Ordered short-term memory differs in signers and speakers: Implications for models of short-term memory

Bavelier, Daphné; Newport, Elissa L.; Hall, Matt; Supalla, Ted; Boutla, Mrim

doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2007.10.012

Cited by 59 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 63 publications

(90 reference statements)

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“…These findings support and extend previous behavioural findings showing that sign language users, both deaf and hearing do not process order information in WM in the same Temporal organization in WM 19 way as hearing non-signers (Bavelier, Newport et al, 2008;Boutla, Supalla, Newport & Bavelier, 2004;Geraci, Gozzi, Papagno & Cecchetto, 2008;Marschark & Mayer, 1998;O'Connor & Hermelin, 1973;1976;Rönnberg et al, 2004;Rudner & Rönnberg, 2008a;Wilson, Bettger, Niculae & Klima, 1997;Wilson & Emmorey, 2003) The neuroimaging literature has also shown that although WM for sign language in both hearing (Rönnberg et al, 2004) and deaf (Bavelier, Newman et al, 2008;Buchsbaum et al, 2005;Pa, Wilson, Pickell, Bellugi & Hickok, 2008) signers is supported by neural networks similar to those in hearing non-signers, there is net engagement of the superior parietal cortex bilaterally for WM for sign language (Bavelier, Newman et al, 2008;Rönnberg et al, 2004) which may be related to retrieval processes (Bavelier, Newman et al, 2008).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

“…These include less prominent temporal organization (Bavelier, Newport, Hall, Supalla & Boutla, 2008;Rudner & Rönnberg, 2008a;Wilson, Bettger, Niculae & Klima, 1997) and engagement of additional neural structures in the superior parietal regions, suggesting a greater reliance on spatial processing for WM for sign Temporal organization in WM 7 language compared to WM for speech (Rönnberg et al, 2004;Rudner et al, 2007), possibilypossibly related to retrieval mechanisms (Bavelier, Newman et al, 2008).…”

Section: Modality Specific Aspects Of Working Memorymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of Age on the Temporal Organization of Working Memory in Deaf Signers

Rudner

Davidsson

Rönnberg

2010

Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition

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Temporal organization in WM 2Deaf native signers have a general working memory (WM) capacity similar to that of hearing non-signers but are less sensitive to the temporal order of stored items on retrieval. General WM capacity declines with age, but little is known of how cognitive aging affects WM function in deaf signers. We investigated WM function in elderly deaf signers (EDS) and an age-matched comparison group of hearing non-signers (EHN) using a paradigm designed to highlight differences in temporal and spatial processing of item and order information. EDS performed worse than EHN on both item and order recognition using a temporal style of presentation. Reanalysis together with earlier data showed that with the temporal style of presentation, order recognition performance for EDS was also lower than for young adult deaf signers (YDS). Older participants responded more slowly than younger participants. These findings suggest that apart from age-related slowing irrespective of sensory and language status, there is an age-related difference specific to deaf signers in the ability to retain order information in WM when temporal processing demands are high. This may be due to neural reorganisation arising from sign language use. Concurrent spatial information with the Mixed style of presentation resulted in enhanced order processing for all groups, suggesting that concurrent temporal and spatial cues may enhance learning for both deaf and hearing groups.These findings support and extend the WM model for Ease of Language Understanding (ELU).Key words: working memory; sign language; deafness; temporal processing Temporal organization in WM 3 Working memory (WM) is the cognitive capacity available for on-line processing and short-term storage of information (Baddeley, 2000) and shows a distinctive developmental trajectory over the life-span with increase in capacity during childhood (Davidson, Amso, Anderson & Diamond, 2006) and decline in old age (Reuter-Lorenz & Cappell, 2008).Depletion of WM capacity with advancing age is accompanied by decline in other cognitive functions such as perceptual speed, episodic memory and word fluency (Lindenberger & Ghisletta, 2009). The causal mechanisms of changing WM capacity are yet to be established.Adequate working memory (WM) function is a prerequisite for language processing irrespective of language modality (Baddeley, 2003). However, the architecture of WM in both cognitive and neural terms may differ depending on the modality habitually used (see Rudner,Andin & Rönnberg, in press for a review). Previous work has shown that although there are striking similarities in the architecture of WM for sign-based languages and speech-based languages there are none the less intriguing differences which promise to teach us deeper truths about the nature of this fundamental cognitive function.Sign languages are natural languages that are the preferred medium of communication of people who are born deaf (Emmorey, 2002). Rudner and Rönnberg (2008a) reported a series of studies which ...

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Section: Modality Specific Aspects Of Working Memorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Age on the Temporal Organization of Working Memory in Deaf Signers

Rudner

Davidsson

Rönnberg

2010

Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition

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“…While the average forwards digit span for hearing adults using a spoken language is 7 +/-2, for Deaf and hearing adults using a signed language this is significantly lower, at around 5 +/-1 (Boutla, Supalla, Newport & Bavelier, 2004;Bavelier, Newport, Hall, Supalla & Boutla, 2006). However, although signers are unable to remember as many items in sequence as speakers are, they are able to recall the same number of items when their exact sequence is not required (Bavelier, Newport, Hall, Supalla & Boutla, 2008). Hence it appears that sequence is important for PWM in spoken languages, but that sequentiality does not play as great a role in signers' PWM (Bavelier et al, 2008;Geraci, Gozzi, Papagno & Cecchetto, 2008).…”

Section: Phonological Working Memorymentioning

confidence: 97%

“…However, although signers are unable to remember as many items in sequence as speakers are, they are able to recall the same number of items when their exact sequence is not required (Bavelier, Newport, Hall, Supalla & Boutla, 2008). Hence it appears that sequence is important for PWM in spoken languages, but that sequentiality does not play as great a role in signers' PWM (Bavelier et al, 2008;Geraci, Gozzi, Papagno & Cecchetto, 2008). This conclusion therefore raises the possibility that digit span is not a fair measure of PWM in signers, and that a nonsense sign repetition test, because it takes into account the greater degree of simultaneity in sign language structure, would have more validity.…”

Section: Phonological Working Memorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Building anAssessment Use Argumentfor sign language: the BSL Nonsense Sign Repetition Test

Mann

Marshall

2010

International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism

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“…For example, they have poorer skills than hearing individuals on arithmetic operations such as multiplication (Nunes et al, 2009) and fractions (Titus, 1995), relational statements (Kelly, Lang, Mousley, & Davis, 2003) and digit-based short-term memory (STM; Bavelier, Newport, Hall, Supalla, & Boutla, 2008;M. Wilson, Bettger, Niculae, & Klima, 1997).…”

Section: IImentioning

confidence: 99%

Dealing with Digits : Arithmetic, Memory and Phonology in Deaf Signers

Andin¹

2014

Studies From the Swedish Institute for Disability Research

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Deafness has been associated with poor abilities to deal with digits in the context of arithmetic and memory, and language modality-specific differences in the phonological similarity of digits have been shown to influence short-term memory (STM). Therefore, the overall aim of the present thesis was to find out whether language modality-specific differences in phonological processing between sign and speech can explain why deaf signers perform at lower levels than hearing peers when dealing with digits. To explore this aim, the role of phonological processing in digit-based arithmetic and memory tasks was investigated, using both behavioural and neuroimaging methods, in adult deaf signers and hearing non-signers, carefully matched on age, sex, education and nonverbal intelligence. To make task demands as equal as possible for both groups, and to control for material effects, arithmetic, phonological processing, STM and working memory (WM) were all assessed using the same presentation and response mode for both groups. The results suggested that in digit-based STM, phonological similarity of manual numerals causes deaf signers to perform more poorly than hearing non-signers. However, for digit-based WM there was no difference between the groups, possibly due to differences in allocation of resources during WM. This indicates that similar WM for the two groups can be generalized from lexical items to digits. Further, we found that in the present work deaf signers performed better than expected and on a par with hearing peers on all arithmetic tasks, except for multiplication, possibly because the groups studied here were very carefully matched. However, the neural networks recruited for arithmetic and phonology differed between groups. During multiplication tasks, deaf signers showed an increased reliance on cortex of the right parietal lobe complemented by the left inferior frontal gyrus. In contrast, hearing non-signers relied on cortex of the left frontal and parietal lobe during multiplication. This suggests that while hearing non-signers recruit phonology-dependent arithmetic fact retrieval processes for multiplication, deaf signers recruit non-verbal magnitude manipulation processes. For phonology, the hearing non-signers engaged left lateralized frontal and parietal areas within the classical perisylvian language network. In deaf signers, however, phonological processing was limited to cortex of the left occipital lobe, suggesting that sign-based phonological processing does not necessarily activate the classical language network. In conclusion, the findings of the present thesis suggest that language modality-specific differences between sign and speech in different ways can explain why deaf signers perform at lower levels than hearing non-signers on tasks that include dealing with digits.

show abstract

Ordered short-term memory differs in signers and speakers: Implications for models of short-term memory

Cited by 59 publications

References 63 publications

Effects of Age on the Temporal Organization of Working Memory in Deaf Signers

Effects of Age on the Temporal Organization of Working Memory in Deaf Signers

Building anAssessment Use Argumentfor sign language: the BSL Nonsense Sign Repetition Test

Dealing with Digits : Arithmetic, Memory and Phonology in Deaf Signers

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