Abstract
This study was designed to identify whether verbal and visuospatial short-term memory performance in children is served by common or distinct mechanisms. Five- and 8-year-old children were tested on their verbal recall of spoken letter names and digits, and on their recall of tapped sequences of blocks. The performance of the children on the verbal and visuospatial serial recall tasks was largely unrelated, extending evidence for dissociable memory systems found in adults. Detailed characteristics of recall, such as serial position functions, migration patterns, and distribution of error types, were similar in the tasks requiring recall of letters and of blocks, although order errors predominated in the block but not the letter recall task for the older children. These results appear to reflect the application of common processes specialized for the extraction of serial order information from the phonological and visuospatial components of short-term memory.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Baddeley, A. D. (1986).Working memory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Baddeley, A. D., &Hitch, G. (1974). Working memory. In G. H. Bower (Ed.),Recent advances in learning and motivation (Vol. 8, pp. 47–90). New York: Academic Press.
Bjork, E. L., &Healy, A. F. (1974). Short-term order and item retention.Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior,13, 80–97.
Brown, G. D. A., Preece, T., & Hulme, C. (1997). Oscillator-based memory for serial order. Manuscript submitted for publication.
Burgess, N., &Hitch, G. J. (1992). Towards a network model of the articulatory loop.Journal of Memory & Language,31, 429–460.
Burgess, N., &Hitch, G. J. (1996). A connectionist model of STM for serial order. In S. E. Gathercole (Ed.),Models of short-term memory (pp. 51–72). Hove, U.K.: Psychology Press.
Campbell, R., Dodd, B., &Brasher, J. (1983). The sources of visual recency: Movement and language in serial recall.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,35A, 571–587.
Conrad, R. (1965). Order error in immediate recall of sequences.Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior,4, 161–169.
Cowan, N., &Kail, R. (1996). Covert processes and their development in short-term memory. In S. E. Gathercole (Ed.),Models of shortterm memory (pp. 29–50). Hove, U.K.: Psychology Press.
De Renzi, E., &Nichelli, P. (1975). Verbal and nonverbal memory impairment following hemispheric damage.Cortex,11, 341–354.
Elliott, C. D. (1983).British abilities scales. Windsor, U.K.: NFERNelson.
Farah, M. J., Hammond, K. M., Levine, D. L., &Calvanio, R. (1988). Visual and spatial mental imagery: Dissociable systems of representation.Cognitive Psychology,20, 439–462.
Farrand, P., &Jones, D. (1996). Direction of report in spatial and verbal serial memory.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,49A, 140–158.
Flavell, J. H., Beach, D. R., &Chinsky, J. M. (1966). Spontaneous verbal rehearsal in a memory task as a function of age.Child Development,37, 283–299.
Gathercole, S. E. (1986). The modality effect and articulation.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,38A, 461–474.
Gathercole, S. E., &Adams, A.-M. (1994). Children’s phonological working memory: Contributions of long-term knowledge and rehearsal.Journal of Memory & Language,33, 672–688.
Gathercole, S. E., Adams, A.-M., &Hitch, G. J. (1994). Do young children rehearse? An individual-differences analysis.Memory & Cognition,22, 201–207.
Gathercole, S. E., &Baddeley, A. D. (1993).Working memory and language. Hove, U.K.: Erlbaum.
Gathercole, S. E., &Hitch, G. J. (1993). The development of rehearsal: A revised working memory perspective. In A. Collins, S. E. Gathercole, M. A. Conway, & P. E. Morris (Eds.),Theories of memory (pp. 189–210). Hove, U.K.: Erlbaum.
Hanley, J. R., Young, A. W., &Pearson, N. A. (1991). Impairment of the visuo-spatial sketchpad.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,43A, 101–126.
Healy, A. F. (1974). Separating item from order information in short-term memory.Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior,13, 644–655.
Healy, A. F. (1982). Short-term memory for order information. In G. H. Bower (Ed.),The psychology of learning and motivation: Advances in research and theory (Vol. 8, pp. 191–238). New York: Academic Press.
Henry, L. A. (1994). The relationship between speech rate and memory span in children.International Journal of Behavioral Development,17, 37–56.
Henson, R. N. A., Norris, D. G., Page, M. P. A., &Baddeley, A. D. (1996). Unchained memory: Error patterns rule out chaining models of immediate serial recall.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,49A, 80–117.
Hockey, G. R. J. (1973). Rate of presentation in running memory and direct manipulation of input processing strategies.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,25, 104–111.
Hulme, C., Thomson, N., Muir, C., &Lawrence, A. (1984). Speech rate and the development of short-term memory span.Journal of Experimental Child Psychology,38, 241–253.
Isaacs, E. B., &Vargha-Khadem, F. (1989). Differential course of development of spatial and verbal memory span: A normative study.British Journal of Developmental Psychology,7, 337–380.
Johnson, R. S., Johnson, C., &Gray, C. (1987). The emergence of the word length effect in young children: The effects of overt and covert rehearsal.British Journal of Developmental Psychology,5, 243–248.
Jones, D. M., Beaman, P., &Macken, W. (1996). The object-oriented episodic record. In S. E. Gathercole (Ed.),Models of short-term memory (pp. 209–238). Hove, U.K.: Psychology Press.
Jones, D. M., Farrand, P., Stuart, G. P., &Morris, N. (1995). Functional equivalence of verbal and spatial information in serial shortterm memory.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,21, 1008–1018.
Lewandowsky, S., &Murdock, B. B. (1989). Memory for serial order.Psychological Review,96, 25–57.
Liberman, I. Y., Mann, V. A., Shankweiler, D., &Werfelman, M. (1982). Children’s memory for recurring linguistic and nonlinguistic material in relation to reading ability.Cortex,18, 367–375.
Logie, R. H. (1995).Visuo-spatial working memory. Hove, U.K.: Erlbaum.
Michas, I. C., &Henry, L. A. (1994). The link between phonological memory and vocabulary acquisition.British Journal of Developmental Psychology,12, 147–164.
Nairne, J. S., &Walters, V. L. (1983). Silent mouthing produces modality- and suffix-like effects.Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior,22, 475–483.
Nicolson, R. (1981). The relationship between memory span and processing speed. In M. Friedman, J. P. Das, & N. O’Connor (Eds.),Intelligence and learning (pp. 179–184). New York: Plenum.
Phillips, W. A., &Christie, D. F. M. (1977). Interference with visualization.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,29, 637–650.
Smith, E. E., Jonides, J., &Koeppe, R. A. (1996). Dissociating verbal and spatial working memory using PET.Cerebral Cortex,6, 11–20.
Smyth, M. M., &Scholey, K. A. (1996a). The relationship between articulation time and memory performance in verbal and visuo-spatial tasks.British Journal of Psychology,87, 179–192.
Smyth, M. M., &Scholey, K. A. (1996b). Serial order in spatial immediate memory.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,49A, 159–177.
Vallar, G., &Baddeley, A. D. (1984). Fractionation of working memory: Neuropsychological evidence for a short-term store.Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior,23, 151–161.
Wang, P. P., &Bellugi, U. (1994). Evidence from two genetic syndromes for a dissociation between verbal and visual-spatial shortterm memory.Journal of Clinical & Experimental Neuropsychology,16, 317–322.
Wechsler, D. (1974).Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Revised. New York: Psychological Corp.
Wilson, J. T. L., Scott, J. H., &Power, K. G. (1987). Developmental differences in the span of visual memory for patterns.British Journal of Developmental Psychology,5, 249–255.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This research was supported by the Medical Research Council of Great This research was supported by the Medical Research Council of Great Britain.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pickering, S.J., Gathercole, S.E. & Peaker, S.M. Verbal and visuospatial short-term memory in children: Evidence for common and distinct mechanisms. Mem Cogn 26, 1117–1130 (1998). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03201189
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03201189