Changes in verbal and visuospatial working memory from Grade 1 to Grade 3 of primary school: Population longitudinal study

E Nicolaou; J Quach; J Lum; G Roberts; M Spencer-Smith; S Gathercole; P J Anderson; F K Mensah; M Wake

doi:10.1111/cch.12543

Changes in verbal and visuospatial working memory from Grade 1 to Grade 3 of primary school: Population longitudinal study

Child Care Health Dev. 2018 May;44(3):392-400. doi: 10.1111/cch.12543. Epub 2017 Dec 11.

Authors

E Nicolaou¹, J Quach^{1

2}, J Lum³, G Roberts^{1

2

4}, M Spencer-Smith^{1

5}, S Gathercole⁶, P J Anderson^{1

2

5}, F K Mensah^{1

2

4}, M Wake^{1

2

7}

Affiliations

¹ Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Parkville, Vic, Australia.
² The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Vic, Australia.
³ Deakin University, Burwood, Vic, Australia.
⁴ The Royal Children's Hospital, Parkville, Vic, Australia.
⁵ Monash University, Melbourne, Vic, Australia.
⁶ MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, UK.
⁷ The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.

PMID: 29226355
DOI: 10.1111/cch.12543

Abstract

Background: Adaptive working memory training is being implemented without an adequate understanding of developmental trajectories of working memory. We aimed to quantify from Grade 1 to Grade 3 of primary school (1) changes in verbal and visuospatial working memory and (2) whether low verbal and visuospatial working memory in Grade 1 predicts low working memory in Grade 3.

Method: The study design includes a population-based longitudinal study of 1,802 children (66% uptake from all 2,747 Grade 1 students) at 44 randomly selected primary schools in Melbourne, Australia. Backwards Digit Recall (verbal working memory) and Mister X (visuospatial working memory) screening measures from the Automated Working Memory Assessment (M = 100; SD = 15) were used to assess Grades 1 and 3 (ages 6-7 and 8-9 years) students. Low working memory was defined as ≥1 standard deviation below the standard score mean. Descriptive statistics addressed Aim 1, and predictive parameters addressed Aim 2.

Results: One thousand seventy (59%) of 1802 Grade 1 participants were reassessed in Grade 3. As expected for typically developing children, group mean standard scores were similar in Grades 1 and 3 for verbal, visuospatial, and overall working memory, but group mean raw scores increased markedly. Compared to "not low" children, those classified as having low working memory in Grade 1 showed much larger increases in both standard and raw scores across verbal, visuospatial, and overall working memory. Sensitivity was very low for Grade 1 low working memory predicting Grade 3 low classifications.

Conclusion: Although mean changes in working memory standard scores between Grades 1 and 3 were minimal, we found that individual development varied widely, with marked natural resolution by Grade 3 in children who initially had low working memory. This may render brain-training interventions ineffective in the early school year ages, particularly if (as population-based programmes usually mandate) selection occurs within a screening paradigm.

Keywords: child development; longitudinal changes; primary school; working memory.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Area Under Curve
Australia / epidemiology
Child
Child Development / physiology*
Female
Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Learning / physiology*
Longitudinal Studies
Male
Memory, Short-Term / physiology*
Mental Processes / physiology
Predictive Value of Tests
Schools*
Verbal Learning / physiology*