Selective transfer of visual working memory training on Chinese character learning

• Published in: Neuropsychologia 2014-01, Vol.53 (Jan), p.1-11
• Main Authors: Opitz, Bertram, Schneiders, Julia A., Krick, Christoph M., Mecklinger, Axel
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Anatomical correlates of behavior; Auditory Perception - physiology; Behavioral psychophysiology; Bilingualism. Multilingualism; Biological and medical sciences; Brain - physiology; China; Chinese; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Language; Learning - physiology; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Memory, Short-Term - physiology; Neuropsychological Tests; Pattern Recognition, Physiological - physiology; Pattern Recognition, Visual - physiology; Practice (Psychology); Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Second language; Training; Transfer (Psychology) - physiology; Vocabulary; Vocabulary learning; Working memory; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0028-3932; 1873-3514
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2013.10.017

Previous research has shown a systematic relationship between phonological working memory capacity and second language proficiency for alphabetic languages. However, little is known about the impact of working memory processes on second language learning in a non-alphabetic language such as Mandarin Chinese. Due to the greater complexity of the Chinese writing system we expect that visual working memory rather than phonological working memory exerts a unique influence on learning Chinese characters. This issue was explored in the present experiment by comparing visual working memory training with an active (auditory working memory training) control condition and a passive, no training control condition. Training induced modulations in language-related brain networks were additionally examined using functional magnetic resonance imaging in a pretest-training-posttest design. As revealed by pre- to posttest comparisons and analyses of individual differences in working memory training gains, visual working memory training led to positive transfer effects on visual Chinese vocabulary learning compared to both control conditions. In addition, we found sustained activation after visual working memory training in the (predominantly visual) left infero-temporal cortex that was associated with behavioral transfer. In the control conditions, activation either increased (active control condition) or decreased (passive control condition) without reliable behavioral transfer effects. This suggests that visual working memory training leads to more efficient processing and more refined responses in brain regions involved in visual processing. Furthermore, visual working memory training boosted additional activation in the precuneus, presumably reflecting mental image generation of the learned characters. We, therefore, suggest that the conjoint activity of the mid-fusiform gyrus and the precuneus after visual working memory training reflects an interaction of working memory and imagery processes with complex visual stimuli that fosters the coherent synthesis of a percept from a complex visual input in service of enhanced Chinese character learning. •Chinese writing system relies more on visual working memory than alphabetical languages.•Visual but not auditory working memory training benefits Chinese character acquisition.•Behavioral improvements are accompanied by sustained activity in the mid-fusiform gyrus.•Precuneus is additionally involved in Chinese character proce