PHONOLOGICALWORKING MEMORY

The component of working memory (WM) which stores and recycles input in phonological form. How well a listener retains what is heard appears to be partly determined by the capacity of their phonological WM, as does their success or failure at learning a foreign language. In a child, it may affect vocabulary development and success as a reader.

 Baddeley’s model of working memory has a phonological loop which stores input in phonological form. The loop also permits articulatory rehearsal, a process of subvocal repetition which extends the life of stored information, ensures its transfer to long-term memory and recodes written input into a more durable phonological form.

In this model, there are thus three ways in which phonological WMmight be impaired. There might be a deficit in how much an individual is able to store; there might be a rapid decay of information held in the store; or there might be a deficit in how much an individual is able to rehearse.

Phonological WM capacity is traditionally measured by Auditory Short-Term Memory (ASTM) tests in which a subject is asked to recall sets of digits, words or non-words. The sets increase by a digit a time until recall begins to fail; this gives a measure of the subject’s digit or word span. Some experimenters question the validity of this approach on the grounds that long-term lexical knowledge may be involved. They prefer a non-word repetition task, in which subjects repeat non words containing an increasing number of syllables. Others employ a reading span test, in which subjects read sets of sentences ranging in number from two to seven and are asked to recall the last word of each. However, reading span measures involve the processing as well as the storage of linguistic material, and thus involve other components of WM.

Phonological working memory may influence achievement in a number of areas:

Vocabulary acquisition. In children under six, a close relationship has been found between non-word repetition scores and level of vocabulary– suggesting that phonological WM contributes to a child’s ability to commit the spoken form of a new word to long-term memory. Children with better memories appear to acquire longer lasting and more sharply defined phonological traces. This factor seems less important as the children get older, reflecting the influence of reading and the increased possibility of making word-form analogies as the vocabulary base gets larger.

Reading ability. Measures of phonological WM correlate with reading ability. Poor reading skills appear to be associated with an inability to acquire the phonological forms of new words. It may be that the weak reader finds it harder to relate written forms to phonological ones by means of the rehearsal mechanism.

Language learning. Studies of primary school children and of adults have found a strong correlation between repetition scores and achievement in learning a foreign language.

Speech buffer. It has been suggested that phonological WM might be involved in language production as well as perception. In particular, it might contribute to the buffer in which speech output is held before it is uttered. However, patients with impaired phonological memory do not seem to suffer corresponding deficits in spontaneous speech production.

 See also: Reading: decoding, Reading span, Working memory

Further reading: Gathercole and Baddeley (1993: Chap. 3)

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مواضيع ذات صلة

PHONOTACTIC RULES

PHONOLOGICAL REPRESENTATION

PHONOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT: PRODUCTION

PHONOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT: PERCEPTION

PHONOLOGICAL BIAS TECHNIQUE

PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS

PERCEPTUAL MAGNET EFFECT

PERCEPTION

PAUSING

PATTERN RECOGNITION (also PATTERN MATCHING)

PARAPHASIA

PARALLEL PROCESSING