when ‘colorless green ideas’ meet working memory span
DESCRIPTION
When ‘Colorless green ideas’ meet working memory span. Olga V. Fedorova Ekaterina V. Pechenkova. Lomonosov Moscow State University. [email protected]. CML-07 workshop ‘Science of Cognition: Bridging Gaps between Cognitive Linguistics and Experimental Psychology’. July 31, 2007. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
When ‘Colorless green ideas’ meet working
memory span
July 31, 2007
Olga V. FedorovaEkaterina 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-TERMMEMORY
SHORT-TERMMEMORY
Span: 7±2 chunks
Duration: maintains information for 18-30
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
AlanBaddeley
LONG-TERM MEMORY
VISUO-SPATIAL
SCETCHPAD
EPISODICBUFFER
PHONO-LOGICAL
LOOP
CENTRALEXECUTIVE
(2001)
Reading span test =
MeredithDaneman
PatriciaCarpenter
Daneman, M., & Carpenter, P. (1980). Individual differences in working memory and reading.
Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 19, 450-466.
STORAGECOMPONENT
PROCESSINGCOMPONENT +
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, 12-15 words each
Reading span testReading span test(Russian version)(Russian version)
Тест на определение Тест на определение объема оперативной объема оперативной
памятипамяти
аудиовариантаудиовариант
(audio)(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!Эксперимент начинается!
Ready? Press the spacebar…Ready? Press the spacebar…
нажмитенажмите пробел!пробел!
Слушайте предложение 1Слушайте предложение 1
In September, every child, including myself, will go to school.
Listen to the sentence 1Listen to the sentence 1
Слушайте предложение 2Слушайте предложение 2
Mike sat down on the bench next to his home and started to look at the people
passing.
Listen to the sentence 2Listen to the sentence 2
Пожалуйста, повторите последние Пожалуйста, повторите последние слова этих двух предложенийслова этих двух предложений
Please, recall the final words of these Please, recall the final words of these two sentencestwo sentences
?
Школу School
Прохожих Passing
нажмитенажмите пробел!пробел!
Эксперимент начинается!Эксперимент начинается!
Ready? Press the spacebar…Ready? Press the spacebar…
Слушайте предложение 1Слушайте предложение 1
I like ice-cream very much, but afterwards I have an ache in my throat.
Listen to the sentence 1Listen to the sentence 1
Слушайте предложение 2Слушайте предложение 2
Tomorrow all members of our family will go to the mountains for skiing.
Listen to the sentence 2Listen to the sentence 2
Слушайте предложение 3Слушайте 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 3Listen to the sentence 3
Слушайте предложение 4Слушайте предложение 4
I haven't seen Anton since then because he has moved from our district.
Listen to the sentence 4Listen to the sentence 4
Слушайте предложение 5Слушайте предложение 5
As her birthday present, the girl was given a big fancy doll.
Listen to the sentence 5Listen to the sentence 5
Пожалуйста, повторите последние Пожалуйста, повторите последние слова этих пяти предложенийслова этих пяти предложений
Please, recall the final words of these Please, recall the final words of these five sentencesfive sentences
?
Горло Throat
Лыжах Skiing
Направо Right
Района District
Куклу Doll
Russian version vs. English
Russian English
Proportion of the Low-Span participants (span<4) 64,5% 50%
Auditory presentation advantage (vs. visual) greater weaker
Amount of the word form errors more less
Short final words advantage (vs. long) yes yes
What does the testreally 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)
Yes No
A tradeoff between a primary and a secondary
taskNo interference
Reading span test is a dual task
STORAGECOMPONENT
PROCESSINGCOMPONENT +
Reading sentences Memorizing final words
extracting maintaining
THERE IS A TRADEOFF,BUT…
Which one is
the primary task?
No component is
explicitly set
as a primary task
human ability of organizing one’s
memoryand of using memory
aids and semantic schemata
What does the testreally 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 wouldn’t 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
wordsStandard test
58% 45%
High span Low span
Study I: Conclusion
Accessibility of one’ssemantic schemata and memory aids
is a factor that influencesthe working memory span
Russian reading span data supports Baddeley’s 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 r
ela
ted
su
bco
mp
on
en
t of
Bad
dele
y’s
mod
el
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, 450-466.
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 2
Reference distance 6
0102030405060708090
100
small(2- 3) medium (4- 5) large(6- 7)
Reference distance, sentences
% t
he
per
centa
ge
of
corr
ect
resp
onse
s 2345
Comprehension in subjects withlow 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 0.52-0.63 (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
demandsMaterial: 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
ИНСТРУКЦИЯПросим 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 INSTRUCTIONSPlease, 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].
Нажмите пробел!
Study II: Results
32 participants,visual presentation
Scores: 5 percent for each group reported correctly
Visual search Standard test
54% 74%
High span High span
There is a difference (ANOVA F=25.39, p<0.001)There is a medium correlation
(Spearman’s rho=0.36, p=0.045
Study II: Conclusion
each subcomponent ofthe Daneman-Carpenter task
requires both general and specificprocessing 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!