title: Effects of children's working memory capacity and processing speed on their sentence imitation performance.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  More limited working memory capacity and slower processing for language and cognitive tasks are characteristics of many children with language difficulties. Individual differences in processing speed have not consistently been found to predict language ability or severity of language impairment. There are conflicting views on whether working memory and processing speed are integrated or separable abilities.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate four models for the relations of individual differences in children's processing speed and working memory capacity in sentence imitation. The models considered whether working memory and processing speed are integrated or separable, as well as the effect of the number of operations required per sentence. The role of working memory as a mediator of the effect of processing speed on sentence imitation was also evaluated.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-six children with varied language and reading abilities imitated sentences. Working memory was measured with the Competing Language Processing Task (CLPT), and processing speed was measured with a composite of truth-value judgment and rapid automatized naming tasks. Mixed-effects ordinal regression models evaluated the CLPT and processing speed as predictors of sentence imitation item scores. A single mediator model evaluated working memory as a mediator of the effect of processing speed on sentence imitation total scores.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Working memory was a reliable predictor of sentence imitation accuracy, but processing speed predicted sentence imitation only as a component of a processing speed by number of operations interaction. Processing speed predicted working memory capacity, and there was evidence that working memory acted as a mediator of the effect of processing speed on sentence imitation accuracy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings support a refined view of working memory and processing speed as separable factors in children's sentence imitation performance. Processing speed does not independently explain sentence imitation accuracy for all sentence types, but contributes when the task requires more mental operations. Processing speed also has an indirect effect on sentence imitation by contributing to working memory capacity.
authors: The Pennsylvania State University, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University Park, PA, USA. gerard.poll@elmhurst.edu
authors: Gerard H
authors: GH
authors: Poll
authors: Carol A
authors: CA
authors: Miller
authors: Elina
authors: E
authors: Mainela-Arnold
authors: Katharine Donnelly
authors: KD
authors: Adams
authors: Maya
authors: M
authors: Misra
authors: Ji Sook
authors: JS
authors: Park
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002663:Child Language; D032882:Comprehension; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007804:Language Development; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D007807:Language Tests; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*