Working Memory Constrains Long-Term Memory in Children and Adults: Memory of Objects and Bindings
We explored how individual and age-related differences in working memory (WM) capacity affected subsequent long-term memory (LTM) retrieval. Unlike past studies, we tested WM and LTM not only for items, but also for item–color bindings. Our sample included 82 elementary school children and 42 young...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-05-01
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| Series: | Journal of Intelligence |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-3200/11/5/94 |
| _version_ | 1827741103329116160 |
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| author | Alicia Forsberg Dominic Guitard Eryn J. Adams Duangporn Pattanakul Nelson Cowan |
| author_facet | Alicia Forsberg Dominic Guitard Eryn J. Adams Duangporn Pattanakul Nelson Cowan |
| author_sort | Alicia Forsberg |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | We explored how individual and age-related differences in working memory (WM) capacity affected subsequent long-term memory (LTM) retrieval. Unlike past studies, we tested WM and LTM not only for items, but also for item–color bindings. Our sample included 82 elementary school children and 42 young adults. The participants performed a WM task with images of unique everyday items presented sequentially at varying set sizes in different colors. Later, we tested LTM for items and item–color bindings from the WM task. The WM load during encoding constrained LTM, and participants with a higher WM capacity retrieved more items in the LTM test. Even when accounting for young children’s poor item memory by considering only the items that they did remember, they exhibited an exacerbated difficulty with remembering item–color bindings in WM. Their LTM binding performance, however, as a proportion of remembered objects, was comparable to that of older children and adults. The WM binding performance was better during sub-span encoding loads, but with no clear transfer of this benefit to LTM. Overall, LTM item memory performance was constrained by individual and age-related WM limitations, but with mixed consequences for binding. We discuss the theoretical, practical, and developmental implications of this WM-to-LTM bottleneck. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T03:36:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-afd7f5ba4b6749f0b7f18264027341fa |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2079-3200 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T03:36:43Z |
| publishDate | 2023-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Intelligence |
| spelling | doaj.art-afd7f5ba4b6749f0b7f18264027341fa2023-11-18T01:57:53ZengMDPI AGJournal of Intelligence2079-32002023-05-011159410.3390/jintelligence11050094Working Memory Constrains Long-Term Memory in Children and Adults: Memory of Objects and BindingsAlicia Forsberg0Dominic Guitard1Eryn J. Adams2Duangporn Pattanakul3Nelson Cowan4Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, Vicar Ln, Sheffield S1 2LT, UKSchool of Psychology, Cardiff University, Tower Building, 70 Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UKPsychology Building, The University of New Orleans, 2000 Lakeshore Drive, New Orleans, LA 70148, USADepartment of Psychology, University of Tennessee, Austin Peay Hall, Knoxville, TN 37996, USADepartment of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, McAlester Hall, Columbia, MO 65211, USAWe explored how individual and age-related differences in working memory (WM) capacity affected subsequent long-term memory (LTM) retrieval. Unlike past studies, we tested WM and LTM not only for items, but also for item–color bindings. Our sample included 82 elementary school children and 42 young adults. The participants performed a WM task with images of unique everyday items presented sequentially at varying set sizes in different colors. Later, we tested LTM for items and item–color bindings from the WM task. The WM load during encoding constrained LTM, and participants with a higher WM capacity retrieved more items in the LTM test. Even when accounting for young children’s poor item memory by considering only the items that they did remember, they exhibited an exacerbated difficulty with remembering item–color bindings in WM. Their LTM binding performance, however, as a proportion of remembered objects, was comparable to that of older children and adults. The WM binding performance was better during sub-span encoding loads, but with no clear transfer of this benefit to LTM. Overall, LTM item memory performance was constrained by individual and age-related WM limitations, but with mixed consequences for binding. We discuss the theoretical, practical, and developmental implications of this WM-to-LTM bottleneck.https://www.mdpi.com/2079-3200/11/5/94working memorychild developmentlong-term memoryinformation transfermemory binding |
| spellingShingle | Alicia Forsberg Dominic Guitard Eryn J. Adams Duangporn Pattanakul Nelson Cowan Working Memory Constrains Long-Term Memory in Children and Adults: Memory of Objects and Bindings Journal of Intelligence working memory child development long-term memory information transfer memory binding |
| title | Working Memory Constrains Long-Term Memory in Children and Adults: Memory of Objects and Bindings |
| title_full | Working Memory Constrains Long-Term Memory in Children and Adults: Memory of Objects and Bindings |
| title_fullStr | Working Memory Constrains Long-Term Memory in Children and Adults: Memory of Objects and Bindings |
| title_full_unstemmed | Working Memory Constrains Long-Term Memory in Children and Adults: Memory of Objects and Bindings |
| title_short | Working Memory Constrains Long-Term Memory in Children and Adults: Memory of Objects and Bindings |
| title_sort | working memory constrains long term memory in children and adults memory of objects and bindings |
| topic | working memory child development long-term memory information transfer memory binding |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-3200/11/5/94 |
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