Developmental and individual differences in visual memory span |
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Authors: | Christopher Miles Michelle J Morgan Alan B Milne and Emily D M Morris |
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Institution: | (1) School of Psychology, University of Wales College of Cardiff, P.O. Box 901, CF1 3YG Cardiff, U.K. |
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Abstract: | The effects of chronological age (5+, 7+, 10+, and adult), articulatory suppression and spatial ability were assessed on three
measures (recognition memory, partial recall, and free recall) of visual memory span for patterns, using a procedure devised
by Wilson, Scott & Power (1987). Although span increased into adulthood for all three tasks, concurrent articulatory suppression
acted to reduce span for the 10-year-old and adult subjects. The ability to generate accurate visuo-spatial representations
at retrieval is perfectly well developed by 7 years of age. Speed of response was lengthened for the youngest age group, but
was immune to the effects of concurrent articulatory suppression. Good spatial ability was associated with higher span estimates
on all tasks, regardless of age. Whilst the data support the existence of a system for representing visual patterns, which
increases in capacity with increasing chronological age, the system (or processes accessing it at retrieval) is not immune
to verbal recoding strategies. The independent association of spatial ability with span is taken to imply that nonverbal encoding
and/or maintenance strategies can act to boost visual span from at least 5 years of age. |
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