Contemporary Study: Sebastian and Hernandez-Gil A01 Flashcards
What was the aim of the study?
To investigate the development of the phonological loop in working memory.
What kind of experimental method was used?
Field experiment (school)
What was the independent variable?
Year of schooling
What was the dependent variable?
Mean verbal digit span
How many participants were used?
575 Spanish children from pre, primary and secondary schools in Madrid (5-17 years)
What is digit span testing?
Sequences of random digits gradually increased by adding another digit, read aloud to each participant individually.
What was the main finding?
There was a clear increase in digit span with age.
Digit span increased smoothly up to 11 years then the rate of increased slowed down up to 17 years.
What were the comparisons that were made in the study?
Elderly Anglo-Saxons had significantly higher digit span than 5/6 year olds.
People with dementia were similar to the elderly people.
A subgroup of people with fvFTD (dementia) had mean digit span not significantly different from that of 5/6 year olds.
Give two conclusions of the study?
The findings confirm that digit span
increases with age up to adolescence.
Spanish children had a lower average digit span that English children which is thought to be attributed to word length.
