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Short-term memory span: insights from sign language

Nature Neuroscience volume 7, pages 997–1002 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

Short-term memory (STM), or the ability to hold information in mind for a few seconds, is thought to be limited in its capacity to about 7 ± 2 items. Notably, the average STM capacity when using American Sign Language (ASL) rather than English is only 5 ± 1 items. Here we show that, contrary to previous interpretations, this difference cannot be attributed to phonological factors, item duration or reduced memory abilities in deaf people. We also show that, despite this difference in STM span, hearing speakers and deaf ASL users have comparable working memory resources during language use, indicating similar abilities to maintain and manipulate linguistic information. The shorter STM span in ASL users therefore confirms the view that the spoken span of 7 ± 2 is an exception, probably owing to the reliance of speakers on auditory-based rather than visually based representations in linguistic STM, and calls for adjustments in the norms used with deaf individuals.

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Figure 1: Short-term memory spans and reading rates in deaf native signers and hearing controls.
Figure 2: Short-term memory spans and recall rates in ASL signers and English speakers.
Figure 3: Short-term memory (STM) and working memory (WM) spans in ASL signers and English controls.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank the students and the staff of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, Rochester, New York, and of Gallaudet University, Washington, DC, as well as the participants and organizing committee of CoDAWay 2002. We are also grateful to P. Clark and P. Hauser for their support and to M. Hall, O. Pouliot, J. Cohen, D. Metlay and R. Harris for their assistance. This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (DC04418 to D.B.; DC00167 to E.L.N. and T.S.) and by the James S. McDonnell Foundation (D.B.).

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  1. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, 14627, New York, USA

    Mrim Boutla, Ted Supalla, Elissa L Newport & Daphne Bavelier

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Correspondence to Daphne Bavelier.

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Boutla, M., Supalla, T., Newport, E. et al. Short-term memory span: insights from sign language. Nat Neurosci 7, 997–1002 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1298

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