Core verbal working-memory capacity: The limit in words retained without covert articulation

Abstract

Verbal working memory may combine phonological and conceptual units. We disentangle their contributions by extending a prior procedure (Chen & Cowan, 2005) in which items recalled from lists of previously seen word singletons and of previously learned word pairs depended on the list length in chunks. Here we show that a constant capacity of about 3 chunks holds across list lengths and list types, provided that covert phonological rehearsal is prevented. What remains is a core verbal working-memory capacity.

Keywords:

• Working memory
• Articulatory suppression
• Serial recall
• Capacity limits
• Verbal working memory

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge National Institutes of Health (NIH) Grant R01-HD21338. Data for no-suppression conditions were from Chen and Cowan (2005, Exp. 2).