Journal article

New evidence for a visuo-spatial cumulative rehearsal strategy in children’s working memory

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  • 2025
Published in:
  • International Journal of Behavioral Development. - Sage. - 2025, vol. 00, no. 0, p. 1-8
English This study explored the mechanisms involved in maintaining visuo-spatial information in working memory in children aged 4 to 8 years. Two experiments were conducted to determine whether different types of visual aid could support a cumulative visuo-spatial
rehearsal strategy, a consolidation mechanism, or the goal maintenance in a complex span task. In Experiment 1, children memorized sequences of locations while assessing the orientation of a teddy bear that appeared in these locations marked by houses. During the interstimulus interval, we implemented four conditions of visual aid: absence of cues, all empty houses remained on screen, only the last empty house remained on screen, or a visual goal cue. Experiment 2 introduced two new conditions, one to support cumulative rehearsal by displaying on screen the houses visited in each interstimulus interval, and another with an auditory-verbal goal cue.Visual aids, particularly when presented cumulatively, substantially enhanced recall performance. On the contrary, aids designed to support consolidation or goal maintenance did not yield a substantial increase in span scores. The study underscores the potential of cumulative visual supports in improving visuo-spatial working memory performance in children, while also offering insights into the roles of consolidation and goal maintenance.
Faculty
Faculté des lettres et des sciences humaines
Department
Département de Psychologie
Language
  • English
Classification
Psychology
License
CC BY
Open access status
hybrid
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://folia.unifr.ch/unifr/documents/332180
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