Pruning the right branch : working memory and understanding sentences

An experiment was conducted to determine whether tests used to assess working memory in different disciplines (neuroimaging, psycholinguistics, neuropsychology) are highly correlated, and thus whether they are equivalent measures of a unitary underlying function. Scores on the different tests (N-back, reading span, backward digit span) did not correlate highly, and were predicted by measures of different hypothesized components of working memory. These results indicate that working memory is best conceived of as a system of multiple, interacting components that contribute to different aspects of task performance, rather than as a single, unified resource, and that currently popular tests of working memory cannot be used interchangeably to measure working memory. A second experiment was conducted to examine the relation between sentence memory and working memory, and to determine whether memory for sentences is a function of the number of clauses in the sentence, or the number of new discourse referents. Subjects heard sentences of different lengths (2 - 5 clauses) and structures (relative clause, sentential complement, double object). Double object sentences contained one additional discourse referent per clause than the other two sentence types.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Brain and Cognitive Sciences.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

1998

Author dc:creator

• Roberts, Rose M., 1971-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Suzanne Corkin and Mary C. Potter.

• Brain and Cognitive Sciences.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/47888

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/47888