Cognitive Resources in Working Memory: Domain-Specific or General?

Izmalkova, Anna; Barmin, Artem V.; Velichkovsky, Boris B.; Prutko, Gerda; Chistyakov, Igor

doi:10.3390/bs12110459

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 35 publications

(45 reference statements)

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“…In Baddeley's working memory model, the central executive not only regulated the phonological loop but also directed attention to relevant information, activated representations in long-term memory, and inhibited irrelevant information and inappropriate actions [13]. The theory of long-term working memory suggests that domainspecific expertise greatly influences working memory's capacity within domains [53], particularly when cognitive load is heightened [54]. Compared to the phonological loop, lacking domain-specific knowledge is more likely to affect central executive tasks in the group with learning difficulties.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What Components of Working Memory Are Impaired in Children with Reading and/or Mathematics Difficulties?

Chen,

Georgiou,

Peng

et al. 2023

Children

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Both reading difficulties (RD) and mathematics difficulties (MD) are common neurodevelopmental disorders. The co-occurrence of RD and MD, known as comorbid RDMD, is estimated to range between 21% and 45% of children with learning disabilities. Deficits in working memory have been reported in both RD and MD groups, as well as among comorbid RDMD. However, previous comorbidity studies have only examined the role of some components of working memory, and they do not strictly match their groups on relevant reading and mathematics tasks. Thus, the purpose of this study is to examine the nature of working memory deficits in comorbid RDMD after matching groups based on reading and mathematics tasks. We assessed four groups of children (RD [n = 21, Mage = 10.96 years], MD [n = 24, Mage = 11.04 years], comorbid RDMD [n = 26, Mage = 10.90 years], and chronological-age controls [n = 27, Mage = 10.96 years]) on measures of the phonological loop (word span and digit span forward tasks), central executive (complex word and digit span), and updating tasks (word and digit 2-back). The results of ANCOVA (covarying for gender and non-verbal IQ) showed first that the RD and RDMD groups performed significantly worse than the MD and control groups in both measures of the phonological loop. For the central executive and updating tasks, we found an effect based on stimulus type. For word-related tasks, the RD and comorbid RDMD groups performed worse than the MD and control groups, and for number-related tasks, the MD and comorbid RDMD groups performed worse than the RD and control groups. Taken together, our findings provide support for the correlated liability model of comorbidity, which indicates that working memory deficits experienced by the RDMD group are an additive combination of deficits observed in the RD and MD groups, suggesting that working memory tasks used to examine underlying deficits in reading and/or mathematics difficulties may dictate whether or not significant group differences are found.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%