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Abstract:
In children, the possibility to maintain phonological
information in working memory has a direct relation with various
aspects of language acquisition: vocabulary acquisition, learning
of reading, language comprehension, output production.
The aim of this study was to investigate the different functions
of phonological working memory that are related to language
comprehension. The performance of 60 Italian preschool children
(aged between 4 and 5 years) was evaluated on five working memory
tests. The tests were: Word Repetition, Nonword Repetition, Forward
Span, Backward Span and an Inhibition Test. The latter is a memory
test which aimed at detecting the ability to inhibit irrilevant
information which has initially been processed. Furthermore, a
comprehension test of complex sentences was administered. It is a
sentence-picture matching task, which investigates four syntactic
stuctures: Datives, Passives, Relatives and "Closure
sentences".
Results show a strong correlation among the working memory tests
created for this study, and a major improvement in performance
(from 4 to 5 years) especially on more complex tests, that require
higher cognitive resources (Backward Span and Inhibition Test). A
series of exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were
performed. They showed the opportunity to describe the working
memory tests by a two-factor model, where the two factors can be
interpreted as a "storage/process" distinction. In this model we
find that Repetition Tests and Word Span load the first factor
(storage, or passive dimension), while Backward Span and Inhibition
Test load the second one (process, or active dimension).
Results also show a developmental trend in comprehension of the
different syntactic structures. The major improvement from 4 to 5
years is in the most complex structures: Late Closure and Final
Relative sentences. So, the globality of results shows a double
change from 4 to 5 years of age:
- a quantitative change, which is
evident in the performance of all the tasks;
- a qualitative change, in the sense that a major improvement is
especially evident in more complex tasks, that is in the tasks
which require higher level cognitive processing. This is true both
in working memory and in language comprehension.
In conclusion, different phonological memory tests can evaluate
different working memory functions in children. It is important to
adopt the right tests for the processes that we want to
investigate, because each task has its own features and
peculiarities.
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