Working memory span and situation model processing

GABRIEL A. RADVANSKY and DAVID E. COPELAND
University of Notre Dame

This study looked at how comprehension and memory processing at the situation model level is related to traditional measures of working memory capacity, including the word span, reading span, operation span, and spatial span tests. Issues of particular interest were the ability to remember event descriptions, the detection and memory of functional relationships, the detection of inconsistencies, sensitivity to causal connectivity, and memory for surface form, textbase, and situation-specific content. There was little evidence that traditional measures of working memory span were directly related to processing at the situation model level. However, working memory span was related to our few textbase-level tests.