scholarly journals High working memory performers have efficient eye movement control systems under Reading Span Test

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Miyuki Azuma ◽  
Takashi Ikeda ◽  
Takehiro Minamoto ◽  
Mariko Osaka ◽  
Naoyuki Osaka
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Movement Control ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Fixation Time ◽  
Reading Span ◽  
Eye Movement Control ◽  
Span Test

Controlled eye movements are critical in performing highly goal oriented behavior such as text reading. Previous studies have examined the relationship between working memory capacity and eye movement control during working memory task. However, the results were inconsistent, due to a methodological issue including the predictability of target location. In the present study, we used Japanese version of reading span test, where the position of to-be-remembered word is not predictable so that more efficient attentional control is required, and investigated how working memory capacity contributes to eye movement control during reading span test. Results based on total fixation time revealed that highworking memory performers efficiently control or shift their attention under high memory load.

scholarly journals Effect of memory load on eye movement control: A study using the reading span test

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Miyuki Azuma ◽  
Takehiro Minamoto ◽  
Ken Yaoi ◽  
Mariko Osaka ◽  
Naoyuki Osaka
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Movement Control ◽  
Fixation Time ◽  
Reading Span ◽  
Load Effect ◽  
Eye Movement Control ◽  
Span Test ◽  
Memory Resources

We investigated the effect of memory load on attentional control using the Reading Span Test (RST), a task that requires working memory capacity. Previous studies have shown that a shortage of working memory resources leads to a deficit of inhibition of taskirrelevant information and that memory load affects eye movement control. Here, we recorded eye movement and integrated it with RST performance. Total fixation time and the number of regressions showed a memory load effect with the to-be-remembered word, and RST performance was also affected under high memory load. We concluded that a shortage of working memory resources caused by memory load prevents flexible eye movement control and may cause a deficit in inhibitory control based on intrusion errors.

L2 Working Memory Capacity and L2 Reading Skill

1992 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Harrington ◽  
Mark Sawyer
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
First Language ◽  
Reading Skill ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Reading Span ◽  
L2 Reading ◽  
Span Test ◽  
Reading Measures ◽  
Processing And Storage

Working memory capacity refers to the ability to store and process information simultaneously in real time and has been shown to correlate highly with first language (L1) reading skill. This study examines the sensitivity of second language (L2) working memory capacity to differences in reading skill among advanced L2 learners. The index of working memory capacity used was the reading span test (Daneman & Carpenter, 1980). Subjects with larger working memory capacities scored higher on measures of reading skill, in contrast with the lack of strong correlations between measures of passive short-term storage (memory for strings of random words or digits) and the same reading measures. This result is consistent with an interpretation of the reading span test as an index of working memory capacity, in which capacity is defined functionally in terms of a trade-off between active processing and storage. Issues involved in investigating working memory capacity are discussed and the role of capacity limitations in models of L2 comprehension is considered.

Effects of working memory capacity in processing wh-extractions: eye-movement evidence from Chinese-English bilinguals

2016 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 420-438 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huixia Zhou ◽  
Sonja Rossi ◽  
Juan Li ◽  
Huanhuan Liu ◽  
Ran Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity

Measuring Working Memory Capacity With Automated Complex Span Tasks

2012 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 164-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas S. Redick ◽  
James M. Broadway ◽  
Matt E. Meier ◽  
Princy S. Kuriakose ◽  
Nash Unsworth ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Young Adult ◽  
Normative Data ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Reading Span ◽  
Validity And Reliability ◽  
Complex Span ◽  
Adult Participants ◽  
Span Tasks

Individual differences in working memory capacity are related to a variety of behaviors both within and outside of the lab. Recently developed automated complex span tasks have contributed to increasing our knowledge concerning working memory capacity by making valid and reliable assessments freely available for use by researchers. Combining the samples from three testing locations yielded data from over 6,000 young adult participants who performed at least one of three such tasks (Operation, Symmetry, and Reading Span). Normative data are presented here for researchers interested in applying cutoffs for their own applications, and information on the validity and reliability of the tasks is also reported. In addition, the data were analyzed as a function of sex and college status. While automated complex span tasks are just one way to measure working memory capacity, the use of a standardized procedure for administration and scoring greatly facilitates comparison across studies.

Working Memory Capacity and Individual Differences in the Making of Reinstatement and Elaborative Inferences

2012 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 471-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Pablo Barreyro ◽  
Jazmín Cevasco ◽  
Débora Burín ◽  
Carlos Molinari Marotto
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Lexical Decision ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Reading Span ◽  
Causal Inferences ◽  
Decision Times ◽  
Target Words

This study investigated the role of working memory capacity on the making of reinstatement and causal elaborative inferences during the reading of natural texts. In order to determine participants' working memory capacity, they were asked to take the reading span task before they took part in the study. Those participants that were identified as high or low working memory capacity readers were asked to perform a lexical decision task in two conditions: pre-inference and inference. In the pre-inference condition, target words representing reinstatement or causal elaborative inferences were presented immediately before the sentences that were predicted to prompt them. In the inference condition, the target words were presented immediately after the sentences that were predicted to prompt the inferences. Results indicated that, for the high working memory capacity readers, lexical decision times were faster at the inference compared to the pre-inference locations for both types of inferences. In the case of low working capacity readers, lexical decision times were faster at the inference compared to the pre-inference locations only for reinstatement inferences. These findings suggest that working memory capacity plays a role in the making of causal inferences during the comprehension of natural texts.

Phonological short-term memory, working memory and foreign language performance in intensive language learning

2008 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 261-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
JUDIT KORMOS ◽  
ANNA SÁFÁR
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Digit Span ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Digit Span Test ◽  
Span Test

In our research we addressed the question what the relationship is between phonological short-term and working memory capacity and performance in an end-of-year reading, writing, listening, speaking and use of English test. The participants of our study were 121 secondary school students aged 15–16 in the first intensive language training year of a bilingual education program in Hungary. The participants performed a non-word repetition test and took a Cambridge First Certificate Exam. Fifty students were also tested with a backward digit span test, measuring their working memory capacity. Our study indicates that phonological short-term memory capacity plays a different role in the case of beginners and pre-intermediate students in intensive language learning. The backward digit span test correlated very highly with the overall English language competence, as well as with reading, listening, speaking and use of English (vocabulary and grammar) test scores.

scholarly journals Chunking as a rational strategy for lossy data compression in visual working memory

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew R. Nassar ◽  
Julie C. Helmers ◽  
Michael J. Frank
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Performance Optimization ◽  
Human Performance ◽  
Storage Capacity ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Quantitative Description ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Capacity Limitations

AbstractThe nature of capacity limits for visual working memory has been the subject of an intense debate that has relied on models that assume items are encoded independently. Here we propose that instead, similar features are jointly encoded through a “chunking” process to optimize performance on visual working memory tasks. We show that such chunking can: 1) facilitate performance improvements for abstract capacity-limited systems, 2) be optimized through reinforcement, 3) be implemented by center-surround dynamics, and 4) increase effective storage capacity at the expense of recall precision. Human performance on a variant of a canonical working memory task demonstrated performance advantages, precision detriments, inter-item dependencies, and trial-to-trial behavioral adjustments diagnostic of performance optimization through center-surround chunking. Models incorporating center-surround chunking provided a better quantitative description of human performance in our study as well as in a meta-analytic dataset, and apparent differences in working memory capacity across individuals were attributable to individual differences in the implementation of chunking. Our results reveal a normative rationale for center-surround connectivity in working memory circuitry, call for re-evaluation of memory performance differences that have previously been attributed to differences in capacity, and support a more nuanced view of visual working memory capacity limitations: strategic tradeoff between storage capacity and memory precision through chunking contribute to flexible capacity limitations that include both discrete and continuous aspects.

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