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.

摘要

本研究通过对 GEC 显示的拼写障碍的分析，研究了文字缓冲功能和障碍的性质，GEC 是一名患有获得性书写障碍且具有明显的文字缓冲障碍特征的人。我们讨论了与正字法工作记忆的不同过程相关的 GEC 错误模式。这是第一项通过不同拼写任务的表现来展示这些过程对一个人的贡献的研究。GEC 在听写时的拼写错误表现出线性连续位置效应，包括删除最后的字母。这些“片段错误”可以解释为信息从缓冲区中快速衰减的结果（降低的时间稳定性）。然而，在减少工作记忆需求的任务中，GEC 显示出不同的错误分布，这可能表明对不同缓冲过程的损害（减少的代表性独特性）。我们认为，不同的错误模式可以反映可以单独受损的正字法工作记忆的子组件。