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1 The predictive power of working memory task for reading comprehension: An investigation using reading span test Masanao Morishita, Hirohito Kondo, Kayo Ashida, Yuki Otsuka, and Naoyuki Osaka (Kyoto University) This study investigated the crucial factor mediating a correlation between performance of reading span test (RST) and reading comprehension. In the research literature on this issue, one of the remaining controversial points is whether the similarity of sentence processing between RST and comprehension contributes to the correlation. In this study, four RST conditions were created by the combination of two factors: relatedness of stimulus sentences (related or unrelated with each other) and focus of target words (focus or non-focus with respect to sentence meaning). If the correlation is mediated by the similarity of sentence processing, RST performance of related and focus condition, which was most akin to comprehension, would have higher correlation with reading comprehension than other conditions. However, as a result of correlation analysis based on data from ninety-six participants, no such evidence was obtained. On the other hand, RST performance of unrelated conditions that were supposed to strongly require attention control showed significant correlation with reading comprehension. These findings are discussed in terms of the contribution of attention control and short-term memory to performing RST and reading comprehension. Key words: working memory, reading span test, reading comprehension, controlled attention. The Japanese Journal of Psychology 2007, Vol. 77, No. 6, pp Correspondence concerning this article should be sent to: Masanao Morishita, Department of Psychology, Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University, Yoshida-Honmachi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto , Japan ( mmorishita@kpu.ac.jp)

3 Table 1 Examples of reading span test for each condition

6 Table 2 Mean performance on all experimental tasks for all participants and participant groups sorted by relatedness condition Note : Values in parentheses indicate standard deviations. Table 3 Correlations between reading span tests and other tasks (n=48)

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8 (Amano, S., & Kondo, T. (1999). Lexical Properties of Japanese. Tokyo: Sanseido.) Baddeley, A. (1986). Working memory. New York: Oxford University Press. Birch, S. L., & Garnsey, S. M. (1995). The effect of focus on memory for words in sentences. Journal of Memory and Language, 34, Brown, J. I., Bennett, J. M., & Hanna, G. (1981). Nelson- Denny reading test. Chicago: Riverside. Daneman, M., & Carpenter, P. A. (1980). Individual differences in working memory and reading. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 19, Daneman, M., & Merikle, P. M. (1996). Working memory and language comprehension: A meta-analysis. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 3, Engle, R. W., Kane, M. J., & Tuholski, S. W. (1999). Individual differences in working memory capacity and what they tell us about controlled attention, general fluid intelligence, and functions of the prefrontal cortex. In A. Miyake & P. Shah (Eds.), Models of working memory. New York: Cambridge University Press. pp Ericsson, K. A., & Kintsch, W. (1995). Long-term working memory. Psychological Review, 102, Fincher-Kiefer, R., Post, T. A., Greene, T. R., & Voss, J. F. (1988). On the role of prior knowledge and task demands in the processing of text. Journal of Memory and Language, 27, Gernsbacher, M. A., Varner, E. R., & Faust, M. E. (1990). Investigating differences in general comprehension skill. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 16, Just, M. A., & Carpenter, P. A. (1992). A capacity theory of comprehension: Individual differences in working memory. Psychological Review, 99, King, J., Just, M. A. (1991). Individual differences in syntactic processing: The role of working memory. Journal of Memory and Language, 30, Kintsch, W. (1998). Comprehension: A paradigm for cognition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Kondo, H., Morishita, M., Ashida, K., Otsuka, Y., & Osaka, N. (2002). Reading comprehension and working memory: Structural equation modeling approach. Japanese Journal of Psychology, 73, ) McKoon, G., Ratcliff, R., Ward, G., & Sproat, R. (1993). Syntactic prominence effects on discourse processes. Journal of Memory and Language, 32, Miyake, A., Just, M. A., & Carpenter, P. A. (1994). Working memory constraints on the resolution of lexical ambiguity: Maintaining multiple interpretations in neutral contexts. Journal of Memory and Language, 33, (Osaka, M., & Nishizaki, Y. (2000). Features of processing in central executive system of working memory: Integration and comphension in RST. In N. Osaka (Ed.), Brain and working memory. Kyoto: Kyoto University Press. pp ) (Osaka, M., Nishizaki, Y., Komori, M., & Osaka, N. (2002). Effects of focus on working memory. Japanese Journal of Psychology, 72, ) (Osaka, M., & Osaka, N. (1994). Working memory capacity related to reading: Measurement with the Japanese version of reading span test. Japanese Journal of Psychology, 65, ) (Osaka, R., & Umemoto, T. (1984). Kyoto University new NXJ5 intelligence test. 2nd ed. Kobe: Taisei Publisher.) (Otsuka, Y., Morishita, M., Kondo, H., & Osaka, N. (2003). Relationship between reading comprehension and inhibitory mechanism in working memory. Japanese Journal of Psychonomic Science, 21, ) (Saito, S., & Miyake, A. (2000). A systematic evaluation of six hypotheses on the reading span test. Japanese Psychological Review, 43, ) Shah, P., & Miyake, A. (1996). The separability of working memory resources for spatial thinking and language processing: An individual differences approach. Journal of Experimental Psychology. General, 125, Turner, M. L., & Engle, R. W. (1989). Is working memory capacity task dependent? Journal of Memory and Language, 28, Waters, G. S., & Caplan, D. (1996). The measurement of verbal working memory capacity and its relation to

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Mizuki Kaneda and Naoyuki Osaka (Kyoto University) The Japanese Journal of Psychology 2007, Vol. 78, No. 3, pp

Mizuki Kaneda and Naoyuki Osaka (Kyoto University) The Japanese Journal of Psychology 2007, Vol. 78, No. 3, pp. 235-243 (Amano, S., & Kondo, T.) Baddeley, A. D. (1986). Working memory. New York: