Write concisely and clearly, using connected prose.

Read the target article, then answer the questions within the word limit given for each question. • Write concisely and clearly, using connected prose. Do not use bullet points within a question. • In your answer, focus on the important aspects and do not include irrelevant details. Do not exceed the word limit given for each question. • Your answer should demonstrate your understanding. Your answers should be in your own words, not a verbatim copy of the text. • Do not use abbreviations unless it is well-established in the literature (e.g., ANOVA). If it is a technical term, and it is not abbreviated in the article, do not use abbreviations. • There is no need to give a References list. • Do not copy and paste the questions (as this will inflate the Turnitin similarity score); just mark each answer as Q1, Q2, etc. For Q1, mark each answer (a), (b), etc. • Please note that the assignment questions are similar to the assignments from previous years, but the target article, and hence the answers, are different. Make sure you have read the right target article. • Title page is not required. • To submit, upload a single document with your name and student ID at the top of the page via the Turnitin assignment portal under Assessment tasks/Assignment in the iLearn unit homepage. Target article
Thorn, A. S.C., & Gathercole, S.E. (2001). Language differences in verbal short-term memory
do not exclusively originate in the process of subvocal rehearsal. Psychonomic Bulletin &
Review, 8 (2), 357-364.
Link to the e-reserve at MQ Library (if the link doesn’t work, get to the article via the
Leganto reading list) Thorn & Gathercole (2001) investigated the first language advantage found with bilinguals
in immediate serial recall. Answer the following 5 questions relating to this article. Q1
requires a single word or a phrase; for Q2-5, your answer should be a couple of sentences
(not bullet points) within the word limit given for each question. Your answer should be
expressed succinctly in your own words, and not a verbatim copy of the text.
Questions
1. Background to this research. Complete the blank space with a word or a phrase (5
marks, each answer is worth 1 mark).
Within a language, memory span (immediate serial recall) is consistently found
to be superior for short as compared with long words; this is called the word
length effect. In the phonological loop component of Baddeley’s (1986) working
memory model, the word length effect is explained in terms of a rehearsal
mechanism that serves to refresh decaying representations held in a
phonological short-term store: Words that take longer to produce are rehearsed
more slowly, resulting in an increased chance of loss from the phonological store
through trace decay.
Previous studies have consistently found cross-language variation in digit span,
with greater span found in languages such as Chinese than English. This crosslanguage variation is thought to arise from the difference in __ (a) ___, with
languages such as Chinese, in which digit names are short, are thought to permit
faster __ (b) ____, resulting in better recall performance.
2
Language differences in short-term memory performance have also been
demonstrated within bilingual individuals. Ellis & Henneley (1980) showed that
Welsh-English bilinguals had superior digit span in English, the language with the
__ (c)__ digit names than Welsh, and attributed the results to the difference in
the ___ (d) ____. Here, Thorn and Gathercole (2001) suggest an alternative
possibility that the English language advantage in digit span in bilinguals could in
part be due to a difference in __ (e) ___ . The superior recall in the language the
bilingual individual is more familiar with is referred to as a first language
advantage.
2. What is the research hypothesis investigated in this study (i.e., what was the study
designed to investigate), and the outcome that is expected from the authors’
proposal regarding the origins of the first language advantage? (4 marks, limit 100
words)
3. Summarize the Method of Experiment 2. Your answer must include: a) participant
characteristics, b) stimulus characteristics, how they were presented, and what the
participants were asked to do with them, c) the dependent variable used to measure
the verbal short term memory capacity, and d) the two independent variables (IV)
and the levels (conditions) within each IVs, making clear how they were manipulated
(within-subjects or between-subjects). (4 marks, limit 120 words).
4. Summarize in a sentence the critical pattern of results of Experiment 2 shown in
Table 2. (3 marks, limit 30 words)
5. Describe the explanation of the first language advantage put forward by Thorn &
Gathercole (2001) which draws a link to the two variables known to enhance short
term memory recall within a language. (4 marks, limit 130 words)