Miller-Cotto, Dana;
Gordon, Rebecca;
(2024)
EXPRESS: Revisiting Working Memory Fifty Years after Baddeley and Hitch: A Review of Field-specific Conceptualizations, Use and Misuse, and Paths Forward for Studying Children.
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology
10.1177/17470218241301701.
(In press).
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Abstract
As trained educational and developmental psychologists who study the role of working memory in educational outcomes, we know the various assumptions made about definitions and measurements of this cognitive ability. Considering the popularity of the Baddeley and Hitch working memory model (1974) in these fields, we raise challenges related to measurement, overlap with executive function, and adopting working memory measurement approaches from adult models. We propose that researchers consider how working memory tasks might tap multiple other abilities. This is problematic in the context of child cognitive development and in understanding which factors explain educational outcomes in children. We recommend giving greater attention to the central executive, acknowledging the overlap between the central executive and executive function in study design, and investigating a developmental model in the context of the broader abilities evoked in measurement. These recommendations may provide a fuller understanding of working memory's mechanistic role in children's learning and development and assist in developing reasonable adjustments for specific aspects of working memory for children who struggle.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | EXPRESS: Revisiting Working Memory Fifty Years after Baddeley and Hitch: A Review of Field-specific Conceptualizations, Use and Misuse, and Paths Forward for Studying Children |
| Location: | England |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1177/17470218241301701 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/17470218241301701 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| Keywords: | developmental psychology, educational psychology, executive function, measurement, Working memory |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Psychology and Human Development |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10200839 |
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