International Journal of School and Cognitive Psychology
Open Access

Abstract

Improving Reading Strategy for Comprehension: “Does Recall Compete with Working Memory Manipulation?”

Evie A Malaia

We investigated whether reading comprehension could be improved by strategic updating of working memory during reading, by providing upper elementary students with working memory consolidation training. We report data from ten fifth-grade students, half of which underwent strategic reading comprehension intervention. Response time data indicated that training in consolidating verbal information increased automaticity of recall. However, this improvement negatively correlated with post-training performance on Backward Digit Span, indicating possible tradeoffs between resource allocation toward the component of executive function moderating maintenance/recall, or toward the component moderating manipulation of working memory content