Working memory and error detection in texts: what are the roles of the central executive and the phonological loop?
✍ Scribed by Pascale Larigauderie; Daniel Gaonac'h; Natasha Lacroix
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1998
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 249 KB
- Volume
- 12
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0888-4080
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Subjects performed a text error detection task, either alone or in conjunction with a secondary task aimed at speci®cally hindering the functioning of either the central executive in working memory or of the phonological loop. We focused on the decline in detection performance as a function of the type of error to be detected (typographical, orthographic, or semantic/ syntactic) and the processing span required for detection (one word, several words within the same clause, or several clauses). The results showed that the central executive in working memory is involved in detecting semantic/syntactic errors and in detecting orthographic ones, but not in detecting typographical errors. Moreover, the degree of involvement increases with the processing span. The phonological loop is involved in detection whenever processing above the word level is required. As observed in many studies, these results suggest that the diculty subjects have detecting semantic errors as compared to other types of errors is due to the heavier working memory load: maintenance of the phonological representation and greater involvement of the central executive.