Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-wq2xx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T00:03:40.070Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Working Memory, Text Comprehension, and Propositional Reasoning: A New Semantic Anaphora WM Test

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2013

Nuria Carriedo ,
M. Rosa Elosúa  and
Juan A. García-Madruga
Nuria Carriedo
Affiliation:
Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (Spain)
M. Rosa Elosúa
Affiliation:
Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (Spain)
Juan A. García-Madruga*
Affiliation:
Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (Spain)
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Juan A. García-Madruga. Dpto. Psicología Evolutiva y de la Educación. U.N.E.D. C/ Juan del Rosal, 10. 28040. Madrid. (Spain). Pone: +34-913986244. Fax.: +34-913987951. E-mail: jmadruga@psi.uned.es
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The aim of this study was to present a new working memory test following the line of work started by García-Madruga et al. (2007) and to examine its relation to reading comprehension and propositional reasoning measures. In that study we designed a new working memory span test –based on Daneman & Carpenter's (1980) Reading Span Test (RST)– in which the processing task called for an inferential decision –to resolve a pronominal anaphora based on Morpho-Syntactic cues– and had people recall the result of this inference. In the current study, besides the RST and the Morpho-Syntactic Anaphora test, we presented a new Semantic Anaphora measure. In order to check the validity of this new Working Memory (WM) task, we used the same reasoning task used in the previous study as well as a new reading comprehension test. The results show the tight relationship amongst working memory, reading comprehension and reasoning, and confirm the validity of the new WM measure.

El propósito de este trabajo es presentar una nueva prueba de memoria operativa y examinar su relación con la comprensión lectora y el razonamiento, en la línea comenzada por el estudio de García-Madruga et al. (2007). En ese estudio se diseñó una nueva medida de amplitud de memoria operativa –basada en Reading Span Test (RST) de Daneman & Carpenter (1980)– en la que la tarea de procesamiento exigía la realización de una inferencia –resolver una anáfora pronominal a partir de los rasgos Morfosintácticos– y los participantes debían recordar el resultado de esta inferencia. Además del RST y la prueba de Anáforas Morfosintácticas, en el presente estudio presentamos una nueva medida de Anáforas Semánticas. Para comprobar la validez de esta nueva tarea de Memoria Operativa (MO) hemos utilizado la misma tarea de razonamiento que en el estudio anterior, así como una nueva tarea de comprensión lectora. Los resultados muestran la estrecha relación entre memoria operativa, comprensión lectora y razonamiento, y confirman la validez de la nueva medida de MO.

Keywords

working memoryreading comprehensionreasoningmemoria operativacomprensión lectorarazonamiento
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , May 2011 , pp. 37 - 49
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baddeley, A. D. (2000). The episodic buffer: A new component of working memory? Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 11, 417–423. doi:10.1016/S1364-6613(00)01538-2CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baddeley, A. D. (2007). Working Memory, Thought, and Action. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baddeley, A. D., & Hitch, G. (1974). Working memory. In Bower, G. A. (Ed.), The Psychology of Learning and Motivation (vol. 8, pp. 47–89). New York, NY: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Baddeley, A. D., Logie, R., Nimmo-Smith, I., & Brereton, N. (1985). Components of fluent reading. Journal of Memory and Language, 24, 119–131. doi:10.1016/0749-596X(85)90019-1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bara, B., Bucciarelli, M., & Johnson-Laird, J. N. (1995). The development of syllogistic reasoning. The American Journal of Psychology, 108(2), 157–193. doi:10.2307/1423127CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barrett, L. F., Tugade, M., & Engle, R. W. (2004). Individual Differences in Working Memory Capacity and Dual-Process Theories of the Mind. Psychological Bulletin, 130(4), 553–573. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.130.4.553CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barrouillet, P. (1996). Transitive inferences from set inclusion relations and working memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 6, 1408–1422. doi:10.1037//0278-7393.22.6.1408Google Scholar
Barrouillet, P., & Lecas, J. F. (1999). Mental models in conditional reasoning and working memory. Thinking and Reasoning, 5(4), 289–302. doi:10.1080/135467899393940CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cain, K., Oakhill, J., & Bryant, P. (2004). Children's reading comprehension ability: Concurrent prediction by working memory, verbal ability, and component skills. Journal of Educational Psychology, 96, 31–42. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.96.1.31CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cain, K., Oakhill, J., & Lemmon, K. (2004). Individual differences in the inference of word meanings from context: The influence of reading comprehension, vocabulary knowledge, and memory capacity. Journal of Educational Psychology, 96, 671–681. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.96.4.671CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caplan, D., & Waters, G. S. (1999). Verbal working memory and sentence comprehension. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 22, 77–126. doi:10.1017/S0140525X99001788CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carriedo, N., García-Madruga, J. A., Gutiérrez, F., & Moreno, S. (1999). How does content affect “unless” conditional reasoning? In Proceedings of the European Conference on Cognitive Science (pp. 271–277), Siena, Italy.Google Scholar
Case, R., Kurland, D. M., & Goldberg, J. (1982). Operational efficiency and the growth of short-term memory span. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 33(3), 386–404. doi:10.1016/0022-0965(82)90054-6CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Copeland, D., & Radvansky, G. (2004). Working memory and syllogistic reasoning. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 57(8), 1437–1457. doi:10.1080/02724980343000846CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Conway, A. R. A., Cowan, N., Bunting, M. F., Therriault, D. J., & Minkoff, S. R. B. (2002). A latent variable analysis of working memory capacity, short-term memory capacity, processing speed, and general fluid intelligence. Intelligence, 30, 163–183. doi:10.1016/S0160-2896(01)00096-4CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dancygier, B. (2002). Mental space embeddings, counterfactuality and the use of unless. English language and linguistics, 6, 367–37. doi:10.1017/S1360674302000278CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daneman, M., & Carpenter, P. (1980). Individual differences in working memory and reading. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 19, 450–466. doi:10.1016/S0022-5371(80)90312-6CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daneman, M., & Hannon, B. (2001). Using working memory theory to investigate the construct validity of multiplechoice reading comprehension tests such as the SAT. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 2, 208–223. doi:10.1037//0096-3445.130.2.208CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daneman, M., & Merikle, P. M. (1996). Working memory and comprehension: A meta-analysis. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 3, 422–433. doi:10.3758/BF03214546CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
De Neys, W., Schaeken, W., & D'Ydewalle, G. (2005). Working memory and everyday conditional reasoning: Retrieval and inhibition of stored counterexamples. Thinking & Reasoning, 11, 349–381. doi:10.1080/13546780442000222CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elosúa, M. R., Carriedo, N., & García-Madruga, J. A. (2009). Dos nuevas pruebas de Memoria Operativa de Anáforas [Two new Anaphora Working Memory Tests]. Infancia y Aprendizaje. Journal for the Study of Education and Development 32(1), 97–118. doi:10.1174/021037009787138185CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elosúa, M. R., García-Madruga, J. A., Gutiérrez, F., Luque, J. L., & Gárate, M. (1997). Un estudio sobre las diferencias evolutivas en la memoria operativa: ¿Capacidad o eficiencia? [A study about develomental differences in working memory: capacity or efficiency?] Estudios de Psicología, 58, 15–27. doi:10.1174/021093997320954827CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elosúa, M. R., Gutiérrez, F., García-Madruga, J. A., Luque, J. L., & Garate, M. (1996). Versión española del “Reading Span Test” de Daneman and Carpenter. [Spanish version of Daneman & Carpenter's “Reading Span Test”]. Psicothema, 2, 383–395.Google Scholar
Engle, R. W. (1996). Working memory and retrieval: an inhibition-resource approach. In Richardson, J. T. E., Engle, R. W., Hasher, L., Logie, R. H., Stoltzfus, E. R., & Zacks, R. T.. Working Memory and Human Cognition (pp. 89–119). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Engle, R. W. (2002). Working memory capacity as executive attention. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11, 19–23. doi:10.1111/1467-8721.00160CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Engle, R. W., Carullo, J. J., & Collins, K. W. (1991). Individual differences in working memory for comprensión and following directions. Journal of Educational Research, 84, 253–262.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Engle, R. W., Kane, M. J., & Tuholski, S. W. (1999). Working memory and controlled attention. In Miyake, A. & Shah, P. (Eds.), Models of working memory: Mechanism of active maintenance and executive control (pp. 102–134). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1016/S0079-7421(03)44005-XCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Engle, R. W., & Oransky, N. (1999). Multi-store versus dynamic models of temporary storage in memory. In Sternberg, R. J. (Ed.), The nature of cognition (pp. 515–555). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Evans, J.St. B. T. (2006). The heuristic-analytic theory of reasoning: extension and evaluation. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 13(3), 378–95. doi:10.3758/BF03193858CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Evans, J.St. B. T. (2008). Dual-Processing accounts of reasoning, judgement and social cognition. Annual Review of Psychology, 59, 255–78. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.59.103006.093629CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Friedman, N. P., & Miyake, A. (2004). The reading span test and its predictive power for reading comprehension ability. Journal of Memory and Language, 51, 136–158. doi:10.1016/j.jml.2004.03.008CrossRefGoogle Scholar
García-Madruga, J. A., Carriedo, N., Moreno-Ríos, S., Gutiérrez, F., & Schaeken, W. (2008). Unless reasoning. The Spanish Journal of Psychology 11(2), 386–389.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
García-Madruga, J. A., Gárate, M., Elosúa, M. R., Luque, J. L., & Gutiérrez, F. (1997). Comprensión lectora y memoria operativa: un estudio evolutivo. [Reading comprehension and working memory: a developmental study] Cognitiva, 9(1), 99–132. doi:10.1174/02143559760422406CrossRefGoogle Scholar
García-Madruga, J. A., Gutiérrez, F., Carriedo, N., Luzón, J. M., & Vila, J. O. (2005). Working memory and propositional reasoning: Searching for new working memory tests. In Girotto, V. and Johnson-Laird, P. N. (Eds.), The shape of reason. Essays in honour of Paolo Legrenzi (pp. 69–89). London: Psychology PressGoogle Scholar
García-Madruga, J. A., Gutiérrez, F., Carriedo, N., Luzón, J. M., & Vila, J. O. (2007). Checking the Role of Central Executive in Propositional Reasoning, Thinking and Reasoning, 13(4), 370–393.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
García-Madruga, J. A., Moreno-Ríos, S., Carriedo, N., Gutiérrez, F., & Johnson-Laird, P. N. (2001). Are conjunctive inferences easier than disjunctive inferences? A comparison of rules and models. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 54A, 613–632. doi:10.1080/02724980042000309CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilhooly, K. J. (1998). Working memory, strategies, and reasoning task. In Logie, R. H., & Gilhooly, K. J. (Eds.), Working memory and thinking (pp. 23–45). Hove, UK: Psychology Press. doi:10.4324/9780203346754_chapter_TWOGoogle Scholar
Gilhooly, K. J., Logie, R. H., & Wynn, V. (1999). Syllogistic reasoning tasks and working memory: Evidence from sequential presentation of premises. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 11(4), 473–498. doi:10.1080/095414499382264CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gutiérrez, F., García-Madruga, J. A., Carriedo, N., Vila, J. O., & Luzón, J. M. (2005). Dos pruebas de amplitud de memoria operativa para el razonamiento [Two span working memory tests for reasoning], Cognitiva, 17, 183–207. doi:10.1174/0214355054739255CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson-Laird, P. N., & Byrne, R. M. J. (1991). Deduction. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Johnson-Laird, P. N., & Byrne, R. M. J. (2002). Conditionals: A theory of meaning, pragmatics, and inference. Psychological Review, 109, 646–678. doi:10.1037//0033-295X.109.4.646CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Just, M. A., & Carpenter, P. A. (1992). A capacity theory of comprehension. Psychological Review, 99, 122–149. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.99.1.122CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Just, M. A., & Carpenter, P. A. (2002). A capacity theory of comprehension: Individual differences in working memory. In Polk, T. A. and Seifert, C. M. (Eds.), Cognitive Modelling, (pp. 131–177). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. doi:10.1037//0033-295X.99.1.122CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kyllonen, P. C., & Christal, R. E. (1990). Reasoning ability is (little more than) working memory capacity? Intelligence, 14, 389–433. doi:10.1016/S0160-2896(05)80012-1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lépine, R., Barrouillet, P., & Camos, V. (2005). What makes working memory spans so predictive of high-level cognition? Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 12(1), 165–170. doi:10.3758/BF03196363CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Light, L. L., & Anderson, P. A. (1985). Working memory, capacity, age, and memory for discourse. Journal of Gerontology, 40, 737–747.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Markovits, H., Doyon, C., & Simoneau, M. (2002). Individual differences in working memory and conditional reasoning with concrete and abstract content. Thinking & Reasoning, 8(2), 97–107. doi:10.1080/13546780143000143CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miyake, A., & Shah, P. (1999). Toward unified theories of working memory: Emerging general consensus, unresolved theoretical issues, and future research directions. In Miyake, A. & Shah, P. (Eds.), Models of Working Memory (pp. 442–481). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Montolío, E. (1999). Las construcciones condicionales. In Bosque, I. and Demonte, V. (dirs.), Gramática descriptiva de la Lengua Española. Madrid: Espasa Calpe.Google Scholar
Oakhill, J., Yuill, N., & Parkin, A. (1986). On the nature of the difference between skilled and less skilled comprehenders. Journal of Research in Reading, 9, 80–91. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9817.1986.tb00115.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Radvansky, G. A., & Copeland, D. E. (2004). Reasoning, integration, inference alteration and text comprehension. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 58, 133–141. doi:10.1037/h0085793CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ramos, J. L., & Cuetos, F. (2000). Evaluación de Procesos Lectores. PROLEC-SE. [Assessment of reading processes. PROLEC-SE]. Madrid: TEA Ediciones.Google Scholar
Richardson, J. T. E. (1996). Evolving concepts of working memory. In Richardson, J. T. E., Engle, R. W., Hasher, L., Logie, R. H., Stoltzfus, E. R., & Zacks, R. T. (Eds.), Working memory and human cognition (pp. 3–30). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saito, S., & Miyake, A. (2004). On the nature of forgetting and the processing–storage relationship in reading span performance. Journal of Memory and Language 50, 425–443. doi:10.1016/j.jml.2003.12.003CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shah, P., & Miyake, A. (1996). The separability of working memory resources for spatial thinking and language processing: an individual differences approach. Journal of perimental Psychology: General, 125, 4–27. doi:10.1037//0096-3445.125.1.4Google ScholarPubMed
Schaeken, W., García-Madruga, J. A., & D'Ydewalle, G. (1997). unless reasoning, Unpublished manuscript, Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, Leuven University, Belgium.Google Scholar
Stanovich, K. E. (1999). Who is rational? Studies of individual differences in reasoning. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Toms, M., Warris, N., & Ward, D. (1993). Working memory and conditional reasoning. Quaterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 46A, 679–699.Google Scholar
Turner, M. L., & Engle, R. W. (1989). Is working memory capacity task dependent? Journal of Memory & Language, 28, 127–154. doi:10.1016/0749-596X(89)90040-5CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vidal-Abarca, E., Gilabert, R., Martínez, T., Sellés, P., Abad, N., & Ferrer, C. (2007). Test de Estrategias de Comprensión [Strategy Comprehesion Test]. Madrid: ICCE.Google Scholar
Whitney, P., Arnett, P. A., Driver, A., & Budd, D. (2001). Measuring central executive functioning: What's in a reading span? Brain and Cognition, 45, 1–14. doi:10.1006/brcg.2000.1243CrossRefGoogle Scholar