Effects of working memory capacity in processing wh‐extractions: eye‐movement evidence from Chinese–English bilinguals

Abstract

By using the eye-tracking method, the present study explores whether working memory capacity assessed via the second language (L2) reading span (L2WMC) as well as the operational span task (OSPAN) affects the processing of subject-extraction and object-extraction in Chinese-English bilinguals. Results showed that L2WMC has no effects on the grammatical judgement accuracies, the first fixation duration, gaze duration, go-past times and total fixation duration of the critical regions in whextractions. In contrast, OSPAN influences the first fixation duration and go-past times of the critical regions in wh-extractions. Specifically, in region 1, (e.g., Who do you think loved the comedian [region 1] with [region 2] all his heart [subject-extraction]? versus Who do you think the comedian loved [region 1] with [region 2] all his heart? [object-extraction]), participants with high OSPAN were much slower than those with low OSPAN in their first fixation duration in reading subject-extractions, whereas there were no differences between participants with different OSPANs in reading objectextractions. In region 2, participants with high OSPAN were much faster than those with low OSPAN in their go-past times of object-extractions. These results indicated that individual differences in OSPAN rather than in L2WMC more strongly affect processing of wh-extractions. Thus, OSPAN results to be more suitable to explore the influences of working memory while processing L2 sentences with complex syntax, at least for intermediate proficient bilinguals. Results of the study also provide further support for the Capacity Theory of Comprehension. HighlightsWhat is already known about this topic?• Some studies suggest that working memory capacity (WMC) measured by reading span is not a determining factor in second language (L2) syntactic processing; • Other studies suggest that reading span can be a good predictor in L2 syntactic processing;• Findings concerning the role of WMC in L2 sentence processing are mixed. What this paper adds?• Individual differences in operation span task (OSPAN) play a more important role during L2 syntactic processing than L2WMC; • This study employed the eye-movement method to explore whether WMC measured via both the L2WMC and OSPAN influences the processing of subject-and objectextractions in Chinese-English bilinguals for the first time; • The results offer further support for the Capacity Theory of Comprehension as the limited WMC in humans seems to influence both the online and offline sentence processing. Implications for theory, policy and practiceOperation span task (OSPAN) can reduce the contribution of task-specific variations in WMC's measurement and are more likely to reflect the genuine WMC of participants. Study on the potential moderating effects of OSPAN on WM effects can help to examine the precise nature of WM's role in L2 sentence processing.WORKING MEMORY CAPACITY 421

Which Cognitive Factors Predict L2 Grammar Learning: Cognitive Control, Statistical Learning, Working Memory, or Attention?

“…However, higher working memory capacity in this phase might make the individuals more likely to maintain the memory of the surface structure of the upcoming artificial sequences, which would probably interfere with the grammatical rules extracted in the initial phase and influence the retrieval of the formed grammatical rules, leading to the worse performance in grammatical patterns learning. In addition, the inconsistencies between the findings of the current study and the previous work ( Zhou et al, 2016 , 2017 ) might lie in the language materials in use. Zhou et al (2016 , 2017) focused on natural language learning, while we used artificial grammar sequences for exploration.…”

“…Working memory could be observed with the complex span task such as the operation span task during which participants were first presented with a stream of letters ( Unsworth et al, 2005 ; Zhou et al, 2016 , 2017 ). Subsequently, the participants would be asked to perform math problems, after which they were presented with a list of letters.…”

Effects of Working Memory Capacity and Tasks in Processing L2 Complex Sentence: Evidence from Chinese-English Bilinguals

“…Compared to extensive involvement of the experimenter in the reading span task, the OSPAN is less prone to human error and variation in performance due to differential instructions as well (Atkins et al, 2014 ). Zhou et al ( 2016 ) adopted both the L2 reading span task and the OSPAN task to explore whether WMC affects the processing of subject- and object-extraction by Chinese learners of English. Their results demonstrated that L2 reading span has no effect on processing either the subject-extractions or the object-extractions, while, the OSPAN was related to the processing of both kinds of wh-extractions.…”

The effect of executive control ability on the comprehension of second language metaphor

“…The mean OPT score of all the participants was 41. With reference to previous studies, our participants had an intermediate level of English proficiency (Zhou et al 2016). Table 1 shows the age of the participants, age of English acquisition, English proficiency ratings, and OPT scores.…”