Verbal Comprehension
Verbal Comprehension - Related Videos
06:44
Measuring Verbal Working Memory Span
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2023
Source: Laboratory of Jonathan Flombaum—Johns Hopkins University Why is it relatively hard to remember everything on a shopping list if it includes more than just a handful of items? Why is it possible to remember a phone number that one just heard, but not two or three phone numbers at once? Why is it difficult to remember names when several new people are introduced at the same time? The answer has to do with the fact that over short-durations people rely on a specialized memory system...
06:16
Verbal Priming
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2023
Source: Laboratory of Jonathan Flombaum—Johns Hopkins University Human memory seems to work in two broad ways. Like modern computers, the human mind has explicit, or declarative, memory: ask a question, and a person gives the best answer they can. Input a query, and a computer program returns the contents of the relevant parts of its stored memory. Humans also have a second kind of memory system, one not really typical of computers, one that experimental psychologists call implicit. Implicit...
01:29
Non-Verbal Cues
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2025
Non-verbal communication extends beyond gestures and facial expressions to include vocal elements known as paralanguage. Paralanguage consists of non-verbal vocal cues such as pitch, loudness, speech rate, pauses, and non-verbal vocalizations like laughter, sighs, and moans. These elements not only accompany speech but also provide critical emotional and contextual information.The Role of Paralanguage in CommunicationParalanguage adds depth to spoken language by conveying emotions and...
01:28
Channels of Non-Verbal Communication
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2025
Non-verbal communication plays a critical role in human interaction, influencing how individuals perceive emotions and psychological states. It operates through four primary channels: facial expressions, eye contact, body language, and touch. These non-verbal cues help convey meaning beyond spoken language and are often culturally influenced.Facial Expressions and Emotional RecognitionFacial expressions are among the most powerful and universal forms of non-verbal communication. Research has...
09:05
Assessing Working Memory in Children: The Comprehensive Assessment Battery for Children – Working Memory (CABC-WM)
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Cited by 26 •
2017
Working memory predicts a significant amount of variance for a variety of cognitive tasks, including speaking, reading, and writing. However, few tools are available to assess working memory in children. We present an innovative, computer-based battery that comprehensively assesses different components of working memory in school-age children.
FAQs
Successful understanding depends on several processes working together rather than on vocabulary alone. Vocabulary supplies word meanings, grammar shows how words relate within a sentence, and context helps select the intended interpretation. Attention keeps relevant language in focus, while working memory temporarily maintains information so a person can connect ideas across sentences or a longer passage.
Context helps the mind construct meaning from linguistic information by linking individual words and sentences to the surrounding material. The same vocabulary may contribute to different interpretations depending on the passage or conversational setting. This makes contextual processing important for understanding connected language, not merely recognizing or defining isolated words.
Working memory supports the temporary retention of language while a person processes additional information. During a passage, it helps maintain earlier words or ideas long enough to relate them to later sentences. Attention works alongside this capacity by prioritizing relevant information, supporting coherent interpretation rather than disconnected responses to individual phrases.
Knowing definitions is one component, but broader comprehension also requires applying grammar, using context, maintaining information, and interpreting relationships among ideas. A person may recognize individual words yet have difficulty explaining a passage or answering questions about it. For that reason, psychological assessment uses several task types rather than relying on vocabulary knowledge alone.
Psychologists may ask people to define words, explain similarities, answer questions, or interpret information. These tasks sample different aspects of language-based understanding, including knowledge of word meanings, recognition of shared relationships, and construction of meaning from presented material. Using multiple formats can provide a broader picture than a single language task.
Results can help psychologists characterize language development, identify learning needs, and contribute to understanding intellectual functioning. Interpretation should consider the pattern of performance across tasks rather than treating one response as a complete description of ability. In this way, assessment findings can support a more focused understanding of how a person handles linguistic information.
Performance can provide information relevant to changes associated with neurological or psychiatric conditions. Psychologists may examine how a person performs on language-based tasks and compare the resulting pattern with the assessment purpose. The findings can help characterize cognitive functioning or changes over time, while remaining one part of a broader psychological or neuropsychological evaluation.