2022 Volume 46 Issue 1 Pages 1-12
The purpose of this study was to examine the processing involved in the Reading Span Test (RST), which measures the working memory capacity, and to clarify the characteristics of strategies in working memory for verbal stimulation in the deaf and hard-of-hearing depending on the communication mode. Thirty deaf and hard-of-hearing students were classified into two groups based on their communication mode: oral-dominant and oral/sign group. Subjects performed the RST and memory tasks of two kanji words with different mental images level, to examine the differences in memory strategies for target words during RST and the relationship between performance across tasks. The results showed that although there were no differences in RST performance between the groups, indicating that there are differences of strategies for memorizing target words. In the oral-dominant group, uses a strategy that utilize semantic information, and indicating correlation between the RST and memory task of high-mental-image, suggesting that efficiency in the use of semantic encoding processing/strategies is related to the RST. On the other hand, in the oral/sign group, uses a strategy related to phonological and visual information, and indicating correlation between the RST and memory task of low-mental-image, suggesting that efficiency in the use of phonological codes is related to the RST.