Conant L L, Fastenau P S, Giordani B J, Boivin M J, Opel B, Dia Nseyila D
Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee 53226, USA.
J Clin Exp Neuropsychol. 1999 Jun;21(3):375-84. doi: 10.1076/jcen.21.3.375.912.
Digit span (DS) and visual memory span (VMS) tasks have been shown to be distinct in young children but fail to show modality specificity in older American children and adults (Fastenau, Conant, & Lauer, 1997, 1998). The present study examines the possibility that processing of VMS becomes automatized with written language training. In a sample of 139 Zaïrian children, separate factor analyses on K-ABC data for younger children (6.1-8.5 years) and older children (8.6-12.8 years) yielded two-factor solutions in both cases, which appear to represent verbal and visual-spatial abilities. Modality specificity of the visual span task is supported in both age groups. Findings of modality specificity in both Zaïrian age groups provides support for the theoretical distinction between verbal and visual memory span. Continued modality specificity of visual memory span tasks in older Zaïrian children suggests that the increased verbal loadings of these tasks seen for older American children may reflect differences in written language development.
数字广度（DS）和视觉记忆广度（VMS）任务在幼儿中已被证明是不同的，但在美国大龄儿童和成年人中未能显示出模态特异性（法斯陶、科南特和劳尔，1997年，1998年）。本研究探讨了视觉记忆广度加工随着书面语言训练而自动化的可能性。在139名扎伊尔儿童的样本中，对幼儿（6.1 - 8.5岁）和大龄儿童（8.6 - 12.8岁）的考夫曼儿童成套评估测验（K - ABC）数据进行的单独因素分析在两种情况下均得出了双因素解决方案，这似乎代表了言语和视觉空间能力。两个年龄组的视觉广度任务的模态特异性均得到了支持。扎伊尔两个年龄组的模态特异性研究结果为言语和视觉记忆广度之间的理论区别提供了支持。扎伊尔大龄儿童视觉记忆广度任务持续存在的模态特异性表明，在美国大龄儿童中看到的这些任务言语负荷增加可能反映了书面语言发展的差异。
