Working Memory Capacity and Individual Differences in the Making of Reinstatement and Elaborative Inferences

BARREYRO, J. P. , CEVASCO, J., BURIN, D. I., MOLINARI MAROTTO, C., & DUARTE, A

Spanish Journal of Psychology

Colegio Oficial de Psicologos de Madrid - Univ. Complutense

Lugar: Madrid; Año: 2012 vol. 15 p. 471 - 479

1138-7416

This study investigated the role of working memory capacity on the making of reinstatement and causalelaborative inferences during the reading of natural texts. In order to determine participants? workingmemory capacity, they were asked to take the reading span task before they took part in the study.Those participants that were identified as high or low working memory capacity readers were asked toperform a lexical decision task in two conditions: pre-inference and inference. In the pre-inferencecondition, target words representing reinstatement or causal elaborative inferences were presentedimmediately before the sentences that were predicted to prompt them. In the inference condition, thetarget words were presented immediately after the sentences that were predicted to prompt the inferences.Results indicated that, for the high working memory capacity readers, lexical decision times were fasterat the inference compared to the pre-inference locations for both types of inferences. In the case of lowworking capacity readers, lexical decision times were faster at the inference compared to the preinferencelocations only for reinstatement inferences. These findings suggest that working memorycapacity plays a role in the making of causal inferences during the comprehension of natural texts.