title: Reassessing working memory: comment on Just and Carpenter (1992) and Waters and Caplan (1996).
abstract: M. A. Just and P. A. Carpenter's (1992) capacity theory of comprehension posits a linguistic working memory functionally separated from the representation of linguistic knowledge. G. S. Waters and D. Caplan's (1996) critique of this approach retained the notion of a separate working memory. In this article, the authors present an alternative account motivated by a connectionist approach to language comprehension. In their view, processing capacity emerges from network architecture and experience and is not a primitive that can vary independently. Individual differences in comprehension do not stem from variations in a separate working memory capacity; instead they emerge from an interaction of biological factors and language experience. This alternative is argued to provide a superior account of comprehension results previously attributed to a separate working memory capacity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, USA. mcmacdonald@facstaff.wisc.edu
authors.forename: Maryellen C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: MacDonald
authors.forename: Morten H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Christiansen
mesh_terms: D008037:Linguistics; D008568:Memory; D008606:Mental Processes; D008960:Models, Psychological