Investigating the Role of Working Memory Components in Mathematical Cognition in Children: A Scoping Review

2017 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 417-421
Author(s):  
Saeed Anas ◽  
Farzan Sasangohar
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
Mathematical Cognition ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Mathematical Performance ◽  
Visual Spatial ◽  
Low Performance ◽  
New Research

Mathematics has been long known to be a complicated subject, requiring an advanced set of skills. Each skill learned in mathematics requires different level of effort and goes through a different path of processing when working memory is utilized. Being a leading indicator of children’s academic achievement, mathematical cognition is of vital importance and is monitored from a young age, where low performance could be a sign of a learning disability that needs to be addressed. A scoping review of literature was conducted to investigate the fortifying evidence on the importance of working memory in children’s mathematical performance, and present the common measures for which future research in this field would need to account. One of the main findings of this research is the strong contribution of working memory to problem solving, whether it is a single- or multi-digit arithmetic in consideration. Verbal working memory will have greater contribution for orally presented problems in contrast to written ones that would interact with visual-spatial sketchpad. A number of measures were agreed on to be good contributors for working memory performance, however some limitations apply on the modeling of working memory which was found to be alleviating some implications; at the same time, providing rich soil for cultivating new research.

Negative stimuli may improve visuospatial working memory

2016 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 1419-1423
Author(s):  
Kyle M. Wilson ◽  
Paul N. Russell ◽  
Neil R. de Joux ◽  
Megan J. Blakely ◽  
William S. Helton
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Negative Affect ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Visuospatial Working Memory ◽  
Negative Picture ◽  
Picture Stimuli ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Negative Stimuli

The impact of negative affect on working memory performance is unclear. Visuospatial and verbal working memory are critical in many settings, but may be impaired during exposure to negative stimuli. In Experiment 1, the impact of task-irrelevant negative picture stimuli on verbal compared to visuospatial working memory performance was investigated. Unexpectedly, visuospatial memory performance was superior for trials containing negative stimuli than trials with neutral stimuli. The impact of negative picture stimuli on visuospatial working memory was further examined in Experiment 2. Performance was again superior for negative stimuli relative to neutral stimuli. While much previous research has reported that negative affect is disruptive of visuospatial working memory, the improved performance found here is consistent with other research particularly where negative or arousing stimuli are thought to increase the pool of available processing resources or effort. Implications for contexts where working memory demands occur alongside distressing stimuli are discussed, as well as future research suggestions.

Dissociating the Impact of Auditory Access and Language Access in Deaf Children’s Cognitive Development

2020 ◽  
pp. 98-122
Author(s):  
Matthew L. Hall
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Executive Function ◽  
Cognitive Development ◽  
Implicit Learning ◽  
Educational Practice ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
Psychological Theory ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Language Access ◽  
The Impact

Deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children have been claimed to lag behind their hearing peers in various domains of cognitive development, especially in implicit learning, executive function, and working memory. Two major accounts of these deficits have been proposed: one based on a lack of auditory access, and one based on a lack of language access. This chapter reviews these theories in relation to the available evidence and concludes that there is little evidence of direct effects of diminished auditory access on cognitive development that could not also be explained by diminished language access. Specifically, reports of deficits in implicit learning are not broadly replicable. Some differences in executive function do stem from deafness itself but are not necessarily deficits. Where clinically relevant deficits in executive function are observed, they are inconsistent with the predictions of accounts based on auditory access, but consistent with accounts based on language access. Deaf–hearing differences on verbal working memory tasks may indicate problems with perception and/or language, rather than with working memory. Deaf–hearing differences on nonverbal tasks are more consistent with accounts based on language access, but much more study is needed in this area. The chapter concludes by considering the implications of these findings for psychological theory and for clinical/educational practice and by identifying high-priority targets for future research.

Shared Predictors of Academic Achievement in Children with ADHD: A Multi-Sample Study

2021 ◽  
pp. 108705472110120
Author(s):  
Kelly D. Carrasco ◽  
Chi-Ching Chuang ◽  
Gail Tripp
Keyword(s):  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Word Reading ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
The United States ◽  
Children With Adhd ◽  
Visual Spatial ◽  
Visual Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Predictors Of Academic Achievement

Objective: To identify common and shared predictors of academic achievement across samples of children with ADHD. Method: Two clinically referred samples from New Zealand (1 n = 88, 82% boys; 2 n = 121, 79% boys) and two community samples from the United States (3 n = 111, 65% boys; 4 n = 114, 69% boys), completed similar diagnostic, cognitive and academic assessments. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses identified significant predictors of word reading, spelling, and math computation performance in each sample. Results: Entered after IQ, semantic language, age at testing, and verbal working memory emerged as consistent predictors of achievement across academic subjects and samples. Visual-spatial working memory contributed to variance in math performance only. Symptom severity explained limited variance. Conclusions: We recommend evaluations of children with ADHD incorporate assessments of working memory and language skills. Classroom/academic interventions should accommodate reduced working memory and address any identified language weaknesses.

scholarly journals Effects of valent image-based secondary tasks on verbal working memory

2018 ◽  
Vol 71 (6) ◽  
pp. 1440-1456 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phillip L Morgan ◽  
Craig Williams ◽  
Fay M Ings ◽  
Nia C Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Free Recall ◽  
Secondary Task ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
International Affective Picture System ◽  
Secondary Tasks ◽  
Negative Images ◽  
Task Interruption ◽  
Lower Valence

Two experiments examined if exposure to emotionally valent image-based secondary tasks introduced at different points of a free recall working memory (WM) task impair memory performance. Images from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) varied in the degree of negative or positive valance (mild, moderate, strong) and were positioned at low, moderate and high WM load points with participants rating them based upon perceived valence. As predicted, and based on previous research and theory, the higher the degree of negative (Experiment 1) and positive (Experiment 2) valence and the higher the WM load when a secondary task was introduced, the greater the impairment to recall. Secondary task images with strong negative valance were more disruptive than negative images with lower valence at moderate and high WM load task points involving encoding and/or rehearsal of primary task words (Experiment 1). This was not the case for secondary tasks involving positive images (Experiment 2), although participant valence ratings for positive IAPS images classified as moderate and strong were in fact very similar. Implications are discussed in relation to research and theory on task interruption and attentional narrowing and literature concerning the effects of emotive stimuli on cognition.

Brain correlates of action word memory

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zubaida Shebani ◽  
Francesca Carota ◽  
Olaf Hauk ◽  
James B. Rowe ◽  
Lawrence W. Barsalou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Motor Cortex ◽  
Verbal Memory ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
The Body ◽  
Action Perception ◽  
Brain Correlates ◽  
Posterior Parietal

AbstractWhen understanding language semantically related to actions, the motor cortex is active and may be sensitive to semantic information, for example about the body-part-relationship of displayed action-related words. Conversely, movements of the hands or feet can impair memory performance for arm- and leg-related action words respectively, suggesting that the role of motor systems extends to verbal working memory. Here, we studied brain correlates of verbal memory load for action-related words using event-related fMRI during the encoding and memory maintenance of word lists. Seventeen participants saw either four identical or four different words from the same category, semantically related to actions typically performed either with the arms or with the legs. After a variable delay of 4-14 seconds, they performed a nonmatching-to-sample task. Hemodynamic activity related to the information load of words at presentation was most prominent in left temporo-occipital and bilateral posterior-parietal areas. In contrast, larger demand on verbal memory maintenance produced greater activation in left premotor and supplementary motor cortex, along with posterior-parietal areas, indicating that verbal memory circuits for action-related words include the cortical action system. Somatotopic memory load effects of arm- and leg-related words were not present at the typical precentral loci where earlier studies had found such word-category differences in reading tasks, although traces of somatotopic semantic mappings were observed at more anterior cortical regions. These results support a neurocomputational model of distributed action-perception circuits (APCs), according to which language understanding is manifest as full ignition of APCs, whereas working memory is realized as reverberant activity gradually receding to multimodal prefrontal and lateral temporal areas.

scholarly journals Mental Rotational Ability Is Correlated with Spatial but Not Verbal Working Memory Performance and P300 Amplitude in Males

PLoS ONE ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. e57390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory J. Christie ◽  
Charles M. Cook ◽  
Brian J. Ward ◽  
Matthew S. Tata ◽  
Janice Sutherland ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
P300 Amplitude

scholarly journals MEMORIA DE TRABAJO EN NIÑOS DE EDUCACIÓN INFANTIL CON Y SIN BAJO RENDIMIENTO MATEMÁTICO

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 233
Author(s):  
M.J Presentación ◽  
Rebeca Siegenthaler ◽  
V. Pinto ◽  
Jesica Mercader ◽  
C. Colomer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Preschool Children ◽  
Neuropsychological Tests ◽  
Mathematics Learning ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
Math Performance ◽  
Visuospatial Working Memory ◽  
Children At Risk ◽  
Mathematical Performance ◽  
Los Grupos

Abstract:This study aims to explore working memory in preschool children with and without low mathematical performance. The sample consisted of 255 children aged 5-6 years, to whom were administered neuropsychological tests of working memory and TEDI-MATH to estimate the mathematical performance. The results highlight the capacity of verbal working memory to significantly differentiate groups of children with and without problems in 8 of the 9 analyzed mathematical domains. This factor together with visuospatial working memory differentiate the group of children at risk for mathematical learning disabilities.Keywords: working memory, preschool, math performance, mathematics learning disabilitiesResumen:Este estudio se propone analizar la memoria de trabajo en niños de Educación Infantil con y sin bajo rendimiento matemático. La muestra estaba compuesta de 255 niños de 5 a 6 años, a los que se les aplicó pruebas neuropsicológicas de memoria de trabajo y el TEDI-MATH para estimar el rendimiento matemático. Los resultados destacan la capacidad de la memoria de trabajo verbal para diferenciar significativamente los grupos de niños con y sin dificultades en 8 de los 9 dominios matemáticos analizados. Este mismo factor junto con la memoria de trabajo viso-espacial estática diferencian al grupo de niños con riesgo de aprendizaje de las matemáticas.Palabras clave: memoria de trabajo, Educación Infantil, rendimiento matemático, dificultades de aprendizaje de las matemáticas.

scholarly journals Effect of verbal working memory load during the oculomotor activity in visual search

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 21-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
B.B. Velichkovsky ◽  
A.I. Izmalkova
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Search ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Mutual Influence ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
Working Memory Load ◽  
Visual Spatial ◽  
Visual Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Oculomotor Activity

The structure of working memory has components responsible for the storage of verbal and visualspatial information; despite the fairly detailed study of the functions and mechanisms of their work, the question of their mutual influence is still open. Studies on the verbal working memory load influence on visual search performance (a task requiring the use of visual-spatial working memory resources) it was found that the load on the verbal working memory leads to increased efficiency of target detection. The results of the analysis of oculomotor activity during visual search also point out that the implementation of such tasks under verbal working memory load is accompanied by an increase in cognitive tension and of the degree of search automaticity. The results may indicate the interaction of verbal and visual-spatial working memory components that share non-specific cognitive resources.

Introduction to the special issue on syntax and verbal short term/working memory in developmental disorders

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 335-340
Author(s):  
Stavroula Stavrakaki
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Verbal Memory ◽  
Developmental Disorders ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Main Research ◽  
The Status

In the field of developmental disorders, two main research approaches, the linguistic approach and the cognitive psychology of memory approach, have been used to a great extent independently. Recently, researchers have investigated simultaneously the language and verbal memory abilities – especially verbal short term memory (VSTM) and verbal working memory (VWM) – of individuals with developmental disorders. The present Special Issue contributes to the discussion of the relation between VSTM/VWM and syntax in developmental disorders. It reports empirical data from six studies on the relation between verbal memory and syntax in different disorders and languages, and it raises theoretical issues concerning these cognitive mechanisms. It concludes with three commentary articles where the authors raise crucial theoretical and methodological issues: they pose questions concerning the status of VSTM/VWM and syntax, and spell out directions for future research in this field.

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