Abstract
The efficiency of working memory capacity was measured with the use of a reading span test (RST) written in Japanese and in English. The Japanese version of the RST was based on the RST developed by Daneman and Carpenter (1980) in English (CMU version). An English-as-a-second-language version (ESL version) was also developed for native Japanese college students. The correlation between the Japanese and ESL versions was found to be highly significant (0.84). Moreover, the correlation between the Japanese and CMU versions was found to be high (0.72). The results indicate that the efficiency of working memory for reading appears to be independent of language structure. Thus, the presently developed Japanese version of the RST is likely to predict reading efficiency in the same way that the CMU version does.
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This work was supported in part by a grant from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science under the international project on “Comparative Reading Behavior,” by Grant 03801010 from Ministry of Education, and by a grant from Yoshida Memorial Foundation 1991 to the second author. Thanks are due Patricia Carpenter and Akira Miyake, Carnegie-Mellon University, for providing original RST and data at the early stage of developing the ESL version of the RST.
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Osaka, M., Osaka, N. Language-independent working memory as measured by Japanese and English reading span tests. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 30, 287–289 (1992). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03330466
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03330466