Verbal working memory resources may impact syntax comprehension. Thirteen Italian children with cochlear implants (CIs) were assessed in relative clause (RC) comprehension, digit span and nonword repetition and compared to 13 chronological age peers (CA) and 13 younger controls (LA) with normal hearing (NH). The RC comprehension task tested subject relatives (SR), object relatives with preverbal (OR) and postverbal subjects (ORp) where number features were manipulated. Children with CIs show worse performance than controls in RC comprehension and nonword repetition. In the RC task, number features facilitated comprehension by children with NH, but not by children with CIs. The memory measure that predicted RC comprehension was digit span. In the LA group, backward digit span predicted comprehension of all RC types. Forward digit span predicted comprehension of ORs with number mismatch in the CA group, and comprehension of ORs with number mismatch and ORps in children with CIs. In these conditions, high memory resources are needed to exploit number features in theta-role assignment.

中文翻译：

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人工耳蜗儿童的口头工作记忆资源及相关从句的理解

语言工作内存资源可能会影响语法理解。评估了13名意大利儿童的人工耳蜗（CIs）的相对从句（RC）理解力，手指跨度和非单词重复率，并将它们与13位按年龄顺序的同龄人（CA）和13位年龄较小的正常听力（NH）的对照进行了比较。RC理解任务测试了科目的亲属（SR），带有言语对象（OR）和后言语对象（ORp）的对象亲属，在这些对象中操纵了数字功能。带有CI的儿童在RC理解和非单词重复方面的表现比对照组差。在RC任务中，数字功能有助于NH儿童而不是CI儿童理解。预测RC理解的记忆度量是数字跨度。在LA组中，后向数字跨度预测所有RC类型的理解。前向数字范围预测CA组中具有数字不匹配的OR的理解，以及CI患儿中具有数字不匹配和ORps的OR的理解。在这些情况下，需要大量内存资源才能利用thero-role分配中的数字功能。