Exploring age differences in visual working memory capacity: Is there a contribution of memory for configuration?

Abstract

Recent research has shown marked developmental increases in the apparent capacity of working memory. This recent research is based largely on performance on tasks in which a visual array is to be retained briefly for comparison with a subsequent probe display. Here we examine a possible theoretical alternative (or supplement) to a developmental increase in working memory, in which children could improve in the ability to combine items in an array to form a coherent configuration. Elementary school children and adults received, on each trial, an array of colored spots to be remembered. On some trials, we provided structure in the probe display to facilitate the formation of a mental representation in which a coherent configuration is encoded. This stimulus structure in the probe display helped younger children and thus reduced the developmental trend, but only on trials in which the participant was held responsible for the locations of items in the array. We conclude that, in addition to the development of the ability to form precise spatial configurations from items, the evidence is consistent with the existence of an actual developmental increase in working memory capacity for objects in an array.

Visual short-term memory through the lifespan: Preserved benefits of context and metacognition.

“…We anticipate that the age invariance of contextual and metacognitive benefits would ultimately break down beyond the age range examined here. Different relationships are likely to hold, for example, during childhood, when VSTM performance is improving ( Burnett Heyes, Zokaei, van der Staaij, Bays, & Husain, 2012 ; Cowan et al, 2006 ; Gathercole, Pickering, Ambridge, & Wearing, 2004 ; Sarigiannidis, Crickmore, & Astle, 2016 ), and use of configural context has recently been shown to differ from adults ( Cowan, Saults, & Clark, 2015 ). Performance is also expected to depend on different neural constraints during development and senescence ( Sander, Lindenberger, & Werkle-Bergner, 2012 ).…”

Visual short-term memory through the lifespan: preserved benefits of context and metacognition

“…We anticipate that the age invariance of contextual and metacognitive benefits would ultimately break down beyond the age range examined here. Different relationships are likely to hold, for example, during childhood, when VSTM performance is improving (Gathercole et al, 2004;Cowan et al, 2006;Burnett Heyes et al, 2012;Sarigiannidis et al, 2016), and use of configural context has recently been shown to differ from adults (Cowan et al, 2015).…”

Visual working memory performance is intact across development in autism spectrum disorder

“…Adults hold fewer details within an item (e.g., pattern of lines filling a shape) in WM relative to the item shape (e.g., oval or rectangle) (Fukuda et al, 2010). Developmentally, VWM performance typically improves between childhood and adulthood (e.g., Cowan et al, 2006;Cowan, Saults, et al, 2015). This performance improvement is thought to reflect an increase in WM capacity across childhood (Riggs et al, 2006;Simmering, 2012) and into adulthood (Cowan et al, 2010;Cowan, Ricker, et al, 2015).…”