Open AccessWorking memory development from early childhood to adolescence using two nationally representative samples.
Author(s) -
Sammy F. Ahmed,
Alexa Ellis,
Kaitlin P. Ward,
Natasha Chaku,
Pamela E. DavisKean
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
developmental psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.318
H-Index - 213
eISSN - 1939-0599
pISSN - 0012-1649
DOI - 10.1037/dev0001396
Subject(s) - psychology , psycinfo , working memory , memory span , developmental psychology , child development , short term memory , task (project management) , population , cognition , demography , medline , management , neuroscience , sociology , political science , law , economics
We leveraged nationally representative data from the Panel study of Income Dynamics-Child Development Supplement ( N = 3,562) and the Early Childhood Longitudinal study ( N = 18,174), to chart the development of working memory, indexed via verbal forward and backward digit span task performance, from 3 to 19 years of age. Results revealed nonlinear growth patterns for forward and backward digit span tasks, with the most rapid growth occurring during childhood followed by a brief accelerated period of growth during early adolescence. We also found similar developmental trajectories on digit span task performance for males and females across the U.S. population. Together, this study highlights the relative importance of the childhood period for working memory development and provides researchers with a reference against which to compare the developmental changes of working memory in individual studies. From a practical perspective, clinicians and educators can also use this information to understand important periods of working memory growth using national developmental trends. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).