Cross-modal working memory binding and word recognition skills: how specific is the link?

ABSTRACT

Recent research has suggested that the creation of temporary bound representations of information from different sources within working memory uniquely relates to word recognition abilities in school-age children. However, it is unclear to what extent this link is attributable specifically to the binding ability for cross-modal information. This study examined the performance of Grade 3 (8–9 years old) children on binding tasks requiring either temporary association formation of two visual items (i.e., within-modal binding) or pairs of visually presented abstract shapes and auditorily presented nonwords (i.e., cross-modal binding). Children’s word recognition skills were related to performance on the cross-modal binding task but not on the within-modal binding task. Further regression models showed that cross-modal binding memory was a significant predictor of word recognition when memory for its constituent elements, general abilities, and crucially, within-modal binding memory were taken into account. These findings may suggest a specific link between the ability to bind information across modalities within working memory and word recognition skills.

KEYWORDS:

• Working memory
• cross-modal binding
• episodic buffer
• word acquisition
• Mandarin

Acknowledgement

The authors thank Peng-Wen Lin for her assistance with running the experiment.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Richard J. Allen http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1887-3016

Notes

1 We also ran a version of the binding tasks using sequences of three pairs, but this was too challenging for this age group, with children (N = 130) performing at a very low level (cross-modal: M = 0.34, SD = 0.14; within-modal: M = 0.34, SD = 0.15). The current analysis was therefore limited to length 2 data sets.

Additional information

Funding

This research is partially supported by the “Aim for the Top University Project” and “Center of Learning Technology for Chinese” of National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU), sponsored by the Ministry of Education, Taiwan, R.O.C. Partial support is also provided by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan, R.O.C. [grant number MOST 104-2911-I-003-301] (“International Research-Intensive Center of Excellence Program” of NTNU) and [grant number. MOST 105-2410-H-003-091].