Working memory and language: an overview

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Abstract

Working memory involves the temporary storage and manipulation of information that is assumed to be necessary for a wide range of complex cognitive activities. In 1974, Baddeley and Hitch proposed that it could be divided into three subsystems, one concerned with verbal and acoustic information, the phonological loop, a second, the visuospatial sketchpad providing its visual equivalent, while both are dependent upon a third attentionally-limited control system, the central executive. A fourth subsystem, the episodic buffer, has recently been proposed. These are described in turn, with particular reference to implications for both the normal processing of language, and its potential disorders.

Learning outcomes

The reader will be introduced to the concept of a multi-component working memory. Particular emphasis will be placed on the phonological loop component, and (a) its fractionation into a storage and processing component, (b) the neuropsychological evidence for this distinction, and (c) its implication for both native and second language learning. This will be followed by (d) a brief overview of the visuospatial sketchpad and its possible role in language, culminating in (e) discussion of the higher-level control functions of working memory which include (f) the central executive and its multi-dimensional storage system, the episodic buffer. An attempt throughout is made to link the model to its role in both normal and disordered language functions.

Section snippets

The phonological loop

It was proposed that this could be broken into two subcomponents, a temporary storage system which held memory traces over a matter of seconds, during which they decayed, unless refreshed by the second component. This involved a subvocal rehearsal system that not only maintained information within the store, but also served the function of registering visual information within the store, provided the items can be named. Hence, if a subject is shown a sequence of letters for immediate recall,

The visuospatial sketchpad

This subsystem of working memory serves the function of integrating spatial, visual, and possibly kinesthetic information into a unified representation which may be temporarily stored and manipulated. My own early involvement in the area stemmed from the experience of driving on a freeway at the same time as I was listening to, and vividly imagining a football game. I noticed that the car was drifting from lane to lane, and rapidly switched to music. In a laboratory version of this, our

The central executive

This system is assumed to be responsible for the attentional control of working memory. It relies heavily, but not exclusively, on the frontal lobes (Stuss & Knight, 2002), and can almost certainly be fractionated into a number of executive subprocesses (Baddeley, 2002, Shallice, 2002).

Executive processes are probably one of the principal factors determining individual differences in working memory span (Daneman & Carpenter, 1980). In working memory span studies, subjects are typically required

The episodic buffer

By the late 1990s, we had attempted to specify more clearly the role of the central executive by proposing that its functions were entirely that of an attentionally-based control system, and abandoning the idea that it also had a capacity for storage (Baddeley & Logie, 1999). This had the advantage of focusing attention on the fractionation of executive processes (Baddeley, 1996, Baddeley, 2002), but was then challenged by the identification of a range of phenomena that did not fit neatly into

Conclusions

If, as suggested, working memory is a temporary storage system that underpins our capacity for thinking, it is clearly the case that it should have implications for language processing, and that disorders in working memory may impact on language processes. While a huge amount of such language processing is relatively automatic, deficits within the phonological loop, and to a lesser extent, within other aspects of working memory, may seriously impair language processing. It seems likely that the

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