Kronenberger William G, Henning Shirley C, Ditmars Allison M, Pisoni David B
a Department of Psychiatry , Indiana University School of Medicine , Indianapolis , IN , USA.
b DeVault Otologic Research Laboratory, Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery , Indiana University School of Medicine , Indianapolis , IN , USA.
Cochlear Implants Int. 2018 Nov;19(6):312-323. doi: 10.1080/14670100.2018.1493970. Epub 2018 Jul 5.
Verbal working memory (WM) is more strongly correlated with spoken language skills in prelingually deaf, early-implanted cochlear implant (CI) users than in normal-hearing (NH) peers, suggesting that CI users access WM in order to support and compensate for their slower, more effortful spoken language processing. This pilot study tested the feasibility and validity of a dual-task method for establishing the causal role of WM in basic language processing (lexical access speed) in samples of 9 CI users (ages 8-26 years) and 9 NH peers.
Participants completed tests of lexical access speed (rapid automatized picture naming test and lexical decision test) under two administration conditions: a standard condition and a dual-task WM condition requiring participants to hold numerals in WM during completion of the lexical access speed tests.
CI users showed more dual-task interference (decline in speed during the WM condition compared to the standard condition) than NH peers, indicating that their lexical access speed was more dependent on engagement of WM resources. Furthermore, dual-task interference scores were significantly correlated with several measures of speed-based executive functioning (EF), consistent with the hypothesis that the dual-task method reflects the involvement of EF in language processing.
These pilot study results support the feasibility and validity of the dual-task WM method for investigating the influence of WM in the basic language processing of CI users. Preliminary findings indicate that CI users are more dependent on the use of WM as a compensatory strategy during slow-effortful basic language processing than NH peers.
与正常听力（NH）的同龄人相比，语前聋且早期植入人工耳蜗（CI）的使用者的言语工作记忆（WM）与口语技能的相关性更强，这表明CI使用者通过调用WM来支持和补偿其较慢且更费力的口语处理过程。这项初步研究测试了一种双任务方法的可行性和有效性，该方法用于确定WM在9名CI使用者（年龄8 - 26岁）和9名NH同龄人样本的基本语言处理（词汇通达速度）中的因果作用。
参与者在两种施测条件下完成词汇通达速度测试（快速自动图片命名测试和词汇判断测试）：一种是标准条件，另一种是双任务WM条件，要求参与者在完成词汇通达速度测试时将数字保存在WM中。
与NH同龄人相比，CI使用者表现出更多的双任务干扰（与标准条件相比，在WM条件下速度下降），这表明他们的词汇通达速度更依赖于WM资源的参与。此外，双任务干扰分数与几种基于速度的执行功能（EF）测量指标显著相关，这与双任务方法反映EF参与语言处理的假设一致。
这些初步研究结果支持了双任务WM方法在研究WM对CI使用者基本语言处理影响方面的可行性和有效性。初步研究结果表明，在缓慢费力的基本语言处理过程中，CI使用者比NH同龄人更依赖于使用WM作为一种补偿策略。
