New evidence for a visuo-spatial cumulative rehearsal strategy in children’s working memory
PSPE
- Fitamen, Christophe ORCID University of Fribourg, Switzerland
- Blaye, Agnès Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, France
- Chevalier, Nicolas The University of Edinburgh, UK
- Camos, Valérie University of Fribourg, Switzerland
- 2025
Published in:
- International Journal of Behavioral Development. - Sage. - 2025, vol. 00, no. 0, p. 1-8
Visuo-spatial working memory
Children
Cumulative rehearsal
Consolidation
Visual support
Goal maintenance
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.
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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