Working memory Capacity and Individual Differences in Reinstatement and Elaborative Inferences Generation

JUAN PABLO BARREYRO; JAZMÍN YOMHA CEVASCO; DEBORA INES BURIN; CARLOS MOLINARI MAROTTO

Spanish Journal of Psychology

Universidad Complutense de Madrid

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

1989-3809

This study investigated the role of working memory capacity in the generation of reinstatement and backward elaborative inferences during the reading of natural narrative texts (fairy tales). In order to determine participants? working memory capacity, they were administered 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 to perform a lexical decision task in two conditions: pre-inference and inference. In the pre-inference condition, target words representing reinstatement or backward elaborative inferences were presented immediately before the sentences that were predicted to prompt them. In the inference condition, the target 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 faster at the inference compared to the pre-inference locations for both types of inferences. In the case of low working capacity readers, lexical decision times were faster at the inference compared to the pre-inference locations for reinstatement inferences. There were no differences between the pre-inference and inference conditions in the case of elaborative inferences. Taken together, these findings suggest that working memory capacity plays a role in the generation of causal inferences during the comprehension of natural texts. * The journal is abstracted and indexed in ClinPSYC, CSA SOCIAL SCIENCE COLLECTION (Linguistics & Language Behavior Abstracts), Elsevier Bibliographic Database, DICE, ERIC, ERIH, e-psyche, FRANCIS, IBECS, IBSS, Index Medicus, INION-RAN, INRECS, ISOC, JOURNAL CITATION REPORT (JCR), MEDLINE, PASCAL, PSICODOC, Psychological Abstracts, PsycINFO, Red Alyc, RESH, SOCIAL SCIENCES CITATION INDEX, SJR (SCImago), SCOPUS, TECNOCIENCIA and Ulrich´s Periodicals Directory. ** El artículo será publicado en el volumen 15 (2), en Julio de 2012