The findings are discussed in the light of their support for a limited capacity model of processing, as well as the impact of phonology on word learning.

This study investigated the structure of working memory in young school-age children by testing the fit of three competing theoretical models using a wide variety of tasks. The best fitting models were then used to assess the relationship between working memory and nonverbal measures of fluid reasoning (Gf) and visual processing (Gv) intelligence. One hundred sixty-eight English-speaking 7–9 year olds with typical development, from three states, participated. Results showed that Cowan’s three-factor embedded processes model fit the data slightly better than Baddeley and Hitch’s (1974) three-factor model (specified according to Baddeley, 1986) and decisively better than Baddeley’s (2000) four-factor model that included an episodic buffer. The focus of attention factor in Cowan’s model was a significant predictor of Gf and Gv. The results suggest that the focus of attention, rather than storage, drives the relationship between working memory, Gf, and Gv in young school-age children. Our results do not rule out the Baddeley and Hitch model, but they place constraints on both it and Cowan’s model. A common attentional component is needed for feature binding, running digit span, and visual short-term memory tasks; phonological storage is separate, as is a component of central executive processing involved in task manipulation. The results contribute to a zeitgeist in which working memory models are coming together on common ground (cf. Cowan, Saults, & Blume, 2014; Hu, Allen, Baddeley, & Hitch, 2016).

Purpose-The purpose of this study was to determine which factors contribute to the lexical learning deficits of children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI).Method-Participants included 40 7-8-year old participants, half of whom were diagnosed with SLI and half of whom had normal language skills. We tested hypotheses about the contributions to word learning of the initial encoding of phonological information and the link to long-term memory. Children took part in a computer-based fast-mapping task which manipulated word length and phonotactic probability to address the hypotheses. The task had a recognition and a production component. Data were analyzed using mixed ANOVAs with post-hoc testing.Results-Results indicate that the main problem for children with SLI is with initial encoding, with implications for limited capacity. There was not strong evidence for specific deficits in the link to long term memory.Conclusions-We were able to ascertain which aspects of lexical learning are most problematic for children with SLI in terms of fast-mapping. These findings may allow clinicians to focus intervention on known areas of weakness. Future directions include extending these findings to slow mapping scenarios.

Reliabilities of scores for experimental tasks are likely to differ from one study to another to the extent that the task stimuli change, the number of trials varies, the type of individuals taking the task changes, the administration conditions are altered, or the focal task variable differs. Given reliabilities vary as a function of the design of these tasks and the characteristics of the individuals taking them, making inferences about the reliability of scores in an ongoing study based on reliability estimates from prior studies is precarious. Thus, it would be advantageous to estimate reliability based on data from the ongoing study. We argue that internal consistency estimates of reliability are underutilized for experimental task data and in many applications could provide this information using a single administration of a task. We discuss different methods for computing internal consistency estimates with a generalized coefficient alpha and the conditions under which these estimates are accurate. We illustrate use of these coefficients using data for three different tasks.

Compared to children with typical development, children with dyslexia, developmental language disorder (DLD), or both often demonstrate working memory deficits. It is unclear how pervasive the deficits are or whether the deficits align with diagnostic category. The purpose of this study was to determine whether different working memory profiles would emerge on a comprehensive battery of central executive, phonological, visuospatial, and binding working memory tasks and whether these profiles were associated with group membership. Method: Three hundred two 2nd graders with typical development, dyslexia, DLD, or dyslexia/DLD completed 13 tasks from the Comprehensive Assessment Battery for Children-Working Memory (Gray, Alt, Hogan, Green, & 1 DLD has historically been referred to as specific language impairment. However, a recent consensus study concluded that the term developmental language disorder should be used instead (Bishop, Snowling, Thompson, Greenhalgh, & the CATALISE-2 Consortium, 2017). Thus, we use the term developmental language disorder throughout the article, except when referring to articles where authors used the term specific language impairment in their research.