuing controversy about the optimal or appropriate age at which children should start school. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between age and achievement. It is an attempt to evaluate the hypothesis that older students fare better academically than their younger classmates. Findings indicate that on average for students in elementary school there is positive linear relationship between age and achievement for age normal peers. Even though there is positive linear relationship, the difference in average test scores between the oldest and youngest students is not great and by the time students reach 10th grade the positive linear relationship has disappeared. For overage students there is on average a negative linear relationship between age and achievement at all grade levels. That is, the negative relationship between age and achievement remains constant over time. These results argue against modifying entrance age policies, delaying school entry, implementing transitional kindergarten or first grade programs or retaining students to improve educational achievement. Policies and practices that make students older than their classmates inversely affect their educational achievement.

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