Memória operacional na gagueira : análise do armazenamento fonológico e do processamento de informações

Abstract

Memory is the cognitive function that represents a complex system that can be defined as the capacity we have to acquire, store and evoke information. There are different classifications for the types of memories, however, working memory has been considered the most relevant. It is universally recognized as a neurocognitive system that temporarily stores and processes new information. Different working memory models are proposed in the literature, however the development of this research was based on Baddeley's (2003) multicomponent working memory model. This model is composed of four subsystems. The first component called phonological loop is responsible for retaining verbal and acoustic information. The second component, visuospatial, relates to the maintenance of visual and spatial aspects. The central executive, the third element, is directly linked to the care process for the conservation of information. And, the fourth component, the episodic buffer, responsible for linking information between other components of memory. In this thesis we try to understand the relevance of phonological working memory and the central executive with stuttering, a language disorder that affects motor speech processing. Thus, the objective is to ascertain the storage capacity of phonological traits by phonological working memory; analyze the existence of changes in the attentional processes processed by the central executive and, finally, compare the results obtained between the control and experimental groups, in order to observe the influence of these two components in people who stutter. For this, the sample in this study included 20 volunteers, 10 of whom were diagnosed with persistent stuttering (CG) and 10 individuals in the control group, without stuttering (SG). In this sample, all were adults, of both genders; aged between 18 and 45 years; complete high school; and, confirmed diagnosis of persistent stuttering (for the experimental group). For this, three experiments were applied using the Paradigm program: Stroop Test, N-back Tasks 1, 2 and 3 and, finally, the Span Reading Test. The hypothesis is that the volunteers who stutter had difficulties in recovering the non-words and lower rates of correct answers in the experiments compared to the control group. The results showed that the Stroop Test also occurs in people who stutter and that they have a greater difficulty by presenting incongruous stimuli; that N-Back tasks 1, 2 and 3 revealed that the level of difficulty is the same for both the control group and the group with stuttering; that the effect of phonological similarity does not affect stuttering, unlike the extension effect that shows to be related to this condition. Therefore, it is suggested that phonological memory and the central executive may be directly related to stuttering.