The Development of Working Memory
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Bristol
Department Name: Experimental Psychology
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Organisations
Publications
Hall D
(2015)
The developmental influence of primary memory capacity on working memory and academic achievement.
in Developmental psychology
Jarrold C
(2013)
The Development of Rehearsal in Verbal Short-Term Memory
in Child Development Perspectives
Jarrold C
(2013)
Reevaluating key evidence for the development of rehearsal: phonological similarity effects in children are subject to proportional scaling artifacts.
in Developmental psychology
Jarrold C
(2015)
What can we learn about immediate memory from the development of children's free recall?
in Quarterly journal of experimental psychology (2006)
Jarrold C
(2015)
Absolute and proportional measures of potential markers of rehearsal, and their implications for accounts of its development.
in Frontiers in psychology
Jarrold C
(2014)
Individual differences in processing speed mediate a relationship between working memory and children's classroom behaviour
in Learning and Individual Differences
Jarrold C
(2011)
Commentary: Theoretical and methodological challenges to the study of working memory in developmental disorders - a comment on Rhodes et al. (2012)
in Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
Miller S
(2015)
The development of memory maintenance strategies: training cumulative rehearsal and interactive imagery in children aged between 5 and 9
in Frontiers in Psychology
Roome HE
(2014)
How do selective attentional processes contribute to maintenance and recall in children's working memory capacity?
in Frontiers in human neuroscience
| Description | The first three objectives of this project were to determine how working memory development relates to age-related changes in i) short-term memory capacity, ii) processing speed, and iii) long-term memory utilisation. A fourth objective was to determine which of these factors mediate the relationship between working memory performance and educational attainment in children. Four large-scale studies were conducted addressing these objectives, involving a total of over 500 children. These showed that i) working memory development depends on age-related changes in storage capacity, and that short-term storage can be understood as the combination of passive capacity coupled with active rehearsal processes, ii) rehearsal rate and rate of forgetting from working memory are separable speeded processes that are distinct from general speed of processing, iii) children's long-term knowledge is an additional constraint on working memory performance, and iv) the rate at which children forget information from working memory is a key (and previously under-emphasised) correlate of their academic attainment, alongside separate additional contributions from speed of processing and rehearsal efficiency. Two papers related to finding i) have already been published, and a further two are in preparation that will disseminate finding ii) and the combination of findings iii) and iv) respectively. The project was also associated with a linked PhD studentship. Hannah Roome submitted her thesis within a 4-year registration period, having carried out 5 empirical studies on both children and adults that involved recruitment of over 750 individuals. Hannah's thesis focused on measures of primary and secondary memory, and incorporated a consideration of presentation modality among other factors. Her work has led to one research publication, with others planned. Hannah has been able to secure research assistant work after her studentship to pursue her academic career. An additional outcome of the project was a related line of work that was conducted into the development of rehearsal - a process that emerged as a mediator of the link between children's working memory performance and academic attainment, as noted above. A theoretical critique of the long-standing claim that young children do not rehearse was published, along with an empirical paper examining the markers of rehearsal in young children, and a subsequent methodological commentary that will guide further research in this area. A final, but important, achievement is that the work from this project formed the basis of a very successful and ongoing engagement with both local and national educational psychology networks. Although some of this engagement was financially supported by a separate ESRC Knowledge Exchange Scheme grant to Dr Debbora Hall (the employed post-doctoral researcher on this grant), the work that was disseminated was taken primarily from this project. This engagement involved a workshop with educational psychologists from across the country, a well-received set of educational videos, a set of fact-sheets, and a suite of related games that can be used for dynamic assessment purposes by educational psychologists. These resources are available from our website: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/expsych/public-engagement/working-memory/ |
| Exploitation Route | As noted above, we have already begun a discussion with educational psychologists about the implications of our findings for educational practice. In addition to the workshop mentioned above, we have delivered an extended teaching session to educational psychologists on the University of Exeter D.EdPsych course that we have been asked to repeat in the coming year. There is scope to broaden out this training, and to further disseminate the resources available on our website. In particular, Special Educational Needs Coordinators and teachers have expressed an interest in our materials, suggesting that their relevance may go well beyond the original audience of educational psychologists that we had identified. Our work on the development of rehearsal has both theoretical (academic) and applied (non-academic) implications, which we plan to develop further. We have submitted a new grant proposal to the ESRC that, if funded, will allow us to further challenge the assumption that young children do not rehearse, and the equally strong view that rehearsal plays a causal role in short-term memory development. If these theoretical claims are confirmed, then this would also have implications for our understanding of the causes of short-term memory deficits that are seen in certain neuropsychological cases. We are exploring possible pathways to engagement with speech therapists and clinical psychologists with interests in this area. |
| Sectors | Education |
| Description | The work from this project formed the basis of a very successful and ongoing engagement with both local and national educational psychology networks. Although some of this engagement was financially supported by a separate ESRC Knowledge Exchange Scheme grant to Dr Hall (the employed post-doctoral researcher on this grant), the work that was disseminated was taken primarily from this project. This engagement involved a workshop with educational psychologists from across the country, a well-received set of educational videos, a set of factsheets, and a suite of related games (and for a period iPad apps) hat can be used for dynamic assessment purposes by educational psychologists. These resources are available from our website http://www.bristol.ac.uk/psychology/public-engagement/working-memory/ In addition to the workshop mentioned above, we have delivered an annual extended teaching session to educational psychologists on the University of Exeter D.EdPsych course between 2015 and 2019, and discussed the applied implications of our work at a conference for Educational Psychologists and Teachers organised by the Plymouth Educational Psychology Service. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2014 |
| Sector | Education |
| Impact Types | Policy & public services |
| Description | ESRC Knowledge Exchange Scheme grant |
| Amount | £26,884 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | ES/K005634/1 |
| Organisation | Economic and Social Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2014 |
| End | 03/2015 |
| Title | The development of working memory. Study 1: primary memory development |
| Description | |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Title | The development of working memory. Study 2: processing speed |
| Description | |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Title | The development of working memory. Study 3: secondary memory |
| Description | |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Title | The development of working memory. Study 4: primary memory, processing speed, and secondary memory as determinants of children's working memory |
| Description | |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Description | Annual teaching session for trainee educational psychologists on the University of Exeter D.EdPsych course (2015-2019) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Training session for trainee educational psychologists. Well received, and led to discussions on how theory could directly inform these individuals' practice. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015,2016,2017,2018,2019 |
| Description | Feedback to teaching staff at a Holymead Infants and Juniors Schools (Bristol) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Talk confirmed to the audience the benefits the school had experienced from being involved in our research Future research activities are taking place in this school |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Feedback to teaching staff at a school involved in our research (Bristol) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Approximately 30 school staff (teachers and headteacher) from a school involved in our research project attended a talk given in place of one of their staff meetings. This had the title 'working memory in the classroom' and focussed on the findings, and educational implications, of our work on the grant An offer of future support for research |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Workshop on 'working memory in the classroom' for educational psychologists |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Many requests for further information; increase in activity and downloads from our associated website. Contact made with a number of people who are interested in further research and engagement. These include teachers and educational psychologist who will be linking in with future projects, and individuals wishing to use our materials in their own practice. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://www.bristol.ac.uk/expsych/public-engagement/working-memory/about/ |