Memory operations that support language comprehension: Evidence from verb-phrase ellipsis.

Martin, Andrea E.; McElree, Brian

doi:10.1037/a0016271

Cited by 70 publications

(86 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Chapman & colleagues (2002) and Michael et al (2012) have previously reported on the relationship between syntactic comprehension ability and memory in people with DS. Given our specific focus on complex sentences, which require the processing and integration of information from two clauses ( Martin & McElree, 2009), it is not surprising that we find memory to play an important role. More surprising was the independent contribution of DS status over and above poor memory skills, which indicates that the language difficulties of children with DS go beyond those usually associated with limited memory and nonverbal ability.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Because the current study focuses particularly on complex sentences, and these constructions require the parsing of different clauses over a more lengthy time span ( Martin & McElree, 2009; Marton et al , 2006), we might predict that short term and working memory would be particularly relevant to the ability of someone with DS to understand them. However, to our knowledge, this has never been investigated in relation to this population.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The understanding of complex syntax in children with Down syndrome

Frizelle¹,

Thompson²,

Duta³

et al. 2018

Wellcome Open Res

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Background: Down syndrome (DS) is associated with poor language skills that seem disproportionate to general nonverbal ability, but the nature and causes of this deficit are unclear. We assessed how individuals with DS understand complex linguistic constructions, and considered how cognitive ability, memory and hearing level impact the ability of those with DS to process these sentence types. Methods: There were three groups participating in the study: children with DS (n = 33) and two control groups composed of children with cognitive impairment of unknown aetiology (CI) (n = 32) and children with typical development (n = 33). Both groups were matched to those with DS on cognitive ability. Using a newly devised animation task, we examined how well individuals with DS (n = 33) could understand relative clauses, complement clauses and adverbial clauses compared to children with CI and typically developing controls. Participants also completed the Test for the Reception of Grammar-2, three measures of memory (forward and backward digit recall, visuo-spatial memory) and a hearing screen. Results: Results indicated that (1) with the exception of intransitive subject relative clauses, children with DS performed at floor on all other complex sentences, (2) they performed at a significantly lower level than both control groups, and (3) DS status accounted for a significant proportion of the variance over and above memory skills. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that children with DS have a disproportionate difficulty understanding complex sentences compared to two control groups matched on mental age. Furthermore, their understanding of syntax is not completely explained by poor cognitive or memory skills, rather it appears to be a specific deficit that may distinguish children with DS from other neurodevelopmental disorders.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The understanding of complex syntax in children with Down syndrome

Frizelle¹,

Thompson²,

Duta³

et al. 2018

Wellcome Open Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, when a WM load displaces information from focus, that displaced lexical information must be re-retrieved at which point it is subject to interference both from items currently in focus as well as from other cue-relevant information (cf. Badecker & Kuminiak, 2007; Fedorenko, Gibson, & Rohde, 2006; Gordon, Hendrick, & Levine, 2002; Lewis & Vasishth, 2005; A. Martin & McElree, 2009; Van Dyke, 2007; Wagers, Lau, & Phillips, 2009).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Saying what's on your mind: Working memory effects on sentence production.

Slevc¹

2011

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cogni

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The role of working memory (WM) in sentence comprehension has received considerable interest, but little work has investigated how sentence production relies on memory mechanisms. These three experiments investigated speakers’ tendency to produce syntactic structures that allow for early production of material that is accessible in memory. In Experiment 1, speakers produced accessible information early less often when under a verbal WM load than when under no load. Experiment 2 found the same pattern for given-new ordering, i.e., when accessibility was manipulated by making information given. Experiment 3 addressed the possibility that these effects do not reflect WM mechanisms but rather increased task difficulty by relying on the distinction between verbal and spatial WM: Speakers’ tendency to produce sentences respecting given-new ordering was reduced more by a verbal than by a spatial WM load. These patterns show that accessibility effects do in fact reflect accessibility in verbal WM, and that representations in sentence production are vulnerable to interference from other information in memory.

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“…MR-SAT is an attractive technique to use in studying language comprehension because it dissociates processing speed from processing accuracy (McElree, 2000; McElree et al, 2003; Foraker and McElree, 2007; Martin and McElree, 2008, 2009, 2011). In a MR-SAT paradigm, participants are required to make acceptability judgments at pre-specified response latencies.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The structure-sensitivity of memory access: evidence from Mandarin Chinese

et al. 2014

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The present study examined the processing of the Mandarin Chinese long-distance reflexive ziji to evaluate the role that syntactic structure plays in the memory retrieval operations that support sentence comprehension. Using the multiple-response speed-accuracy tradeoff (MR-SAT) paradigm, we measured the speed with which comprehenders retrieve an antecedent for ziji. Our experimental materials contrasted sentences where ziji's antecedent was in the local clause with sentences where ziji's antecedent was in a distant clause. Time course results from MR-SAT suggest that ziji dependencies with syntactically distant antecedents are slower to process than syntactically local dependencies. To aid in interpreting the SAT data, we present a formal model of the antecedent retrieval process, and derive quantitative predictions about the time course of antecedent retrieval. The modeling results support the Local Search hypothesis: during syntactic retrieval, comprehenders initially limit memory search to the local syntactic domain. We argue that Local Search hypothesis has important implications for theories of locality effects in sentence comprehension. In particular, our results suggest that not all locality effects may be reduced to the effects of temporal decay and retrieval interference.

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Memory operations that support language comprehension: Evidence from verb-phrase ellipsis.

Cited by 70 publications

References 32 publications

The understanding of complex syntax in children with Down syndrome

The understanding of complex syntax in children with Down syndrome

Saying what's on your mind: Working memory effects on sentence production.

The structure-sensitivity of memory access: evidence from Mandarin Chinese

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