When Colorless green ideas meet working memory span July 31, 2007 Olga V. Fedorova Ekaterina V. Pechenkova Lomonosov Moscow State University CML-07 workshop Science of Cognition: Bridging Gaps between Cognitive Linguistics and Experimental Psychology

? Which way does memory affect speech? Memory is… encoding, storage and retrieval of information Human memory stores motion emotion images logic and linguistic structures ? Which way does language affect memory?

Classical cognitive approach: multiple memory systems LONG-TERM MEMORY SHORT-TERM MEMORY Span: 7±2 chunks Duration: maintains information for sec (without rehearsal) Recoding information into verbal format Capacity limits are not known Maintains information for the lifetime (potentially unlimited duration) Declarative and procedural formats, including schemata and semantic networks REHEARSAL ?

Working memory Alan Baddeley LONG-TERM MEMORY VISUO- SPATIAL SCETCHPAD EPISODIC BUFFER PHONO- LOGICAL LOOP CENTRAL EXECUTIVE (2001)

Reading span test = Meredith Daneman Patricia Carpenter Daneman, M., & Carpenter, P. (1980). Individual differences in working memory and reading. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 19, STORAGE COMPONENT PROCESSING COMPONENT +

Reading span in Russian Elaborated by Olga Fedorova and colleagues in 2001 Processing: reading sentences Storage: maintaining the final words of these sentences NB! Russian sentences appear to be much longer if we count the number of syllables, since the portion of one or two syllable words in Russian is significantly less than in English Visual or auditory presentation 70 sentences, words each

Reading span test (Russian version) Тест на определение объема оперативной памяти аудиовариант(audio)

Данный эксперимент тестирует объем Вашей оперативной памяти; информация в ней хранится всего несколько секунд. Вам необходимо будет запоминать и потом воспроизводить последние слова предложений, которые Вы будете слышать, точно в той же форме и в том же порядке, в которой они были произнесены. This is the test of your working memory. The working memory stores information for just a few seconds. You will be listening to sentences, and you will have to memorize the final words of these sentences. Then you will have to recall these words keeping their form and the order of appearance.

Количество предложений будет неуклонно возрастать, тем самым Ваше задание будет усложняться. Если Вы не можете вспомнить последнее слово какого-то предложения, переходите к следующему. The number of the sentences in a series will be increased step by step, so the difficulty of the task will grow. If you cannot recall some word, please, skip it and go on to the next one.

Эксперимент начинается! Ready? Press the spacebar… нажмитепробел! нажмите пробел!

Слушайте предложение 1 In September, every child, including myself, will go to school. Listen to the sentence 1

Слушайте предложение 2 Mike sat down on the bench next to his home and started to look at the people passing. Listen to the sentence 2

Пожалуйста, повторите последние слова этих двух предложений Please, recall the final words of these two sentences ?

ШколуSchool ПрохожихPassing

нажмитепробел! нажмите пробел! Эксперимент начинается! Ready? Press the spacebar…

Слушайте предложение 1 I like ice-cream very much, but afterwards I have an ache in my throat. Listen to the sentence 1

Слушайте предложение 2 Tomorrow all members of our family will go to the mountains for skiing. Listen to the sentence 2

Слушайте предложение 3 In order to get to the restaurant from our house, you should turn to the right and then again to the right. Listen to the sentence 3

Слушайте предложение 4 I haven't seen Anton since then because he has moved from our district. Listen to the sentence 4

Слушайте предложение 5 As her birthday present, the girl was given a big fancy doll. Listen to the sentence 5

Пожалуйста, повторите последние слова этих пяти предложений Please, recall the final words of these five sentences ?

ГорлоThroat ЛыжахSkiing НаправоRight РайонаDistrict КуклуDoll

Russian version vs. English RussianEnglish Proportion of the Low-Span participants (span

What does the test really measure? Authors of the test:working memory for reading Further common view:storage capacity that determines linguistic skills Alan Baddeley:effectiveness of the central executive and episodic buffer Kyllonen & Christal:general intelligence Why is there a variety of suggestions?

Reading span test is a dual task Dual task paradigm Common resource (structural or energetic) YesNo A tradeoff between a primary and a secondary task No interference

Reading span test is a dual task STORAGE COMPONENT PROCESSING COMPONENT + Reading sentences Memorizing final words extractingmaintaining THERE IS A TRADEOFF, BUT… Which one is the primary task? No component is explicitly set as a primary task

human ability of organizing ones memory and of using memory aids and semantic schemata What does the test really measure? Our hypothesis:

Study I: semantically related final words И мне стало грустно, когда я подумал, что они не пойдут завтракать в шикарный ресторан. Содрав с маленьких сухощавых рук перчатки, Нина последний раз в жизни ела моллюски. Увидев маленькое кафе, он юркнул туда, чтобы передохнуть, и заказал еще одну чашку кофе. Вино выдерживали слишком долго, и оно совсем испортилось и потеряло свой цвет и вкус. Experimental condition

Study I: semantically related final words And I felt sad when I thought that they wouldnt go for a breakfast to a fancy restaurant. Nina teared off her gloves from her small lean hands and for the last time in her life was eating shellfish. When he got a sight of a small café, he dropped in to have some rest and ordered another cup of coffee. The vine was aged for too long, so it finally was spoilt and has lost its color and taste. Experimental condition

Мы дошли до двери, и я видел, как она быстро переступила порог и пошла по вестибюлю. Надо было достойно вознаградить усилия того, кто достиг совершенства в своем ремесле. Он сидел на скамье и показался мне темной, бесформенной грудой в образе человека. Граф закрыл окно и задернул шторы: сквозняк и электрический свет привлекают молнию. Study I: semantically related final words Control condition – standard test

We came up to a door, and I saw her quickly stepping over the doorstep and going along the vestibule. An appropriate reward was needed for the effort of one who reached perfection in his profession. He was sitting on the bench and seemed to me as a dark shapeless pile in appearance of a human. The earl closed the window and drew the draperies since the draught and the electric light attract the lighting. Study I: semantically related final words Control condition – standard test

Study I: Results 40 participants, visual presentation, reading aloud Scores: 5 percent for each group reported correctly Semantically related final words Standard test 58%45% High spanLow span

Study I: Conclusion Accessibility of ones semantic schemata and memory aids is a factor that influences the working memory span

Russian reading span data supports Baddeleys model Short final words are better recalled than the long ones Artificial articulation difficulties decreases the test score Semantically related words that could be linked to each other by means of visual memory aids are recalled better than a typical random word set Any other mental load decreases the results A related subcomponent of Baddeleys model Phonolo- gical loop Visuo- spatial scetchpad Central executive

Working memory span correlates with text comprehension Daneman, M., & Carpenter, P. (1980). Individual differences in working memory and reading. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 19, EXAMPLE: Comprehension of the text with large reference distances in people with high and low reading span

It was midnight and the jungle was very still. Suddenly the cry of a wolf pierced the air. This anguished note was followed by a flurry of activity. All the beasts of the jungle recognized that an urgent meeting had been summoned by the lion, their king. Representatives from each species made rapid preparations to get to the river clearing. This was where all such emergency assemblies were held. The elephant and tiger were the first to arrive. Next came the gorilla, panther and snake. They were followed by the owl and the crocodile. The proceedings were delayed because the leopard had not shown up yet. There was much speculation as to the reasons for the midnight alarm. Finally he arrived and the meeting could commence. Question: Who finally arrived? Sitting with Richie, Archie, Walter and the rest of my gang in the Grill yesterday, I began to feel uneasy. Robbie had put a dime in the juke box. It was blaring one of the latest "Rock and Roll" favorites. I was studying, in horror, the reactions of my friends to the music. I was especially perturbed by the expression on my best friend's face. Wayne looked intense and was pounding the table furiously to the beat. Now, I like most of the things other teenage boys like. I like girls with soft blonde hair, girls with dark curly hair, in fact all girls. I like milkshakes, football games and beach parties. I like denim jeans, fancy T-shirts and sneakers. It is not that I dislike rock music but I think it is supposed to be fun and not taken too seriously. And here he was, "all shook up" and serious over the crazy music. Question: Who was "all shook up" and serious over the music? Reference distance 2Reference distance 6

Comprehension in subjects with low vs. high reading span Reading span

Why is the correlation? There is no correlation of linguistic skills with standard single task working memory test like word or digit span (Turner&Engle, 1989). The correlation is there even if we substitute the sentences by arithmetic expressions and/or final words by final figures (Turner&Engle, 1989). Modifications of the processing task (i.e. different types of judgements about the sentence) give correlations at the range (Waters & Caplan, 1996) Test-retest reliability is only moderate: correlations at the range 0,41-0,54 (Kuntsi et al., 2001)

Study II: Is the source of interference syntactically specific? Глокая куздра штеко будланула бокра и курдячит бокрёнка… Processing component task: informational visual search verbal with high attention demands and low syntactic demands Material: Russian grammatical, but nonsense sentences (like one invented by L.V. Shcherba, 1920th) with real Russian words embedded

Colorless green ideas sleep furiously Compare to by Noam Chomsky (1957) Глокая куздра штеко будланула бокра и курдячит бокрёнка… by L.V. Shcherba, 1920th

ИНСТРУКЦИЯ Просим Вас: прочитать предложение про себя один раз и запомнить из него все русские слова; когда предложение исчезнет с экрана, назвать все русские слова из этого предложения в той же форме и в том же порядке, в которой они были в предложении. TEST INSTRUCTIONS Please, read each sentence silently once, and memorize all Russian words that would be there; on disappearance of the sentence, recall all Russian words keeping their word form and order

Предложение будет появляться на экране на несколько секунд. Количество русских слов в одном предложении будет постепенно возрастать. Each sentence will appear on the screen for a few second. The number of the Russian words in the sentence will be increased step by step.

Йоу, биктя ю рекетя быстро шлемзит худамп хлеб лопатик. Yoou, biktya yu reketya, bystro [rapidly] shlemzit khudamp khleb [the bread] lopatik

Нажмите пробел!

Брундая куздра, живущая ф трукате хуранта, громко куздряет рядом проходящих бяко людей. Brundaya kuzdra, zhivuzhchaya [living] f trukate khuranta, gromko [loudly] kuzdryaet ryadom [near] prokhodyazhchikh [passing by] byako lyudey [people].

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Study II: Results 32 participants, visual presentation Scores: 5 percent for each group reported correctly Visual searchStandard test 54%74% High span There is a difference (ANOVA F=25.39, p

Study II: Conclusion each subcomponent of the Daneman-Carpenter task requires both general and specific processing resources

Conclusions Russian version of the standard reading span test fits the classic model of the working memory structure proposed by Alan Baddeley The test apparently provides a measure of individual verbal processing abilities rather than individual working memory capacity as such

Thank you twas brillig, and the slithy toves for your did gyre and gimble kind attention in the wabe! Спасибо воркалось. Хливкие шорьки пырялись по наве, и хрюкотали за внимание зелюки как мюмзики в мове!