Investigation of functional working memory in the reading span test.

Two issues were investigated in 2 experiments: (a) the validity of a reading span test that combined a knowledge verification task with a secondary task of word memorization and (b) the hypothesis that word recall reflects the amount of working memory that is functional in reading. In Experiment 1 the validity and reliability of the reading span measure were determined. In Experiment 2 it was reasoned that if word recall reflected functional working memory in reading, then 2 results should be observed. The first predicted result was that prior exposure to sentences used in the reading span test would release working memory resources and improve word recall