The effects of processing speed and memory span on working memory

This study examined the processing speed and memory span of young adults and older people using tasks based on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III (WAIS-III, Wechsler, 1997). By comparing the data obtained from these tasks, we examined the effects of processing speed and memory span on working memory (WM). In addition, this study examined how presentation modality and the subject’s age are related to WM. Multiple regression analysis of the effect of memory span for each presentation modality used processing time as a factor to predict the WM span of various age groups. The result was two equations for predicting WM span. According to these equations, WM is negatively correlated with “age group” and “processing time,” and positively correlated with “memory span.” Memory span and processing speed were found to have similar impacts on WM, regardless of the presentation modality. However, our results suggested that visual WM and auditory WM are different functions, and that auditory WM is more strongly ...

本研究使用基于韦氏成人智力量表第三版（WAIS - III，韦克斯勒，1997年）的任务，对年轻人和老年人的加工速度和记忆广度进行了检测。通过比较从这些任务中获得的数据，我们研究了加工速度和记忆广度对工作记忆（WM）的影响。此外，本研究还探讨了呈现方式和被试年龄与工作记忆的关系。对每种呈现方式下记忆广度影响的多元回归分析将加工时间作为一个因素，用于预测不同年龄组的工作记忆广度。结果得到了两个预测工作记忆广度的方程。根据这些方程，工作记忆与“年龄组”和“加工时间”呈负相关，与“记忆广度”呈正相关。研究发现，无论呈现方式如何，记忆广度和加工速度对工作记忆的影响相似。然而，我们的研究结果表明，视觉工作记忆和听觉工作记忆是不同的功能，并且听觉工作记忆更强……