The research studies presented in this special issue rest on two assumptions: firstly, that limitations in verbal short-term memory and verbal working memory (vSTM/WM) capacity are likely to be related to impairments in syntax, and secondly that this relationship is likely to be causal, with impairments in vSTM/WM causing impairments in syntax. In this commentary article I make two, linked, methodological critiques relevant to these studies. Firstly, vSTM/WM tasks, by definition, use verbal stimuli, and therefore they are unable to measure a STM/WM capacity independently of language. Secondly, the authors make causal claims on the basis of correlational data. I argue therefore that the authors’ favoured explanation that impairments in vSTM/WM cause impairments in syntax might not be correct. I conclude that pinning down the relationship between syntax and vSTM/WM in children with developmental disorders is fraught with methodological challenges, and that if the ultimate goal is to devise effective language interventions, then continuing to explore this relationship might not be particularly fruitful.

中文翻译：

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研究发育障碍儿童的句法和短期/工作记忆障碍之间的关系并不是一项简单的工作

本期特刊中的研究基于两个假设：首先，言语短期记忆和言语工作记忆（vSTM / WM）能力的局限性可能与语法受损有关；其次，这种关系很可能是有因果关系的，vSTM / WM中的损坏会导致语法上的损坏。在这篇评论文章中，我提出了两个与这些研究相关的，相互联系的方法论批评。首先，根据定义，vSTM / WM任务使用语言刺激，因此它们无法独立于语言来衡量STM / WM能力。其次，作者根据相关数据做出因果主张。因此，我认为作者赞成的解释是vSTM / WM中的缺陷会导致语法上的缺陷，这可能是不正确的。