Serial Order Processing in Working Memory and Language Production

ABSTRACT

Serial order processing is important in various cognitive processes, like organizing a string of speech sounds when saying a word or maintaining a list of digits in memory when remembering someone’s phone number. When encountering sequential information, we process at least two aspects of the sequence – individual items and their serial order. In this talk, I will discuss how we keep track of serial order information for speech-related verbal materials in working memory, specifically how it relates to speech production and how it differs from, yet interacts with, visuospatial processing. I will highlight the individual differences approach in both neurotypical and clinical (aphasia) populations, providing insight from heterogeneity in performance to general cognitive principles.

BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Yingxue Tian is a postdoctoral fellow at Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute at Jefferson Health. She received her Ph.D. in Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience from Rice University. Her research focuses on the fundamental principles of serial order processing in working memory, its link to language and spatial processing, and its application to clinical practice in aphasia.