Working memory (WM) is a potentially important factor related to the development of and performance in reading skills. This study examined the differential relations between two components of the WM system (i.e., storage, processing) and reading. Latent variables were created based on data from 1900 children (1146 children in preschool-second grade and 754 children in third-fifth grade) recruited for a larger study concerning the development of reading comprehension. Results indicated that a general-specific model of WM was a good fit to the data and effectively isolated the variance unique to WM-processing from that of WM-storage. Using the general-specific model, relations between the components of WM and reading (e.g., reading comprehension, decoding) and reading-related (e.g., oral language, phonological awareness, nonverbal IQ) outcomes were examined. In contrast with previous studies that have suggested WM is consistently associated with reading comprehension, our findings indicate that both aspects of WM (i.e., storage, processing) operate primarily indirectly through foundational reading-related skills. In sum, the WM system is not specifically associated with reading comprehension as most of the effects of WM-processing are indirect via the effects on foundational reading-related skills.

工作记忆 (WM) 是与阅读技能的发展和表现相关的潜在重要因素。本研究检查了 WM 系统的两个组成部分（即存储、处理）和阅读之间的差异关系。潜变量是根据 1900 名儿童（1146 名学龄前二年级儿童和 754 名三五年级儿童）的数据创建的，这些儿童被招募参加一项关于阅读理解发展的更大规模研究。结果表明，WM 的一般特定模型非常适合数据，并有效地将 WM 处理与 WM 存储的方差分开。使用一般特定模型，WM 的组成部分与阅读（例如，阅读理解、解码）和阅读相关（例如，口语、语音意识、非语言智商）结果进行了检查。与之前表明 WM 始终与阅读理解相关的研究相反，我们的研究结果表明 WM 的两个方面（即存储、处理）主要通过与阅读相关的基础技能间接运作。总之，WM 系统与阅读理解没有特别关联，因为 WM 处理的大部分影响是通过对基础阅读相关技能的影响而间接产生的。