Playing with Memory: Working Memory Development in Primary School

Working memory, a cognitive system involved in the retention and manipulation of stored information, plays a critical role in many cognitive processes and in cognitive development. Understanding how WM processing develops over time and how it interacts with education is critical for improving cognitive outcomes in children. In this study, we analyzed data from a large online adaptive learning platform to examine the development of working memory (WM) processing in children. Data were collected from elementary school students between grades 3 and 8 who played two different working memory games, a verbal WM task, and a visuospatial WM task. Using item response theory, multilevel modeling, and cognitive modeling, we examined classic WM benchmarks to gain insight into the dynamic developmental trajectory of WM processing. We found that item characteristics, particularly set size, affect item difficulty across the age range. We also investigated primacy and recency effects and found that position effects vary across age groups, suggesting that there are dynamic changes in WM processing as children grow older. Finally, we analyzed different types of errors and found that children were more likely to forget an item than to add or repeat it. However, as children matured, we observed a decreased tendency to forget items but an increased tendency to erroneously repeat them. Our findings provide an understanding of the dynamic development of WM processing in children and highlight the robustness of classical WM findings.