American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology Vol.21 S166-S178 May 2012. doi:10.1044/1058-0360(2012/11-0101)
© American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrowCustom Print
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow My Folders
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Sung, J. E.
Right arrow Articles by Kang, H.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Sung, J. E.
Right arrow Articles by Kang, H.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Delicious   Add to Digg   Add to Facebook   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Select Papers From the 41st Clinical Aphasiology Conference

Working Memory Capacity and Its Relation to Stroop Interference and Facilitation Effects in Individuals With Mild Cognitive Impairment

Jee Eun Sunga
Jin Hee Kima
Jee Hyang Jeongb
Heejin Kangb
a Ewha Womans University, Seoul, South Korea
b Ewha Womans University Medical Center, Seoul, South Korea

Correspondence to Jee Eun Sung: jeesung{at}ewha.ac.kr

Purpose: The purposes of the study were to investigate (a) the task-specific differences in short-term memory (STM) and working memory capacity (WMC) in individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and normal elderly adults (NEAs), (b) the Stroop interference and facilitation effects, and (c) the relationship of STM and WMC to the Stroop effects.

Method: Thirty-two individuals participated in the study (n = 16 for each group). WMC demands were increased using a computerized Stroop-like token task to add more linguistic units. Six STM and WMC measures were administered overall.

Results: Digit-related tasks and an alphabet span task sensitively differentiated individuals with MCI from the NEA group. The group with MCI exhibited greater Stroop interference effects than the NEA group, but the 2 groups did not exhibit different Stroop facilitation effects. WMC significantly predicted performance on the response time analyses but not on the error rate analyses.

Conclusion: Task-specific differences emerged in the group with MCI, and a reduced WMC accounts for the impaired inhibitory and goal maintenance processes. It is critical that WMC demands be systematically manipulated to tax individuals' WMC in a way that can clearly demonstrate their deficits, especially in individuals who are at risk for clinically demented states.

Key Words: working memory, Stroop interference effects, Stroop facilitation effects, mild cognitive impairment


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Delicious Delicious   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Facebook Facebook   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?