• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.425-455
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• 2012

Multi-dimensional verbal short-term memory mechanisms are largely divided into the phonological channel and the lexical-semantic channel. The former is called phonological short-term memory and the latter is called semantic short-term memory. Phonological short-term memory is further segmented into the phonological input buffer and the phonological output buffer. In this study, the language performance of each of three patients with similar levels of conduction aphasia was analyzed in terms of multi-dimensional verbal short-term memory. To this end, three patients with conduction aphasia were instructed to perform four different aspects of language tasks that are spontaneous speaking, repetition, spontaneous writing, and dictation in both word and sentence level. Moreover, the patients' phonological memories and semantic short-term memories were evaluated using digit span tests and verbal learning tests. As a result, the three subjects exhibited various types of performances and error responses in the four aspects of language tests, and the short-term memory tests also did not produce identical results. The language performance of three patients with conduction aphasia can be explained according to whether the defects occurred in the semantic short-term memory, phonological input buffer and/or phonological output buffer. In this study, the relations between language and multi-dimensional verbal short-term memory were discussed based on the results of language tests and short-term memory tests in patients with conduction aphasia.