Sentence Comprehension and Memory Load in Aphasia: The Role of Resource Reduction

摘要

Sentence comprehension involves the maintenance of linguistic information in phonologicalworking memory (pWM) whilst identification of the meaning is achieved. Simple canonicalsentences place fewer demands on pWM resources than non-canonical sentences. The precise natureof the memory resource involved in sentence comprehension remains a divisive issue. Two modelshave been proposed: 1) A single, non-modular memory resource supports the processing of bothsentences and non-syntactic information (Gordon, Hendrick & Levine, 2002) subject to interferenceeffects (Lewis, 1996), and 2) A modular, sentence-specific pWM resource facilitates the processingof sentences, with a separate pool supporting non-syntactic phonological information (Caplan &Waters, 1999).