Processing-heavy working memory tasks correlate more strongly with noisy speech perception
Evidence
Working memory (WM) has no universally-accepted definition. One characterisation posits that WM refers to the ability to simultaneously store and process task-relevant information (Daneman and Carpenter 1980 ). WM tasks may emphasize either storage or processing. Storage-heavy tasks, such as Digit Span and Letter-Number Sequencing (Wechsler 1997 ), require participants to repeat back material either unchanged or slightly changed. Processing-heavy tasks, such as the Reading Span task (Daneman and Carpenter 1980 ), require a response that differs considerably from the original material and is only achieved by substantial mental manipulation. The correlation between WM and speech perception, particularly in noise, tends to be larger when the WM task is complex i.e. processing-heavy (Akeroyd 2008 ). — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 1230
Storage-heavy tasks, such as Digit Span and Letter-Number Sequencing (Wechsler 1997 ), require participants to repeat back material either unchanged or slightly changed. Processing-heavy tasks, such as the Reading Span task (Daneman and Carpenter 1980 ), require a response that differs considerably from the original material and is only achieved by substantial mental manipulation. The correlation between WM and speech perception, particularly in noise, tends to be larger when the WM task is complex i.e. processing-heavy (Akeroyd 2008 ). — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 1229
Categorization
- DEFINE: Clarifies the storage-vs-processing distinction in working memory task design, a core technical concept for this chapter.
- QUESTION: Worth chasing: why do some storage-heavy WM tasks still correlate with SiN perception, contradicting the general trend?
- corroborated: 5 independent passages support this claim — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 1230; Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 1229
- XREF: connects to: Inherent noise fluctuations do not universally limit speech perception across hearing conditions — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 2166; Degraded speech processing raises baseline cognitive effort independently of semantic context — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 3978; Working memory correlates with speech-in-noise performance only in middle-aged and older normal-hearing listeners — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 1120 (+8 more)