This is a hybrid event. The presenter will join via Zoom, and the link is included in the email announcement. If you haven’t received the link, please email Alexandra Bogoyavlenskaya.
Abstract
Working memory (WM) abilities are associated with vocabulary learning and educational outcomes, and an understanding of mechanisms involved in this relationship can help educators support learners. Previous research using visual items has suggested that overloading WM is detrimental to long-term learning. In this talk, I will explain how we investigated the generalization of the WM bottleneck to visual and auditory words, and discuss the relevance of metacognitive knowledge such as individuals’ confidence in their recognition judgements and children’s awareness of their working memory abilities. Moreover, in real-world learning contexts, new words are frequently communicated multimodally, for example using co-speech iconic gestures. I will also outline how we explored individual differences in WM, metacognition and vocabulary in relation to iconic gestures as a potential support for young children’s word learning. An understanding of developmental and individual differences in WM and meta-WM abilities and how these impact learning, as well as how gestures interact with memory and learning, has value for those involved in cognitive and language research, and for educators.
Bio
Elisabeth Knight is a PhD candidate in the School of Psychology at the University of Sheffield, UK, and has recently submitted her doctoral thesis. She is a qualified primary school teacher and worked in this role for fourteen years before completing an MSc in Developmental Psychology and beginning her PhD. Elisabeth’s research focuses on the relationships between working memory, metacognition and learning, and how contextual and individual differences interact with these relationships. She is keen to enhance links between cognitive research and educational practice.