ARE WORKING MEMORY MEASURES FREE OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL INFLUENCES?

Scientific Conference (2007, September)

This research investigated the hypothesis that working memory skills are independent of environmental factors such as socio-economic or cultural background. Study 1: Twenty Brazilian children aged 6 and 7 ... [more ▼]

This research investigated the hypothesis that working memory skills are independent of environmental factors such as socio-economic or cultural background. Study 1: Twenty Brazilian children aged 6 and 7 years from low socio-economic status families were evaluated on measures of working memory (verbal short-term memory and verbal complex span, taken form the AWMA: Automated Working Memory Assessment) and of vocabulary (expressive and receptive). They were compared with typically developing Brazilian children from the same region, matched on age, sex, and nonverbal ability from families of higher socio-economic status. Children from the low socioeconomic status group obtained significantly lower scores on the vocabulary tests but not on the verbal short-term memory measures, compared to their peers from a higher socio-economical background. Both groups differed on one of the two complex span measures - counting recall - but performed equally well on backwards digit recall. The results indicate that tests of verbal short-term memory and also backwards digit recall provide measures of cognitive abilities that are not biased by the quality of the child's socio-economical background. Study 2: The Brazilian children were also compared to a population of Portuguese- speaking, immigrant children growing up in Luxembourg, evaluated on the same measures. Results will specify whether or not, in addition to being independent of socioeconomic background, verbal short-term memory and backwards digit recall are also free of cultural bias. As these measures are also highly sensitive to language ability, they may provide useful methods for diagnosing language disorder that are independent of environmental opportunity. [less ▲]

Path between working memory, phonological awareness, and language: Evidence from children in a multilingual society

Scientific Conference (2007, August)

Working memory, phonological awareness, and language learning

Scientific Conference (2007, August)

This study investigated the relationship between working memory, phonological processing and developing language skills in a population of children growing up in a multilingual context involving the three ... [more ▼]

This study investigated the relationship between working memory, phonological processing and developing language skills in a population of children growing up in a multilingual context involving the three languages of Luxembourgish, German, and French. A sample of 122 children from Luxembourg, aged between 5 and 7 years, participated in the study, and completed assessments of phonological short-term memory, complex working memory, phonological awareness, native and foreign vocabulary knowledge, language comprehension and reading. The data were best characterized by a measurement model in which working memory consists of two related yet distinct components – corresponding to phonological short-term memory and a central executive – that were distinct from phonological awareness. Language abilities in both the native and foreign languages were more strongly associated with phonological short-term memory than other constructs in the model. The findings lend strong support to the proposal that vocabulary learning in particular is mediated in part at least by the phonological loop component of working memory. [less ▲]

Teaching Academic Writing to Austrian University Students: What Linguistics has to offer

Presentation (2007, July 30)

Conflitualità politica e sociale nel contado di Milano tra la seconda metà del XIII e i primi del XIV secolo: San Vittore di Meda e i Torriani

Scientific Conference (2007, July 11)

Réaménagement ergonomique de la signalétique d’une bibliothèque universitaire

Scientific Conference (2007, July 07)

Réaménagement ergonomique de la signalétique à la Bibliothèque Universitaire de Metz

Bachelor/master dissertation (2007)

Our study deals with the ergonomic reorganization of the signage of a university library. Within this framework, this research leans on three theoritical fields : environmental psychology, information and ... [more ▼]

Our study deals with the ergonomic reorganization of the signage of a university library. Within this framework, this research leans on three theoritical fields : environmental psychology, information and communication sciences, and cognitive ergonomics. To demonstrate that a good usability of the signage would support user’s orientation and appropriation of the place, interviews, questionnaires and a user test were carried out. The results, in agreement with the hypothesis, aims first at developping applied prospects as the concrete reorganization of the sign system, and also theoritical prospects of enrichment of theoritical models and a better knowledge of the user’s behaviors and strategies. [less ▲]

Teacher Burnout - An international comparison

Scientific Conference (2007, July)

Introduction to Symposium « Work satisfaction »

Scientific Conference (2007, July)

Oral paper: Individual differences in subjective perception of work context in call centers

Scientific Conference (2007, July)