Age differences in working memory updating: The role of interference, focus switching and substituting information

Working memory updating (WMU) tasks require different elements inworking memory (WM) to bemaintained simultaneously, accessing one of these elements, and substituting its content. This study examined possible developmental changes from childhood to adulthood both in focus switching and substituting...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Lendínez, Cristina, Pelegrina, Santiago, Lechuga, M. Teresa
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2015
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Jaén
Repositorio:RUJA. Repositorio Institucional de la Producción Científica de la Universidad de Jaén
OAI Identifier:oai:ruja.ujaen.es:10953/7268
Acceso en línea:https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0001691815000402
https://hdl.handle.net/10953/7268
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Working memory updating
Focus switching
Interference
Numerical updating
Q2
Descripción
Sumario:Working memory updating (WMU) tasks require different elements inworking memory (WM) to bemaintained simultaneously, accessing one of these elements, and substituting its content. This study examined possible developmental changes from childhood to adulthood both in focus switching and substituting information in WM. In addition, possible age-related changes in interference due to representational overlap between the different elements simultaneously held in these tasks were examined. Children (8- and 11-year-olds), adolescents (14-year-olds) and younger adults (mean age = 22 years) were administered a numerical updating memory task, inwhich updating and focus switching were manipulated. As expected, response times decreased and recall performance increased with age. More importantly, the time needed for focus switching was longer in children than in adolescents and younger adults. On the other hand, substitution of information and interference due to representational overlap were not affected by age. These results suggest that age-related changes in focus switching might mediate developmental changes inWMU performance.