Verbal working memory and language production: Common approaches to the serial ordering of verbal information

Abstract

Verbal working memory (WM) tasks typically involve the language production architecture for recall; however, language production processes have had a minimal role in theorizing about WM. A framework for understanding verbal WM results is presented here. In this framework, domain-specific mechanisms for serial ordering in verbal WM are provided by the language production architecture, in which positional, lexical, and phonological similarity constraints are highly similar to those identified in the WM literature. These behavioral similarities are paralleled in computational modeling of serial ordering in both fields. The role of long-term learning in serial ordering performance is emphasized, in contrast to some models of verbal WM. Classic WM findings are discussed in terms of the language production architecture. The integration of principles from both fields illuminates the maintenance and ordering mechanisms for verbal information.

Figure 1

The multicomponent model of working memory. From “Is Working Memory Still Working?” by A. D. Baddeley, 2001, American Psychologist, 56, p. 858. Copyright 2001 by the American Psychological Association. Adapted with permission. Boxes in gray represent additions from the original model proposed by Baddeley and Hitch (1974). ^a Addition of the episodic buffer is from Baddeley (2000). ^b Discussion of interactions with long-term memory is from Baddeley (2001).

Figure 2

A connectionist model of single word production. From “The Emergence of Phonology From the Interplay of Speech Comprehension and Production: A Distributed Connectionist Approach,” by D. C. Plaut and C. T. Kello, 1999, in B. MacWhinney (Ed.), The Emergence of Language (p. 390), Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Copyright 1999 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Reprinted with permission.