A Meta-Analysis on the Relation Between Reading and Working Memory: A Developmental Model

• In Event: 2-002 - Replication

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the relation between reading and working memory (WM) in the context of three major theories: the domain-specificity theory (debate) of WM, the intrinsic cognitive load theory, and the dual process theory. A meta-analysis of 197 studies with 2026 effect sizes found a significant moderate correlation between reading and WM, r = .29, 95% CI [.27, .31]. Moderation analyses indicated that after controlling for publication type, bilingual status, domains of WM, and grade level, the relation between WM and reading was not affected by types of reading. The effects of WM domains were associated with grade level: before 4th grade, different domains of WM were related to reading to a similar degree, whereas verbal WM showed the strongest relations with reading at or beyond 4th grade. Further, the effect of WM on reading comprehension was partialled out when decoding and vocabulary were controlled for.

By integrating the results of the meta-analysis in the context of the dual process theory, debates about domain-specificity of WM, and empirical findings that learning to read may help shape verbal memory (Demoulin & Kolinsky, 2016), we tentatively propose a “Working Memory-Reading Development” model. Based on this model, WM, especially the domain-general central executive component (Baddeley, 1986), should be heavily involved in reading in the early stages of reading. As reading experience accumulates, lexical and verbal knowledge is consolidated in long-term memory, and readers come to rely more on direct retrieval of lexical/verbal knowledge from long-term memory to perform a variety of reading tasks. As children are developing foundational reading skills and attempting to read for understanding, WM resources may be allocated to integrate verbal knowledge and procedures to meet the demands of reading tasks, strengthening verbal WM and the impact of verbal WM on reading in the process. In this model, the relation between reading and WM varies as a function of development: WM primarily exerts an impact on reading early on, with reading also shaping the further development of verbal WM in particular.

Author

• Peng Peng, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
  Presenting Author