Children's Reading Comprehension Ability: Concurrent Prediction by Working Memory, Verbal Ability, and Component Skills.

The authors report data from a longitudinal study that addresses the relations between working memory capacity and reading comprehension skills in children aged 8, 9, and 11 years. At each time point, the authors assessed children's reading ability, vocabulary and verbal skills, performance on 2 working memory assessments (sentence-span and digit working memory), and component skills of comprehension. At each time point, working memory and component skills of comprehension (inference making, comprehension monitoring, story structure knowledge) predicted unique variance in reading comprehension after word reading ability and vocabulary and verbal ability controls. Further analyses revealed that the relations between reading comprehension and both inference making and comprehension monitoring were not wholly mediated by working memory. Rather, these component skills explained their own unique variance in reading comprehension. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory organization of action events and its relationship to memory performance.

Previous research yielded inconsistent results regarding the memory organization of self-performed actions. The authors propose that task performance changes the very basis of memory organization. Enactment during study and test (Experiment 1) yielded stronger enactive clustering (based on motor-movement similarities), whereas verbal encoding yielded stronger conceptual clustering (based on semantic-episodic similarities). Enactment enhanced memory quantity and memory accuracy. Both measures increased with enactive clustering under self-performance instructions but with conceptual clustering under verbal instructions. Enactment only during study (Experiment 2) or only during testing (Experiment 3) also enhanced enactive clustering. It is proposed that different conditions affect the relative salience of different types of memory organization and their relative contribution to recall. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The influence of list format and category headers on age differences in understanding medication instructions

We examined whether instructions are better understood and remembered when they contain organizational cues. Our previous research found that older and younger adults organize medication information in similar ways, suggesting that they have a schema for taking medication. In the present study, list formats (vs. paragraphs) emphasized the order of information and category headers emphasized the grouping of information specified by this schema. Experiment 1 examined whether list and header cues improve comprehension (answer time and accuracy) and recall for adults varying in age and working memory capacity (measured by a sentence span task). List instructions were better understood and recalled than paragraphs, and reduced age differences in answer time and span differences in accuracy. Headers reduced paragraph comprehension for participants with lower levels of working memory capacity, presumably because they were not salient cues in the paragraphs. Experiment 2 investigated if headers were more effective when more saliently placed in paragraphs and lists, and if list and header cues helped readers draw inferences from the instructions. List formats again reduced age differences in comprehension, especially reducing the time needed to draw inferences about the medication. While headers did not impair comprehension, these cues did impair recall. The present study suggests that list-organized instructions provide an environmental support that improves both older and younger adult comprehension and recall of medication information.     

Inferential questioning: Effects on comprehension of narrative texts as a function of grade and timing.

In this study, we investigated the effects of inferential questioning, and of the timing of such questioning, on narrative comprehension by 4th-, 7th-, and 10th-grade students and college students. Students received questions either during or after reading simple narrative texts. Control groups read the texts without questions. Questioning, particularly during reading, interfered with the youngest students' recall both of text information in general and of information specifically targeted by the questions. Questioning facilitated college students' memory but only for information specifically targeted by the questions and only when questioning occurred during reading. As reading and language skills become more proficient and automatic, inferential questioning increasingly directs readers' attention during reading to the information targeted by the questions. In addition, inferential questioning challenges the processing capacities of younger or less skilled readers and, hence, may interfere with comprehension. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of examples and embedded questions on the accuracy of comprehension self-assessments.

This study extends research by Glenberg, Sanocki, Epstein, and Morris (1987) by suggesting that the accuracy of students' comprehension-monitoring self-assessments can be improved if they read expository text that contains illustrative examples and embedded questions. Students were asked to read text under different study conditions. It is argued that examples and embedded questions provide students with an opportunity to test their own level of understanding of passage content and, therefore, result in more accurate self-assessments of comprehension than does plain text. Students who read text with both examples and questions assessed their own comprehension more accurately than did students reading plain text. These students also made more accurate posttest predictions of test performance. It appears that active self-testing improves one's calibration of comprehension. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age-related changes in verbal and nonverbal memory during early childhood.

In the present experiment, age-related changes in verbal and nonverbal memory performance by 2- to 4-year-old children were assessed. All children participated in the same unique event, and their memory of that event was assessed after a 24-hr delay. Overall, children's performance on each memory measure increased as a function of age. Furthermore, children's performance on both the verbal and nonverbal memory tests was related to their language ability; children with more advanced language skills reported more during the verbal interview and exhibited superior nonverbal memory relative to children with less advanced language skills. Finally, children's verbal recall of the event lagged behind both their nonverbal recall and their general verbal skill. It is hypothesized that despite large strides in language acquisition, preschool-age children continue to rely primarily on nonverbal representations of past events. The findings have important implications for the phenomenon of childhood amnesia. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Effects of Readers' Misconceptions on Comprehension of Scientific Text.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of readers' misconceptions on text comprehension. College students with misconceptions in science were asked to read and recall a text that contradicted their misconceptions. Students with no misconceptions served as the control group. Both online (think-aloud, reading times) and offline (recall) measures were obtained. The results suggest that readers' misconceptions often do not affect the online processes themselves but do influence the content of those processes and, consequently, the offline memory representation for the text after reading is completed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Overcoming inefficient reading skills.

Although experienced readers vary considerably in reading skill, skill measures often are uncorrelated with literal comprehension. According to the Compensatory-Encoding Model of reading, less automated reading skills and a small verbal working-memory capacity can be surmounted by slowing reading rate, pausing, looking back, and by other means. This important prediction is largely untested. In the present study, 76 readers were assessed on their levels of verbal efficiency. They were also recorded thinking aloud while reading text. Protocols were analyzed for evidence of compensation deployment. Analyses revealed that those with less automated reading skills deployed them more often. As expected, verbal efficiency was uncorrelated with literal comprehension but verbal working-memory capacity was positively correlated with inferential comprehension. Educational implications are derived. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of attributional retraining on strategy-based reading comprehension in learning-disabled students.

Learning-disabled students received instructions about both summarization strategies and their personal beliefs about causality that were designed to improve reading comprehension. 75 upper elementary school students were assigned to 4 treatment groups. The main experimental condition received attributional retraining on paired-associate and sort-recall tasks (which were unrelated to the target comprehension tests), instructions on the use of a summarization strategy, attributional statements about the efficacy of the instructed strategy, and posttests by which we assessed reading skills and general attributional beliefs. Students in another experimental condition received an identical treatment package without prior attributional retraining on unrelated paired-associate and sort-recall tasks but with attributional statements embedded in the summarization strategy. Ss in one control condition received strategy training (without attributional retraining), whereas those in the other received neither strategy nor attribution instructions. Results suggested that attributional training enhanced the maintenance of the summarization strategy and selectivity facilitated generalization. Domain-specific attributional beliefs seemed to provide important orientating and perseverating characteristics that enhanced goal-directed, strategic processing in learning-impaired students. In spite of performance improvements, however, long-standing, antecedent attributional beliefs were unaltered by program-specific attributional training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Investigation of functional working memory in the reading span test.

Two issues were investigated in 2 experiments: (1) the validity of a reading span test that combined a knowledge verification task with a secondary task of word memorization and (2) the hypothesis that word recall reflects the amount of working memory that is functional in reading. In Exp 1, the validity and reliability of the reading span measure were determined. In Exp 2, it was reasoned that if word recall reflected functional working memory in reading, then 2 results should be observed. The 1st predicted result was that prior exposure to sentences used in the reading span test would release working memory resources and improve word recall. The 2nd was that word recall, though correlated with general working memory and verbal knowledge measures, would add to these scores in predicting comprehension. Both sets of results were obtained, supporting the hypothesis that the reading span test measures functional working memory in reading. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual Differences in Absolute and Relative Metacomprehension Accuracy.

The authors investigated absolute and relative metacomprehension accuracy as a function of verbal ability in college students. Students read hard texts, revised texts, or a mixed set of texts. They then predicted their performance, took a multiple-choice test on the texts, and made posttest judgments about their performance. With hard texts, students with lower verbal abilities were overconfident in predictions of future performance, and students with higher verbal abilities were underconfident in judging past performance. Revised texts produced overconfidence for predictions. Thus, absolute accuracy of predictions and confidence judgments depended on students' abilities and text difficulty. In contrast, relative metacomprehension accuracy as measured by gamma correlations did not depend on verbal ability or on text difficulty. Absolute metacomprehension accuracy was much more dependent on types of materials and verbal skills than was relative accuracy, suggesting that they may tap different aspects of metacomprehension. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationships between metamemory, memory predictions, and memory task performance in adults.

A cross-sectional sample of adults recalled categorized word lists and narrative texts. Subjects gave performance predictions before each of 3 recall trials for each task. Older subjects had poorer memory performance and also predicted lower performance levels than did younger subjects. The LISREL models suggested (a) direct effects of memory self-efficacy (MSE) on initial predictions; (b) upgrading of prediction–performance correlations across trials, determined by direct effects of performance on subsequent predictions; (c) significant effects of a higher order verbal memory factor on MSE; and (d) an independent relationship of text recall ability to initial text recall performance predictions. These results lend support to the theoretical treatment of predictions as task-specific MSE judgments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of the ability to distinguish between comprehension and memory: Evidence from strategy-selection tasks.

Four experiments investigated developmental changes in children's knowledge about the types of strategies that are appropriate for achieving the goals of comprehension or memorization. We assessed 1st and 3rd graders' recognition of the differential effectiveness of a memorization strategy (repetition) and a comprehension strategy (pictorial clarification of problematic words) for achieving memorization (verbatim recall of block-building instructions) or comprehension (following instructions for constructing a block building). Only 3rd graders distinguished between comprehension and memorization by consistently selecting the more effective strategy for both memorization and comprehension. Children's ability to distinguish between comprehension and memory in their strategy selections may depend, in part, on whether the context provides clear, concrete, overt, behavioral criteria for defining memorization and comprehension as distinct goals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impact of peripheral glucoregulation on memory.

Impaired glucoregulation is associated with neuropsychological deficits, particularly for tests that measure verbal declarative memory performance in older diabetic patients. The performances of 74 undergraduate students (mean age = 21 years) on several verbal declarative measures, including immediate and delayed paragraph recall, verbal free recall, and order reconstruction tasks, were correlated with glucoregulatory indices. The indices were obtained from glucose and insulin levels after a 75-g glucose load. In general, higher blood glucose levels were associated with poorer performance on all memory tests. Glucose ingestion did not interact with performance except on the most difficult task. Subjects with poorer glucoregulation showed higher evoked glucose and insulin, suggestive of a mild glucose intolerance accompanied by mild insulin insensitivity. Results suggest that poor peripheral glucoregulation has an impact on central nervous system functions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of age, illustrations, and task variables on the performance of procedural assembly tasks.

Older adults may be disadvantaged in the performance of procedural assembly tasks because of age-related declines in working memory operations. It was hypothesized that adding illustrations to instructional text may lessen age-related performance differences by minimizing processing demands on working memory in the elderly. In the present study, younger and older adults constructed a series of 3-dimensional objects from 3 types of instructions (text only, illustration only, or text and illustrations). Results indicated that instructions consisting of text and illustrations reduced errors in construction for both age groups compared with the other formats. Younger adults, however, outperformed older adults under all instructional format conditions. Measures of spatial and verbal working memory and text comprehension ability accounted for substantial age-related variance across the different format conditions but did not fully account for the age differences observed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Long-term memory for knowledge learned in school.

Three experiments examined students' long-term retention of knowledge learned in college courses. In Exp 1 retention was measured 4 and 11 mo after the term ended. Students retained a great deal of what they originally learned, and there were no differential forgetting effects as a function of level of original learning. Exp 2 compared retention for recall test items and 3 types of multiple-choice test items: recognition, comprehension, and mental skills. Students performed poorer on recall items, but there were no differences among the multiple-choice items measuring the other types of tasks. Exp 3 analyzed retention for student tutors. Tutors retained more after 4 mo than the students they tutored. This suggests that tutoring, a type of overlearning, has positive effects that are maintained over time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Material-specific memory in traumatic brain injury: Differential effects during acquisition, recall, and retention.

Material-specific memory refers to the ability to learn and recall new episodic information on the basis of the nature of the stimulus material (e.g., verbal vs. nonverbal-visuospatial). Structural equation modeling was used to analyze data from a sample of patients with traumatic brain injury to compare 3 models of memory functioning: material-specific, material-specific plus general, and general (non-material-specific). The models were examined separately for acquisition, delayed free recall, and retention aspects of memory. Results suggest that, at least in a population with traumatic brain injury, the acquisition of new information takes place in a material-specific memory fashion, delayed free recall involves both material-specific and general (non-material-specific) memory components, but retention relies primarily on general (non-material-specific) memory processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Text comprehension in Chinese children: Relative contribution of verbal working memory, pseudoword reading, rapid automated naming, and onset-rime phonological segmentation.

The present study examined the role of verbal working memory (memory span, tongue twister), 2-character Chinese pseudoword reading, rapid automatized naming (letters, numbers), and phonological segmentation (deletion of rimes and onsets) in inferential text comprehension in Chinese in 518 Chinese children in Hong Kong in Grades 3 to 5. It was hypothesized that verbal working memory, together with a small contribution from the other constructs, would explain individual variation in the children's text comprehension. Structural equation modeling and hierarchical multiple regression analyses generally upheld the hypotheses. Though Chinese pseudoword reading did not play an important mediating role in the effect of verbal working memory on text comprehension, verbal working memory had strong effects on pseudoword reading and text comprehension. The findings on the Chinese language support current Western literature as well as display the differential role of the constructs in Chinese reading comprehension. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relation among error detection, sentence verification, and low-level reading skills of fourth graders.

The author explored the relation among low-level reading skills, sentence verification, and error detection in 4th graders. Literal text comprehension was measured with the Sentence Verification Technique (J. M. Royer, in press) procedure. A higher (strategic) level of text comprehension was assessed with the error detection paradigm. Thus low- and high-level text comprehension were correlated with low-level reading skill: decoding, lexical access, verbal working memory span, and each other. Although literal text comprehension and low-level reading measures were correlated, both were uncorrelated with error detection. A second study deomonstrated that 4th graders' error detection was best predicted by their tendency to generate inferences while reading. These data suggest that although literal text comprehension is dependent on low-level reading processes, strategic reading competence reflects the 4th grader's tendency to go beyond literal information in a text. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Language comprehension in learning disabled children who perform poorly on memory span tests.

Conducted three studies of language comprehension skills in 9- and 10-year-old learning disabled (LD) children who have extreme difficulties retaining brief sequences of verbal information. The performance of this subgroup of LD children is contrasted with other LD subjects who perform normally on memory span tests and with normally achieving subjects. In Experiment 1 we showed that although children in the target subgroup had difficulties remembering the specific words and word order used in expository passages, they were not different from the two control groups in their comprehension of the passages. In Experiment 2 we showed that the gist recall of idea units from two folk tales was equally influenced in all groups by the thematic importance of the idea units being recalled. The primary inference was that the groups comprehended the stories equally well. Experiment 3 showed that children in the subgroup with memory limitations had more difficulty than children in the other two groups in following simple directions involving the manipulation of blocks. They were impaired in their ability to follow sequences of directions whether order of execution was important or not. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)