8/29/2016 Working In this webinar we look at the role played by working memory in Memory development of literacy skills and will include examples of successful literacy intervention programs. and Literacy Agenda What is working memory? • What is Working memory and how does it affect language, literacy and learning? A system for temporary • Where are we likely to find working memory problems? storage and manipulation of information, necessary for • What strategies can you use to manage working memory wide range of cognitive tasks constraints and improve literacy outcomes? • What is Cogmed? How is it offered in Australia and NZ? How might it fit into a literacy intervention program? The ability to keep information active in your mind for a short period of time (seconds) • What evidence is there that working memory training might keeping it available for further improve language and literacy skills? processing 1 8/29/2016 “Body', 'soul', and 'spirit' may designate phenomenal Working Memory (WM) Performance: domains which can be detached as themes for definite Dependent on Many Variables investigations; within certain limits their ontological indefiniteness may not be important. • WM capacity – affected by deficit: disease, genetics, age….but When, however, we come to the question of man's also fatigue, medication, mood. Being, this is not something we can simply compute by adding together those kinds of Being which body, soul, • WM load – determined by the difficulty of a task as well as and spirit respectively possess--kinds of being whose level of distraction from relevant and irrelevant stimuli. The nature has not as yet been determined. more difficult the task, and the more stimuli attended to, the more demand on the WM. And even if we should attempt such an ontological procedure, some idea of the Being of the whole must be presupposed.” WM capacity + WM load = WM performance ― Martin Heidegger, Being and Time Alan Baddeley’s Working Memory Metaphor Phonological loop up close • Represented by Central Executive phonological store which Central Executive can only hold information for a few seconds before it fades • Rehearsal process (inner voice) rehearses information in order to refresh the memory trace Visuo-Spatial • The loop has a limited Phonological Loop Phonological Loop Episodic Buffer Episodic Buffer Sketch Pad capacity so if articulatory speed is slow the info is lost before it is rehearsed 8 2 8/29/2016 The role of language in working memory Interconnected Systems Supporting Learning •‘Working memory allows us to integrate current perceptual information with stored knowledge, and to consciously manipulate the information (think about it, talk about it and rehearse it) well enough to ensure its storage in long-term Performance‐ Knowledge base memory’ Wolfe 2001 based factors (LTM) *working *largely memory mediated by language Dr Julia Starling WMCON August, 2016 Lisa Archibald, CogCon 2014 Route 1: Working Memory & Learning Working Memory and Language Actively monitors & manipulates information in current focus of WM may have specific impact on language learning attention New information Language is delivered in a rapid code Needed information Transformed / derived information Language is largely delivered via acoustic waveforms –Vanish rapidly Early in the learning process –Time‐dependent Supports development of the knowledge base Bishop, 1992; Kail, 1994 Lisa Archibald, CogCon 2014 Lisa Archibald, CogCon 2014 3 8/29/2016 Working Memory and Literacy Working Memory and Numeracy Reading dependent on decoding Math relies on connections between numbers and symbols Arbitrary connection between speech sounds and letters Numerical symbols are arbitrary Effortful decoding places high demands on WM Operations require retention of intermediate products Retention for comprehension Lisa Archibald, CogCon 2014 Lisa Archibald, CogCon 2014 Route 2: Language & Learning Language Scaffolds Language Learning Stores of knowledge based on human verbal code for communication Verbal skills support language learning Learned over multiple trials Fairly automatic once learned Familiar word types easier to remember *automatic responses place lower demands on working memory –E.g. daevacheenoitag vs. trumpetine Supports learning of related concepts (networks of knowledge) New grammatical forms that fit existing rules –E.g., wuffed; tweet/twat Increasing importance over learning process Sentence comprehension with known vocabulary/context Lisa Archibald, CogCon 2014 Lisa Archibald, CogCon 2014 4 8/29/2016 Language and Literacy Language and Numeracy Word recognition Verbal codes for numerical concepts One; two; three…. Word prediction Word problems Sentence comprehension forms units of understanding Tap existing language base Familiar context supports retention of read material Lisa Archibald, CogCon 2014 Lisa Archibald, CogCon 2014 Interconnected Systems Supporting Learning Working memory underlies language development skills Reading Language On-task Skill/behaviour Maths skills comprehension development behaviour Performance‐ Knowledge base based factors (LTM) e.g. Holding on to new e.g. phonics, vocabulary, Rate of Manipulating Remembering information, processing Affects Attention/ number concepts learning information directions arbitrary symbols, Learned over multiple trials Concentration Language delivered via Fairly automatic once learned. rapidly *workingvanishing form *largelyAutomatic responses place Working memory and lower demands on working executivememory function skills: mediatedmemory by focus, organisation, Executive Working Task problem solving skills Planning Initiate Organise language functions memory monitoring Lisa Archibald, CogCon 2014 5 8/29/2016 Psychological Processes associated with What is involved in learning to read? academic learning (Dehn 2012) Five Pillars Comprehension – Putting all the pieces together. Vocabulary – Can’t understand what they’re reading without knowing what most of the words mean. Fluency – The ability to read accurately, quickly and expressively Phonemic Awareness – Understanding the structure of language. Word attack skills, decoding skills Phonological awareness – Turning Sounds into Letters. Phonics is the crucial link between what kids hear and how they read and write Clinical Observations of WM Deficits Clinical Observations of WM Deficits (con’t) Poor memory of contextual information so unable to use Number of instructions/steps when syllabifying context clues to predict words or assist in word attack 1. underline vowels (decoding) 2. Cross silent letters “Quench your thirst by drinking a glass of water.” 3. Find prefix and mark as first syllable 4. Find suffix and borrow consonant if it is a vowel suffix so as to form Segmenting and Resynthesizing Phonemes in a String final syllable s-t-r-i-n-g becomes ‘stirring’ or ‘sing’ 5. Difficulty holding dual attack information: Syllables and Morphemes Foreshortening after successful syllabification Prefix Root Suffix Re/mem/ber becomes rem/ber Con struc tion Safe ly 8/29/2016 8/29/2016 23 23CogCon AUNZ 2013 CogmedDr Jason Coach Conference McGowan, 19/07/13 Child Development Centre 24 24CogCon AUNZ 2013 CogmedDr Jason Coach Conference McGowan, 19/07/13 Child Development Centre 6 8/29/2016 Agenda Signs of working memory constraints • What is Working memory and how does it affect language, Is easily distracted when doing something not highly interesting literacy and learning? Has trouble waiting his/her turn Struggles with reading comprehension • Where are we likely to find working memory problems? Struggles doing math calculations in his/her head • What strategies can you use to manage working memory Struggles with getting started and completing a task constraints and improve literacy outcomes? Difficulties when planning and organising something with multiple steps • What is Cogmed? How is it offered in Australia and NZ? How might it fit into a literacy intervention program? Makes poor progress despite working hard • What evidence is there that working memory training might improve language and literacy skills? Holmes, Gathercole Dunning 2010 Dyslexia Poor Working Memory: Impact and Interventions in Joni Holmes, editor, Advances in Child Development and Behavior, Vol 39 Academic Press 2010 pp1-43 • Difficulty in processing and remembering Verbal Visual- Verbal Visual- verbal information STM spatial STM WM spatial WM Working Memory impairments are 125 • de Jong (2006): Dyslexia involves associated with a wide range of deficits in both the phonological 120 developmental disorders of learning loop and central executive functioning. 115 • Brain imaging studies have 110 found dyslexics all showed the 100 same brain deficits – large overlap with same areas 95 involved for working memory 90 85 • Working memory also affects: • acquisition of phonics 80 • spelling 75 • reading comprehension 70 65 60 Areas activated on reading - Dehaene 2009 DYSCALCULIADYSLEXIAADHDSLI 7 8/29/2016 Alloway et al,. 2009 Alloway et al,. 2009 • First study in which participants selected on basis of WM rather than Evidence that, even learning difficulties, developmental disorders or genetic syndromes when general ability is accounted for, working • 3,189 5-11 year olds, 308 identified with low WM using AWMA – 10% memory skills predict reading and math • High risk of making poor academic progress scores • Highly distinctive profile of Distractibility inattentive behaviour and Forgetting forgetting which disrupts Failure to remember classroom functioning