Extending Empirical Benchmarks of Working Memory to Children: Insights from an Adaptive Learning Environment
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| Title: | Extending Empirical Benchmarks of Working Memory to Children: Insights from an Adaptive Learning Environment |
|---|---|
| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Şeyma Nur Ertekin (ORCID |
| Source: | Developmental Psychology. 2025 61(10):1963-1990. |
| Availability: | American Psychological Association. Journals Department, 750 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20002. Tel: 800-374-2721; Tel: 202-336-5510; Fax: 202-336-5502; e-mail: order@apa.org; Web site: http://www.apa.org |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 28 |
| Publication Date: | 2025 |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles Reports - Research |
| Education Level: | Elementary Education |
| Descriptors: | Short Term Memory, Elementary School Students, Foreign Countries, Cognitive Development, Age Differences, Recall (Psychology), Benchmarking, Adults |
| Geographic Terms: | Netherlands |
| DOI: | 10.1037/dev0001992 |
| ISSN: | 0012-1649 1939-0599 |
| Abstract: | In this study, we explored whether the key benchmarks of working memory processing identified in adults by Oberauer et al. (2018a) also apply to children, using data from a large adaptive learning environment. Over 9,000 children from Dutch primary schools (age between 6 and 12) played two serial recall tasks (verbal domain and visuospatial domain), providing a means for studying working memory processing in students' regular educational environment. Using Bayesian multilevel modeling, we found that the difficulty of the over 2,000 lists was affected by characteristics related to response facilitation, spatial grouping, and set size. Set size and spatial grouping also affected the accuracy of students' responses. Furthermore, we investigated primacy and recency effects and found that, as expected, the effect of serial position of items varies across set size. This result is also in line with previous findings on developmental changes in working memory processing, where primacy and recency effects change as children grow older. Finally, key benchmark findings on error categorization were replicated, revealing that children were more prone to omission and intrusion errors than transposition errors. However, as children matured, the proportion of transposition errors increased. Additionally, we found limited evidence for an infill effect in transpositions in the verbal working memory tasks and substantial evidence for locality constraints on transpositions in both tasks. Our findings provide an understanding of the development of working memory processing in children and highlight the robustness of classical working memory findings in online educational data. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Notes: | https://osf.io/psd7q/?view_only=a41c214bd29a4e6c95031c27bf11a9ad |
| Entry Date: | 2026 |
| Accession Number: | EJ1502598 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| Abstract: | In this study, we explored whether the key benchmarks of working memory processing identified in adults by Oberauer et al. (2018a) also apply to children, using data from a large adaptive learning environment. Over 9,000 children from Dutch primary schools (age between 6 and 12) played two serial recall tasks (verbal domain and visuospatial domain), providing a means for studying working memory processing in students' regular educational environment. Using Bayesian multilevel modeling, we found that the difficulty of the over 2,000 lists was affected by characteristics related to response facilitation, spatial grouping, and set size. Set size and spatial grouping also affected the accuracy of students' responses. Furthermore, we investigated primacy and recency effects and found that, as expected, the effect of serial position of items varies across set size. This result is also in line with previous findings on developmental changes in working memory processing, where primacy and recency effects change as children grow older. Finally, key benchmark findings on error categorization were replicated, revealing that children were more prone to omission and intrusion errors than transposition errors. However, as children matured, the proportion of transposition errors increased. Additionally, we found limited evidence for an infill effect in transpositions in the verbal working memory tasks and substantial evidence for locality constraints on transpositions in both tasks. Our findings provide an understanding of the development of working memory processing in children and highlight the robustness of classical working memory findings in online educational data. |
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| ISSN: | 0012-1649 1939-0599 |
| DOI: | 10.1037/dev0001992 |
