Differences in Working Memory Capacity Affect Online Spoken Word Recognition: Evidence From Eye Movements.
Gal Nitsan, Arthur Wingfield, Limor Lavie and 1 others
PMID 31010398WHAT IT FOUND
Young adults with lower working memory spans took about 550 ms longer to recognise spoken words in noise when holding four digits in memory, compared to those with higher spans.
This delay did not change their final accuracy. The effect only appeared under high cognitive load.
Key findings
01When a high working memory load (retaining four digits) was imposed, participants with lower memory spans showed a delay of approximately 550 ms in target fixation timelines compared to those with higher spans.
02There were no significant differences in speech recognition accuracy across memory span groups or working memory load conditions.
03The effect of memory span on word recognition speed was only evident under high working memory load; no span-related delays were found in the low-load condition.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study used only normal-hearing young adults, so findings may not generalize to older adults or those with hearing loss. Musical training and hidden hearing loss were not controlled for, which could influence speech processing. The group split was based on a median digit span, which may not capture subtle individual differences across the full range of working memory capacity.
Declared interests
The research was supported by N.I.H. grants (Extramural). No other conflicts of interest are explicitly declared in the provided text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that working memory capacity determines speech recognition accuracy. The study found no difference in accuracy between groups; the effect was solely on the speed of processing under high cognitive load.