Purpose: This study evaluated the impact of socio-economic factors on children's performance on tests of working memory and vocabulary.Method: 20 Brazilian children, aged 6 and 7 years from low-income families, completed tests of working memory (verbal short-term memory and verbal complex span) and vocabulary (expressive and receptive). A further group of Brazilian children from families of higher socio-economic status matched for age, sex, and nonverbal ability also participated in the study. Results:Children from the low socio-economic group obtained significantly lower scores on measures of expressive and receptive vocabulary than their higher income peers but no significant group differences were found on the working memory measures. Conclusion:Measures of working memory provide assessments of cognitive abilities that appear to be impervious to substantial differences in socio-economic background. As these measures are highly sensitive to language ability and learning in general, they appear to provide useful methods for diagnosing specific learning difficulties that are independent of environmental opportunity.Keywords: working memory, verbal short-term memory, verbal complex span, vocabulary, socio-economic status 3 Are working memory measures free of socio-economic influence?Scores on assessments of working memory are strongly associated with language learning (Archibald & Gathercole, 2006a;Bishop, North, & Donlan, 1996;Dollaghan & Campbell, 1998) and provide excellent predictors of children's scholastic abilities up to 3 years later (Gathercole, Brown, & Pickering, 2003). One priority in developing tests that can be used in the diagnosis of language impairment and learning difficulties is to ensure that the assessments genuinely measure the child's basic learning abilities rather than reflecting knowledge or prior experience that may vary across individuals. Accordingly, the purpose of the present study is to explore whether measures of working memory are influenced by the child's socio-economic status (SES).Working memory consists of a number of distinct but inter-related components.According to the influential Baddeley and Hitch (1974) model developed subsequently by Baddeley (1986Baddeley ( , 2000, it consists of two specialized temporary stores and two domain-general components, the central executive and the episodic buffer. Verbal material is held in a rapidly-decaying phonological form in the phonological loop, and limited amounts of spatial and visual information are stored in the visuo-spatial sketchpad. The central executive is responsible for the allocation of limited capacity resources that support activities both within and beyond the working memory system. The final component, the episodic buffer, integrates inputs from within working memory and long term memory to form unitary multi-modal representations.The phonological loop appears to play a significant role in supporting vocabulary acquisition with close associations between verbal short-term memory skills and both existing vocab...

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The phonological loop is a component of the working memory system specifically involved in the processing and manipulation of limited amounts of information of a sound-based phonological nature. Phonological memory can be assessed by the Children's Test of Nonword Repetition (CNRep) in English speakers but not in Portuguese speakers due to phonotactic differences between the two languages. The objectives of the present study were: 1) to develop the Brazilian Children's Test of Pseudoword Repetition (BCPR), a Portuguese version of the CNRep, and 2) to validate the BCPR by correlation with the Auditory Digit Span Test from the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale. The BCPR and Digit Span were assessed in 182 children aged 4-10 years, 84 from Minas Gerais State (42 from a rural region) and 98 from the city of São Paulo. There are subject age and word length effects causing repetition accuracy to decline as a function of the number of syllables of the pseudowords. Correlations between BCPR and Digit Span forward (r = 0.50; P ≤ 0.01) and backward (r = 0.43; P ≤ 0.01) were found, and partial correlation indicated that higher BCPR scores were associated with higher Digit Span scores. BCPR appears to depend more on schooling, while Digit Span was more related to development. The results demonstrate that the BCPR is a reliable measure of phonological working memory, similar to the CNRep.

RESUMO.O envelhecimento é um processo do desenvolvimento normal, envolvendo alterações neurobiológicas estruturais, funcionais e químicas. Também incidem sobre o organismo fatores ambientais e socioculturais -como qualidade e estilo de vida, dieta, sedentarismo e exercício -intimamente ligados ao envelhecimento sadio ou patológico. Este estudo teórico tem como objetivo ressaltar tópicos relevantes para o envelhecimento sadio e o envelhecimento doentio, fundamentados em resultados recentes da pesquisa em neurociências. Conclui-se que o aumento da idade não significa necessariamente adoecer; com medidas preventivas pode-se manter o idoso em condições saudáveis nos domínios físico e cognitivo, mantendo a autonomia de vida por longo período. Contudo, na presença de disfunções, o diagnóstico e a intervenção precoces podem propiciar uma melhor qualidade de vida ao paciente e sua família.Palavras-chave: envelhecimento, cognição, neurologia. AGING: A MULTIFACTORIAL PROCESSABSTRACT. Common sense designates the psychologist the most proficient professional to work with sexuality. Rarely, though, we are Ageing is a process of the normal development involving structural, functional and chemical neurobiological changes. The organism is affected also by environmental, cultural and social factors, as quality and style of life, diet, idleness, exercise, which are closely linked to healthy or pathological ageing. The objective of this theoretical paper is to stress some important issues about healthy and pathological ageing, based on recent research in neuroscience, which hallmarks the necessity of early diagnosis and intervention. In conclusion, growing older does not necessarily mean to get ill. Preventive measures can maintain the elder in healthy conditions for long, both in the physical and the cognitive domains and keeping his/her autonomy in life. However, in the presence of some dysfunction, early diagnosis and intervention can provide better quality of life for the patient and his/her family.Key words: Aging, cognition, neurology. ENVEJECIMIENTO: UN PROCESO MULTIFACTORIALRESUMEN. El envejecimiento es un proceso del desarrollo normal envolviendo alteraciones neurobiológicas estructurales, funcionales y químicas. También inciden en el organismo factores ambientales y socioculturales, como calidad y estilo de la vida, la dieta, el sedentarismo, ejercicio, íntimamente relacionados al envejecimiento saludable o patológico. Este estudio teórico tiene como objetivo resaltar tópicos relevantes al envejecimiento con salud o molestia, fundamentado en resultados actuales de investigaciones en neurociencias. Si concluí que el aumento de la edad non significa necesariamente adolecer; con medidas preventivas si puede mantener la persona mayor en condiciones saludables, en los dominios físico y cognitivo, manteniendo la autonomía de vida por largo período. Sin embargo, en la presencia de disfunciones, el diagnóstico y la intervención precoz pueden propiciar una mejor calidad de vida para el paciente y su familia.Palabras-clave: Enveje...

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Numerical cognition is based on two components - number processing and calculation. Its development is influenced by biological, cognitive, educational, and cultural factors. The objectives of the present study were to: i) assess number processing and calculation in Brazilian children aged 7-12 years from public schools using the Zareki-R (Battery of neuropsychological tests for number processing and calculation in children, Revised; von Aster & Dellatolas, 2006) in order to obtain normative data for Portuguese speakers; ii) identify how environment, age, and gender influences the development of these mathematical skills; iii) investigate the construct validity of the Zareki-R by the contrast with the Arithmetic subtest of WISC-III. The sample included 172 children, both genders, divided in two groups: urban (N= 119) and rural (N= 53) assessed by the Zareki-R. Rural children presented lower scores in one aspect of number processing; children aged 7-8 years demonstrated an inferior global score than older; boys presented a superior performance in both number processing and calculation. Construct validity of Zareki-R was demonstrated by high to moderate correlations with Arithmetic subtest of WISC-III. The Zareki-R therefore is a suitable instrument to assess the development of mathematical skills, which is influenced by factors such as environment, age, and gender.

Emotion is assumed to change how people process information by modulating attentional focus. Two recent studies (Spachtholz, Kuhbandner, & Pekrun, 2014;Xie & Zhang, 2016) reported that self-reported negative emotion boosted the precision with which information was stored in visual working memory. Here we attempted and failed to replicate these findings across 7 studies conducted in four countries. Emotion was induced by presenting emotional images (negative, neutral, and positive) before each trial of a visual working memory task (6 experiments) or the images were combined with emotional music during a 3-min induction phase (1 experiment) occurring prior to the memory task. In the visual working memory task, participants stored (emotionally-neutral) continuously-varying colored dots or oriented triangles. At test, the color or orientation of a probed item was reproduced. Although participants reported changes in their emotional state commensurate with the manipulations, six experiments showed substantial evidence against changes in visual working memory precision (and quantity) under negative (and positive) emotion in comparison to neutral; whereas one condition, in one study, showed increased precision under both negative and positive emotion compared to neutral. These results challenge the view that emotion modulates visual working memory quality and quantity.