DEVELOPMENT OF VISUAL WORKING MEMORY

Abstract

This study is based on the proposition that the workings of the visuo-spatial scratchpad (VSSP) are analogous to those of the phonological loop. In particular, the study examines the effects of item complexity on memory span in participants of different ages. It was found that an item complexity effect that is analogous to the word length effect exists. Furthermore, a linear function that relates memory span with item complexity was found to fit all age groups (range 12 to adulthood). However, because there was no main effect of age groups for memory span, it cannot be concluded definitely that memory span increases with age due to an increase in the rate of processing. It was suspected that the age differences between the age groups were too small for any increase in memory span to be clearly noted. This view was supported when a main effect was found for age groups when only data from the 12-year-olds and the university undergraduates were analyzed. Also, a matching task was used to measure the rate of processing of the visual items used in this study. Both a main effect of age groups and a main effect of complexity were found for this task. However, a validation check for the matching task failed to validate that the matching task indeed measured the rate of processing. This might have been due to the nature of the validation check, and because the matching task was effective in measuring the rate of processing.