Our Research
The Working Memory and Language Laboratory studies working memory and its ability to remember information for short periods of time to solve a problem or accomplish a task. Remembering a list of ingredients while navigating the grocery store, following the steps of a recipe, and converting fractions for a double batch of cookies all require working memory. Working memory isn't only useful for cooking. It's used whenever you must figure out something new, and it supports long-term learning.
What We Study
Working memory is important for making sense of language. We can only hear or read words one-at-a-time. Therefore, we must hold onto the words—and their order—while simultaneously creating meaning and thinking about our own response. Children who are deaf or hard of hearing must especially rely on working memory. Because the auditory signal they get is sometimes ambiguous, children who are deaf or hard of hearing often problem-solve to work out the meaning of what they hear.
Language is also important for working memory. Most people use language to remember. It is common for adults to talk to themselves when they need to remember something -- by repeating things over and over, telling themselves a story, or even writing down a list. One of our primary goals is to understand when and how children develop different language-based memory strategies. We also work with our colleagues to understand how memory is affected when children experience atypical language development.
Grants, Publications and Resources
Measurement of Individual Differences in and ERPs of Attention Control
Boys Town National Research Hospital Accelerator Grant
Dr. AuBuchon (Primary Investigator), Dr. Taylor (co-Investigator), Dr. Burgoyne (consultants)
We use attention to either remember information or to change the way we think about existing information. Children’s ability to control their attention predicts a wide range of important life skills including language, multi-tasking, and understanding speech in noise. Unfortunately, most tests of children’s attention control are only useful for narrow age ranges. If we want to study how attention develops, we need attention control tasks that can be used across all of childhood and into the teen years. Our team has new tests that can measure attention control in children from 5 to 15 years old. This grant will allow us to take brain measurements of attention control in both adults and children while they complete our tests. We will use the data collected to guide a bigger research project to study how the brain measurements of attention change across childhood.
- Golden, B. N., Shymanski, J. J., Walker, E. A., & AuBuchon, A. M. (under review). Stimulus labels support declarative but not procedural memory in children with and without hearing loss. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research.
- AuBuchon, A. M., Pisoni, D. B., & Kronenberger, W. (2024). Perceptual encoding speed and verbal rehearsal processes in prelingually deaf children with cochlear implants: Some new findings on long-term outcomes. In N. M. Young & K. I. Kirk (Eds.), Cochlear implants in children: Learning and the brain (2nd ed.).
- AuBuchon, A. M., Wagner, R. L., & Sackinsky, M. (2024). Children’s rehearsal development parallels that of self-talk in other executive functions. Developmental Psychology, 60(7), 1237–1243.
- Morey, C. C., AuBuchon, A. M., Attwood, M., Castelain, T., Cowan, N., Crepaldi, D., … Elliott, E. M. (2024). Is Verbal Rehearsal Strategic? An Investigation into Overt Rehearsal of Nameable Pictures in 5- to 10-Year-Old Children. Journal of Cognition and Development, 26(1), 50–69.
- AuBuchon, A. M. & Wagner, R. L. (2023). Self-generated strategies in the phonological similarity effect. Memory & Cognition 51(7), 1683-1701.
- AuBuchon, A.M., Elliott, E.M., Morey, C.C., Jarrold, C., Cowan, N., Adams, E.J. …& Voracek M. (2022) Lexical Access Speed and the Development of Phonological Recoding during Immediate Serial Recall, Journal of Cognition and Development, doi: 10.1080/15248372.2022.2083140
- Wagner, R. L., Lyon, B. A., AuBuchon, A. (2022). False memory for words in noise: An at-home Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) experiment across adulthood. Psi Chi Journal of Psychological Research, 27(2), 154-165. doi.org/10.24839/2325-7342.JN27.2.154.
- Elliott, E.M., Morey, C.M., AuBuchon, A.M. et al. (2021). A multi-lab direct replication of: Flavell, Beach, and Chinsky (1966): Spontaneous Verbal Rehearsal in Children, Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science doi: 10.1177/25152459211018187
- AuBuchon, A.M., McGill, C., & Elliott, E.M. (2020). Decomposing the role of rehearsal in auditory distraction during serial recall. Auditory Perception & Cognition, 1-15, doi: 10.1080/25742442.2020.1842996
- Bosen, A. K., Monzingo, E. & AuBuchon, A.M. (2020). Acoustic-phonetic mismatches impair serial recall of degraded words, Auditory Perception & Cognition, 1-21, doi: 10.1080/25742442.2020.1846012 Cowan, N., AuBuchon, A. M., Gilchrist, A. L., Blume, C. L., Boone, A. P., & Saults, J. S. (2020). Developmental change in the nature of attention allocation in a dual task. Developmental Psychology, 57(1), 33-46. doi: 10.1037/dev0001134
- AuBuchon, A.M., Kronenberger, W.G., Stone, L. & Pisoni, D.B. (2020). Strategy Use on Clinical Administrations of Short-Term and Working Memory Tasks. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 0734282920930924. doi: 10.1177/0734282920930924
- AuBuchon, A.M., & McCreery, R.W. (2020). When Choosing NOT to Listen Helps You Hear and Learn. Frontiers for Young Minds, Young Minds. 8:104. doi: 10.3389/frym.2020.00104Kamerer A.M., AuBuchon A, Fultz S.E., Kopun J.G., Neely S.T., Rasetshwane D.M. (2019). The role of cognition in common measures of peripheral synaptopathy and hidden hearing loss. American Journal of Audiology, 1-14. doi: 10.1044/2019_AJA-19-0063
- AuBuchon, A.M., Pisoni, D.B. & Kronenberger, W.G. (2019). Evaluating Pediatric Cochlear Implant Users Encoding, Storage, and Retrieval Strategies in Verbal Working Memory. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 62(4), 1016-1032. doi: 10.1044/2018_JSLHR-H-18-0201
- AuBuchon, A.M., McGill, C.I., & Elliott, E.M. (2018). Auditory distraction does more than disrupt rehearsal processes in children's serial recall. Memory & Cognition, 47(4), 738-748. doi: 10.3758/s13421-018-0879-4
- AuBuchon A.M., Pisoni D.B., Kronenberger W.G. (2016). Elementary Cognitive Processes Underlying Verbal Working Memory in Pre-lingually Deaf Children with Cochlear Implants. In: Young N., Iler Kirk K. (eds) Pediatric Cochlear Implantation. Springer, New York, NY. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-2788-3_17
- AuBuchon, A.M., Pisoni, D.B. & Kronenberger, W.G. (2015). Short-Term and Working Memory Impairments in Early-Implanted, Long-Term Cochlear Implant Users are Independent of Audibility and Speech Production. Ear and Hearing, 36(6), 733-737. doi: 10.1097/AUD.0000000000000189
- AuBuchon, A. M., Pisoni, D. B., & Kronenberger, W. G. (2015). Verbal Processing Speed and Executive Functioning in Long-Term Cochlear Implant Users. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 58(1), 151-162. doi: 10.1044/2014_JSLHR-H-13-0259
- Montag, J. L., AuBuchon, A. M., Pisoni, D. B., & Kronenberger, W. G. (2014). Speech intelligibility in deaf children after long-term cochlear implant use. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 57(6), 2332-2343. doi: 10.1044/2014_JSLHR-H-14-0190
- Cowan, N., AuBuchon, A.M., Gilchrist, A.L., Ricker, T.J., & Saults, J.S. (2011). Age differences in visual working memory capacity: Not based on encoding limitations. Developmental Science, 14, 1066-1074. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2011.01060.x
- Cowan, N., Hismjatullina, A., AuBuchon, A.M., Saults, J.S., Horton, N., Leadbitter, K., & Towse, J. (2010). With development, list recall includes more chunks, not just larger ones. Developmental Psychology, 46(5), 1119-1131. doi: 10.1037/a0020618
- Cowan, N., Morey, C. C., AuBuchon, A. M., Zwilling, C. E., & Gilchrist, A. L. (2010). Seven- year-olds allocate attention like adults do unless working memory is overloaded. Developmental Science, 13, 120-133. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2009.00864.x
- Cowan N. & AuBuchon A. M. (2008). Short-term memory loss over time without retroactive stimulus interference. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 15, 230-235. doi: 10.3758/pbr.15.1.230
Adam Bosen, Ph.D.
Chris Stecker, Ph.D.
Brittany Taylor, Ph.D.
Dr. Emily Elliott, Professor, Louisiana State University
Dr. Candice Morey, Reader, Cardiff University
Grace Meissner, MS, PLMHP, NCC
Rebecca Wagner
Maggie Sackinsky
Brynn Golden
A blog on issues of attention, memory, and learning. A team of amazing bloggers summarize research findings for students, educators, parents, and anyone who wants to learn how to learn.
A blog on issues of attention, memory, and learning. A team of amazing bloggers summarize research findings for students, educators, parents, and anyone who wants to learn how to learn.
Clinical psychologist Ali Mattu brings psychology to life in his personal, often nerd-inspired, explanations of psychological phenomenon. His YouTube channel features topics on sci-fi ("The Last Jedi Psychology Explained") with the same thoroughness as his overviews of mental health ("How to overcome social anxiety").
Listen in as Dr. Tiffany Hogan chats with parents, students, clinicians, and other leaders who are passionate about all things language.
It's a Noisy Planet, Protect Their Hearing
An educational campaign supported by the National Institutes of Health, Noisy Planet provides resources to teach children about how hearing works and how to prevent hearing loss.
Frontiers for Young Minds is a scientific journal written by scientists for children. Children are involved in the review and editing process to ensure age-appropriate writing on a variety of topics—including genetics, ocean life, astronomy, and neuroscience. Now only does Dr. AuBuchon serve as a Science Mentor for the Young Minds who review the papers, but she has written a paper herself! Click here to go directly to her paper on how children's brains listen to background noise and tips for listening through the noise.
