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We analyzed a Japanese lexical database to investigate the structure of the lexical environment based on the hypothesis that the lexical environment is optimized for the functioning of verbal working memory. Our prediction was that, as a consequence of the cultural transmission of language, low‐imageable meanings tend to be represented by frequent phonological patterns in the current vocabulary rather than infrequent phonological patterns. This prediction was based on two findings of previous laboratory studies on verbal working memory. (1) The quality of phonological (phonemic and accent) representations in verbal working memory depends on phonological regularity knowledge; therefore, short‐term phonological representations are less robust for words with infrequent phonological patterns. (2) Phonological representations are underpinned by contributions from semantic knowledge; therefore, phonological representations of highly imageable words are more robust than those for low‐imageable words. Our database analyses show that nouns with less imageable meanings tend to be associated with more frequent phonological patterns in Japanese vocabulary. This lexical structure can maintain the quality of phonological representations in verbal working memory through contributions of semantic and phonological regularity knowledge. Larger semantic contributions compensate for the less robust phonological representations of infrequent phonological forms. The quality of phonological representations is preserved by phonological regularity knowledge when larger semantic contributions are not expected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Hebb repetition effect on serial-recall task refers to the improvement in the accuracy of recall of a repeated list (e.g., repeated in every 3 trials) over random non-repeated lists. Previous research has shown that both temporal position and neighboring items need to be the same on each repetition list for the Hebb repetition effect to occur, suggesting chunking as one of its underlying mechanisms. Accordingly, one can expect absence of the Hebb repetition effect in a complex span task, given that the sequence is interrupted by distractors. Nevertheless, one study by Oberauer, Jones, and Lewandowsky (2015, Memory & Cognition, 43[6], 852–865) showed evidence of the Hebb repetition effect in a complex span task. Throughout four experiments, we confirmed the Hebb repetition effect in complex span tasks, even when we included distractors in both encoding and recall phases to avoid any resemblance to a simple span task and minimized the possibility of chunking. Results showed that the Hebb repetition effect was not affected by the distractors during encoding and recall. A transfer cycle analysis showed that the long-term knowledge acquired in the complex span task can be transferred to a simple span task. These findings provide the first insights on the mechanism behind the Hebb repetition effect in complex span tasks; it is at least partially based on the same mechanism that improves recall performance by repetition in simple span tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gathercole et al. (Journal of Memory and Language, 105, 19–42, 2019) presented a cognitive routine framework for explaining the underlying mechanisms of working memory (WM) training and transfer. This framework conceptualizes training-induced changes as the acquisition of novel cognitive routines similar to learning a new skill. We further infer that WM training might not always generate positive outcomes because previously acquired routines may affect subsequent task performance in various ways. Thus, the present study aimed to demonstrate the negative effects of WM training via two experiments. We conducted Experiment 1 online using a two-phase training paradigm with only three training sessions per phase and replicated the key findings of Gathercole and Norris (in prep.) that training on a backward circle span task (a spatial task) transferred negatively to subsequent training on a backward letter span task (a verbal task). We conducted Experiment 2 using a reversed task order design corresponding to Experiment 1. The results indicated that the transfer from backward letter training to backward circle training was not negative, but rather weakly positive, suggesting that the direction of the negative transfer effect is asymmetric. The present study therefore found that a negative transfer effect can indeed occur under certain WM training designs. The presence of this asymmetric effect indicates that backward circle and backward letter tasks require different optimal routines and that the locus of negative transfer might be the acquisition process of such optimal routines. Hence, the routines already established for backward circle might hinder the development of optimal routines for backward letter, but not vice versa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]