Verbal working memory and linguistic long-term memory: Exploring the lexical cohort effect

Abstract

Numerous studies have shown that verbal working memory (vWM) performance is strongly influenced by linguistic knowledge, with items more familiar at sublexical, lexical, and/or semantic levels leading to higher vWM recall performance. Among the many different psycholinguistic variables whose impact on vWM has been studied, the lexical cohort effect is one of the few effects that has not yet been explored. The lexical cohort effect reflects the fact that words sharing their first phonemes with many other words (e.g. alcove, alligator, alcohol…) are typically responded to more slowly as compared to words sharing their first phonemes with a smaller number of words. In a pilot experiment (Experiment 1), we manipulated the lexical cohort effect in an immediate serial recall task and found no effect. Experiment 2 showed that, in a lexical decision task, participants responded more quickly to items stemming from small cohorts, showing that the material used in Experiment 1 allowed for a valid manipulation of the cohort effect. Experiment 3, using stimuli from Experiment 2 associated with maximal cohort effects during lexical decision, failed again to reveal a cohort effect in an immediate serial recall task. We argue that linguistic knowledge impacts vWM performance via continuous interactive activation within the linguistic system, which is not the case for the lexical cohort variable that may influence language processing only at the initial stages of stimulus activation.

The company a word keeps: The role of neighbourhood density in verbal short-term memory

“…The word pools in the present series were used because they have helped advance theories of the NDE (e.g., Clarkson et al, 2017) with those results forming parts of wider theoretical discussion (e.g., Cowan, 2019;Guitard, Gabel, et al, 2018;Kowialiewski & Majerus, 2019;Schwering & MacDonald, 2020). As such, they were considered a useful starting point for further exploration of the NDE and theory development.…”

The effect of schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminths on expressive language skills among African preschool children

“…Narrative tasks required the ability to follow commands and retell a story in sequence, skills that require application of short term (ability to retain information for a short time) and working memory (the ability to maintain activated knowledge in the focus of attention) [ 33 ]. There is evidence of a relationship between linguistic knowledge and verbal working memory (vWM) in that linguistic knowledge impact on vWM [ 34 ] and that vWM depends on long term representations and processes that are involved in speech production [ 35 ]. Therefore, we are intrigued by our results which imply a causal relationship between schistosomiasis and weaker narrative skills in the light of a known relationship between parasitic infection and memory deficits.…”

The Effect of Schistosomiasis and Soil-transmitted Helminths on Expressive Language Skills Among Isizulu Speaking Preschool Children

“…Narrative tasks required the ability to follow commands and retell a story in sequence, skills that require application of short term (ability to retain information for a short time) and working memory (the ability to maintain activated knowledge in the focus of attention) (Engle, Tuholski, Laughlin & Conway, 1999). There is evidence of a relationship between linguistic knowledge and verbal working memory (vWM) in that linguistic knowledge impact on vWM (Kowialiewski & Majerus, 2019) and that vWM depends on long term representations and processes that are involved in speech production (Acheson, Hamidi, Binder & Postle, 2011). Therefore, we are intrigued by our results which imply a causal relationship between schistosomiasis and weaker narrative skills in the light of a known relationship between parasitic infection and memory de cits.…”