Verbal working memory: capacity or experience?

To account for interindividual differences in language performance, two opposing frameworks will be discussed: the theory of a capacity-constrained working memory resource (Just & Carpenter, 1992), and MacDonald and Christiansen's (2002) account based on Elman nets. In contrast to the idea of a working memory resource that is functionally independent of its content, MacDonald and Christiansen's approach implements the unity of learning, knowledge, and processing, and highlights the role of experience with language. Interesting predictions about the processing of local coherences - locally well-formed, but globally prohibited phrases or clauses - can be derived from this approach. We present results that support the idea of the language processing device as a unified dynamic sequence-learning and processing device, as assumed in the context of Elman nets. Earlier results that seemingly demonstrate interindividual differences in working memory capacity can be attributed to linguistic experience and practice.