Contemporary study, Sebastian and Hernandez-Gill (2012), (CP) Flashcards
what was the aim of the study?
Sebastian and Hernandez-Gil studied the development of the phonological loop in working memory. They used verbal digit span to measure loop capacity and confirm that digit span increases with age then levels off at 15 years.
what as the procedure?
Sample:
- 570 voluntary participants 5-17 years old
- All participants born in Spain
- Selected from a variety of schools in Spain according to grade to control for education and cognition levels
- Separated into 5 different age groups
Method:
- Three sequences of 3 digits were read out to participants who were then asked to recall the sequences in order
- After 3 sequences, an additional digit was added to the sequences
- Digit span was taken as the maximum length at which participants could recall at least two out of three series, in order and with no errors.
- The researchers also made comparisons between schoolchildren, elderly adults and people with dementia.
What were the findings?
- Youngest age group (5 years) had a significantly lower average digit span (mean = 3.76)
- Digit span increased significantly and smoothly up to 11 years (mean = 5.28).
- The rate slowed and stabilised up to 17 years (mean = 5.91)
- Compared children’s digit spans to healthy elderly, Alzheimer’s dementia (AD), and frontal variety frontotemporal dementia (fvFTD) participants.
- Healthy elderly participants had a significantly higher digit span than 5- and 6-year olds.
- Healthy elderly participants’ digit spans were not significantly different from other year groups.
- Compared children’s digit spans to those of healthy elderly, Alzheimer’s dementia (AD), and frontal variety frontotemporal dementia (fvFTD) participants.
- AD participants’ digit spans were significantly higher than those of 5- and 6-year-olds.
- fvFTD participants’ digit spans were similar to those of 5- and 6-year-olds.
- The average digit span was lower for Spanish children compared with English children
what was the conclusion?
- Digit span increases throughout childhood, peaking at 17 in Spanish children and 15 in English children.
- Longer words, common in Spanish, take longer to rehearse, increasing the risk of information loss and explaining the difference in digit span between Spanish and English children.
- This process, emerging around age 7, is linked to word length effects on digit span.
Evaluate a strength of this study
I - A strength of this study is the use of a standardised procedure
J - For example, the digits in the sequences were read aloud at a constant rate of one per second to every participant. Ensured that every participant had the exact same experience. This means the outcomes (digit span) could not be attributed to differences in how the procedure was conducted, but only by IV (age).
E - The tight controls also mean the study can be replicated to test verbal digit span across cultures to understand cross-cultural developmental and individual differences in phonological processing in working memory.
Evaluate a weakness of this study
I - A weakness of this study is the lack of mundane realism.
J - Digit sequence recall is artificial and has limited task validity as children are unlikely to learn random sequences of numbers in their day-to-day experiences.
E - Therefore, this limits the usefulness of the findings on phonological loop development in children.
Give a counterargument
Although recalling sequences of digits may not be how we use working memory in real life, digit span has been applied to understanding specific cognitive abilities. For instance, people with a longer digit span are also better readers and have higher general intelligence (Gignac and Weiss 2015). Conversely, short digit span is associated with specific learning disorders such as dyslexia (Giofrè et al. 2016).
Therefore, digit span can be used to explain people’s crucial real life cognitive skills.
