ABSTRACT

Working memory seems to be an important component of language comprehension. Despite the large number of empirical research in the field, there is still no consensus upon the underlying mechanism that explains this relationship. The main aim of this study is to replicate the study of Engle et al. (1989) in order to verify the validity of hypotheses deduced from the three most important explicative models: general processing model, task specific model and general capacity model. We assessed the volume of working memory with a modified operation span task, using arithmetical operations at three levels of difficulty. Contrasting the above mentioned study we used the same type of task presentation in assessing working memory capacity and in establishing the difficulty level of the arithmetical operations. The obtained results show that the increase of difficulty levels did not reduce the amount of information stored into working memory. These results validate the model of general capacity hypothesis and infirm the other two models, general processing model and the task specific model. The results of partial correlation and regression analysis also, sustain the importance of a general capacity working memory model in explaining the role of working memory in written language comprehension.

KEYWORDS: working memory, language comprehension, operation span task