Serial position effects in graphemic buffer impairment: an insight into components of orthographic working memory

Trudy Krajenbrink*, Lyndsey Nickels, Saskia Kohnen

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    2 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    This study investigated the nature of graphemic buffer functioning and impairment, through analysis of the spelling impairment shown by GEC, a man with acquired dysgraphia and clear characteristics of graphemic buffer impairment. We discuss GEC’s error patterns in relation to different processes of orthographic working memory. This is the first study to show the contribution of these processes in one individual through performance on different spelling tasks. GEC’s spelling errors in writing to dictation showed a linear serial position effect, including deletions of final letters. These “fragment errors” can be explained as the result of information rapidly decaying from the buffer (reduced temporal stability). However, in tasks that reduced working memory demands, GEC showed a different error distribution that may indicate impairment to a different buffer process (reduced representational distinctiveness). We argue that different error patterns can be a reflection of subcomponents of orthographic working memory that can be impaired separately.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)153-177
    Number of pages25
    JournalCognitive Neuropsychology
    Volume38
    Issue number2
    Early online date21 Apr 2021
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 23 Apr 2021

    Keywords

    • graphemic buffer
    • orthographic working memory
    • dysgraphia
    • spelling
    • fragment errors

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