Age differences in visual working memory capacity: not based on encoding limitations: Differences in working memory capacity
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Why does visual working memory performance increase with age in childhood? One recent study (Cowan et al., 2010b) ruled out the possibility that the basic cause is a tendency in young children to clutter working memory with less-relevant items (within a concurrent array, colored items presented in one of two shapes). The age differences in memory performance, however, theoretically could result from inadequate encoding of the briefly presented array items by younger children. We replicated the key part of the procedure in children 6-8 and 11-13 years old and college students (total N = 90), but with a much slower, sequential presentation of the items to ensure adequate encoding. We also required verbal responses during encoding to encourage or discourage labeling of item information. Although verbal labeling affected performance, age differences persisted across labeling conditions, further supporting the existence of a basic growth in capacity.
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Memorization and mental manipulation are much more delayed and take longer to develop.
“However, memorization and mental manipulation (e.g., reordering visual representations of objects by size) are much more delayed and take longer to develop (Davidson et al., 2006; Cowan et al., 2011).”
From Assessment of executive functions in school-aged children: A narrative review (2022) · cites this paper as Cowan et al., 2011
The Discussion (page unavailable) reports that visual working-memory holding capacity increases during the elementary-school years, while younger children can allocate attention to relevant items as well as older children. That supports a developmental difference in retaining visual information, but the paper does not establish that memorization is “much more delayed” or takes longer to develop, and it does not examine mental manipulation such as reordering objects by size. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe gains in visuospatial memory were reduced by 63% with control of the central executive, phonological memory and their interaction, suggesting that strategy changes, such as phonological recoding of visual stimuli, may have contributed to these gains.
“The gains in visuospatial memory were reduced by 63% with control of the central executive, phonological memory and their interaction, suggesting that strategy changes, such as phonological recoding of the visual stimuli, may have contributed to these gains [40], [56].”
From Developmental Gains in Visuospatial Memory Predict Gains in Mathematics Achievement (2013) · cites this paper as [56]
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“Indeed, recent experimental evidence suggests that gains in visuospatial memory in particular may involve biologically-based increases in capacity [56].”
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Cowan, N., AuBuchon, A. M., Gilchrist, A. L., Ricker, T. J., & Saults, J. S.
- Affiliations
- University of Missouri (US)
- Corresponding author
- Cowan, Nelson
- Venue
- Developmental Science
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2011-06-18
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 1066-1074
- ISSN
- 1363-755X (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3177168
- OpenAlex
- W2166260467
- Cited by
- 137
- References
- 42
- Citations by year
- 2026: 17 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 9.89
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Developmental Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD021338)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Cognitive and developmental aspects of mathematical skills
- Keywords
- visual working memory, working memory capacity, age differences, children, encoding, verbal labeling
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Aging, Attention, Child, Cognition, Female, Humans, Male, Memory, Short-Term, Young Adult
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