Biomedical subjects

Yukiko Nishizaki

Publications and source records attributed to Yukiko Nishizaki.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2004

[Text comprehension and individual differences in working memory: the different contributions of the storage and the retrieval processing].

The present study addressed the relationship between an individual difference in the reading span test (RST) and the performance in text comprehension with respect to storage and retrieval systems. In Experiment 1, an effect of the serial recall task on performance in text comprehension was compared between high and low RST score groups. In Experiment 2, an effect of the word fluency task on performance in text comprehension of two groups was investigated. The results of both experiments showed that the performance in text comprehension of the low RST score group was impaired when the serial recall task was the secondary task; in contrast, the performance of the high RST score group was influenced when the word fluency task was used. The results suggested that the high RST score group comprehended text not only by using a temporary storage system but also by using a retrieval system efficiently.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Information processing of pictograms and the visual field difference.

The main purpose was to investigate how we process pictograms and to examine the effects of learning on visual field differences when participants overlearn the meaning of each pictogram. 15 students were required to judge whether the referent of each symbol was either larger or smaller than the referent of the standard stimulus (Test 1). Several days later the same task was conducted (Test 2). Although a right visual field advantage was observed in Test 1, it was not apparent at Test 2 after participants had studied the pictogram list repeatedly. These results suggest that pictograms might be processed in much the same way as other ordinary verbal stimuli at a very early stage of learning. Participants could, however, comprehend the pictograms by employing a kind of imagery processing after they were familiar with the symbols.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2002

Effect of focus on verbal working memory: critical role of the focus word in reading.

The effect of focus on working memory was investigated with the reading span test (RST). In two experiments, the span scores and the number of intrusion errors were compared between the focused RST the and the nonfocused RST. Focus word was defined as the most important word for comprehending a sentence. For the focused RST, the target word to be maintained was the focus word for the sentence. In the nonfocused RST, however, the target word was not the focus word for the sentence. The results of both experiments showed that RST span scores were higher for the focused RST than for the nonfocused RST, and intrusion errors were found to increase for the nonfocused RST. In Experiment 2, the effect of focus was compared between high-span and low-span subjects. An effect of sentence length was also investigated. The result showed that low-span subjects were more affected than were high-span subjects by whether the word to be remembered was the focus word. The effect of sentence length was not confirmed. These findings suggest that the low-span subjects had deficits in their ability to establish and/or inhibit mental focus when faced with conflict situations in reading.

Humans↗

PubMed2002

[Effects of focus on working memory].

Effects of focus on a target word during performance of the reading span test (RST) were investigated. A focus word in the sentence was defined as the most critical word with a core meaning to integrate the sentence. Two kinds of RST were compared. One was focus-RST (F-RST) in which the target word to be maintained was a focus word of the sentence. The other was a non-focus-RST (NF-RST) in which the target word was not a focus word of the sentence, although the sentence did contain a focus word. Results showed that RST scores were found to be higher for F-RST than for NF-RST. Moreover, the effect of focus was proved to be dominant for low span subjects. Intrusion errors also increased in NF-RST. Sentence length effect, however, was not found. The results showed that low span subjects had severe deficits in making and updating the focus, which is critical for sentence comprehension.

Humans↗