Working memory capacity predicts sensitivity to prosodic structure

Listeners vary in the perception and interpretation of speech prosody (the variations in intonation, loudness, and rhythm of spoken language). The source of this variability is unknown. We investigated whether the ability to recognize and classify prosodic structure is related to working memory capacity. This hypothesis stems from the tight connection between prosodic and syntactic (grammatical) structure, and because processing syntax is known to relate to working memory capacity. Healthy adult speakers of Dutch judged prosodic structures in a gating paradigm. The phrases contained early and late intonational cues that signaled whether the phrases contained an internal grouping. Listeners also took part in tasks tapping into verbal working memory (digit span) and processing speed (letter comparison). There was an interaction between performance in the prosody judgment and working memory tasks: High-working memory listeners were better at classifying prosodic structure and required less prosodic information to detect the correct structure. There was no interaction between prosody processing and processing speed. The results demonstrate a close relationship between prosody processing and working memory abilities, implying that working memory is an important component of prosody processing. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).