A new modified listening span task to enhance validity of working memory assessment for people with and without aphasia

Abstract

Deficits in working memory (WM) are an important subset of cognitive processing deficits associated with aphasia. However, there are serious limitations to research on WM in aphasia largely due to the lack of an established valid measure of WM impairment for this population. The aim of the current study was to address shortcomings of previous measures by developing and empirically evaluating a novel WM task with a sentence-picture matching processing component designed to circumvent confounds inherent in existing measures of WM in aphasia. The novel WM task was presented to persons with (n = 27) and without (n = 33) aphasia. Results demonstrated high concurrent validity of a novel WM task. Individuals with aphasia performed significantly worse on all conditions of the WM task compared to individuals without aphasia. Different patterns of performance across conditions were observed for the two groups. Additionally, WM capacity was significantly related to auditory comprehension abilities in individuals with mild aphasia but not those with moderate aphasia. Strengths of the novel WM task are that it allows for differential control for length versus complexity of verbal stimuli and indexing of the relative influence of each, minimizes metalinguistic requirements, enables control for complexity of processing components, allows participants to respond with simple gestures or verbally, and eliminates reading requirements. Results support the feasibility and validity of using a novel task to assess WM in individuals with and without aphasia.

Input modality and working memory: Effects on second language text comprehension in a multimedia learning environment

“…The role of WM in L1 (Daneman & Carpenter, 1983;Daneman & Merikle, 1996) and L2 reading (Harrington & Sawyer, 1992;Leeser, 2007;Walter, 2004) as well as L1 (Ivanova & Hallowell, 2014;McInnes, Humphries, HoggJohnson, & Tannock, 2003) and L2 listening (Kormos & S af ar, 2008;Shanshan & Tongshun, 2007) has also been demonstrated.…”

The contribution of working memory to language comprehension: differential effect of aphasia type

“…Kasselimis et al (2013) demonstrated a lack of association between lesion site and severity of verbal and visuospatial STM/WM impairment in individuals with aphasia. Ivanova and Hallowell (2014) found no significant difference in degree of WM impairment between participants with mild versus moderate aphasia. Zakariás, Keresztes, Demeter, and Lukács (2013), contrary to their initial expectations, found an impairment in executive functions, including WM abilities, in individuals with conduction aphasia as well as those with transcortical motor aphasia.…”

“…Some of the previous studies have been able to find a significant relationship between WM capacity and scores on language tests (Caspari et al, 1998;Potagas, Kasselimis, & Evdokimidis, 2011;Sung et al, 2009;Tompkins et al, 1994), while others did not (Christensen & Wright, 2010;Ivanova & Hallowell, 2012Mayer & Murray, 2012). The inconsistency in findings has been attributed to specific stimuli in WM tasks (Mayer & Murray, 2012), mismatch in processing load between WM and language tasks used (Christensen & Wright, 2010;Ivanova & Hallowell, 2012), and variability of the aphasia groups (Ivanova & Hallowell, 2014). The latter point has received much less attention and warrants further examination.…”

Kesan Penuaan ke atas Kehubungan Berkesan Otak semasa Pemprosesan Ingatan Bekerja daripada Perspektif Pemodelan Sebab dan Akibat Dinamik

“…Tugasan BRT ini telah digunakan secara meluas untuk menilai fungsi pemprosesan kognitif subjek normal (Bayliss et al 2003;Choi et al 2014;Heilbronner et al 1991;Ting et al 2014) dan tidak normal seperti dementia (Ting et al 2014) dan afasia (Ivanova & Hallowell 2014). Tugasan BRT melibatkan: gegelung fonologi, iaitu proses menyimpan maklumat lisan; proses memanipulasi maklumat; dan fungsi eksekutif pusat (Baddeley 2000).…”