Effects Of Visuo-spatial Working Memory On Primary School Students’ Bridging Inference Processing During Visual Narrative Comprehension

In the recent decades,the role of working memory in bridging inference processing during written text reading has attracted extensive attention,but the research on its influence during visual narrative reading is scant.In particular,the effects of visuospatial working memory（VSWM）on bridging inference of visual narrative await investigation.Given that,the present study sets out to explore the role of VSWM in bridging inference during visual narrative comprehension.The study is designed to address the following two questions:（1）Can primary school students generate bridging inferences during visual narrative comprehension?（2）Does VSWM affect primary school students’ bridging inference processing in visual narrative comprehension? If so,what are the effects?The participants for this study were 89 fifth-grade pupils from a primary school in Qingdao,Shandong Province,including 39 males and 50 females.The E-Prime software was used to record participants’ button response in VSWM level test as well as in bridging inference processing during visual narrative comprehension.The experimental materials for this study were selected from Charles Schulz’s The Complete Collection of Snoopy Comics.The results showed that:（1）in the condition of action stars,primary school students could generate inferences in visual narrative comprehension;（2）the response time of the high VSWM group was relatively faster than that of the low VSWM group.The accuracy was significantly greater in the high VSWM group than in the low VSWM group.The findings suggest that VSWM has effects on students’ visual narrative bridging inference output to some extent,although there is no significant difference.The study adds to the empirical investigation of relevant theories and broadens their theoretical applicability.The results of this study are conducive to the development of VSWM and may also provide enlightenment for inference evaluation and inference intervention,thus contributing to helping improve primary school students’ reading comprehension ability.