The contribution of visual processing speed to visual and auditory working memory in early school years.

Abstract

Objective: The primary aim of the present study was to examine the predictive contribution of age and speed of visual processing measures to the determination of visual working memory (VWM) and auditory working memory (AWM) in children aged 5–7 years. Method: The present study has used structural equation models (SEM) for determination of speed of visual processing measures (visual inspection time, visual–verbal rapid automatic naming of objects, and a visuo-motor game-like iPad application) to working memory (WM) using forward and backward visual and auditory verbal digit span (FDS and BDS, respectively) tasks as the dependent working memory (WM) measures. Results: Analysis of variance revealed that visual and auditory FDS and BDS improved significantly with school grade being consistent with the notion that VWM and AWM are experimentally dissociable cognitive domains that develop at differential rates in early years of schooling as the child becomes progressively more familiar with the translation of visual symbols into their verbal equivalents. Furthermore, our SEM does not support Baddeley’s multicomponent model of working memory, with visual information processing significantly contributing to VWM but not to AWM in primary school-aged children. Conclusions: Our findings provide evidence of continuing WM development paralleling brain maturation of children. Overall, our results support a developmental cognitive neuroscience approach to WM development.

Children’s Verbal, Visual and Spatial Processing and Storage Abilities: An Analysis of Verbal Comprehension, Reading, Counting and Mathematics

“…There are presently no models of WM that argue for discrete types of processing (i.e., verbal, visual, spatial). However, findings from a recent study by Alghamdi et al (2021) suggest that visual processing ability relates only to the development of visual WM and not verbal WM in 5- to 7-year-olds, supporting the suggestion here that types of processing within WM might be discrete. As the Alghamdi et al study only examined visual processing ability, there is value in further investigating visual, spatial and verbal processing to understand links with the development of the respective storage abilities in WM.…”

The effect of anxiety on working memory and language abilities in elementary schoolchildren with and without Additional Health and Developmental Needs

“…However, in our younger children (i.e. 7-years and under) who are still learning to read, verbal encoding and rehearsal strategies are reported to be unlikely (Hitch et al, 1988;Pickering, 2001;Alghamdi et al, 2021). It is therefore possible that some of the association between visually presented Digit Span and anxiety may be mediated by verbal encoding and rehearsal factors, although other aspects of our results suggest that the impact of such verbal encoding is small: for instance, the correlations between auditoryverbal and visual forward digit span (short-term memory) and backward digit span (working memory) are only moderate (0.49 for forwards and 0.59 for backwards), indicating that the two task modalities are at least partially differentiated.…”

“…The custom visual digit span task has previously been used with a range of typical and atypical children (e.g. Mungkhetklang et al, 2016 ; Alghamdi et al, 2021 ) and may be considered a more reliable estimate of working memory (than auditory-verbal digit span) in populations with language difficulties ( Olsthoorn et al, 2014 ). Reliability in our sample was moderate to good in both the NT (Forward = 0.70; Backward = 0.82) and AHDN groups (Forward = 0.71; Backward = 0.84).…”

The Contribution of Visual and Auditory Working Memory and Non-Verbal IQ to Motor Multisensory Processing in Elementary School Children

“…It was hypothesized, in line with past research [35,36], that older children would demonstrate both longer forward and backward digit spans, and faster MRTs on multisensory tasks [10,17]. It was also hypothesized that combined cognitive development as a measure of WM and IQ tasks would contribute further to MRTs of multisensory processing.…”

“…To assess fine visually driven motor (visuomotor) processing, the Lee-Ryan Eye-Hand Coordination Test battery (SLURP) was used [41]. It has been demonstrated that this task is reliable and valid for assessing visuomotor integration in both children and adults [18,35]. In this task, children were instructed to trace five shapes in order (circle, triangle, square, rabbit, and snail); the total time taken to accomplish the task was extracted and analysed for each child.…”