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Maintenance and manipulation of object sequences in working memory: a lifespan study

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Abstract

Many studied reported that working memory components receive remarkable changes during lifespan. In order to better investigate this, we evaluated working memory components on human subjects belonging to five groups (10 subjects each) at different ages 6, 8 and 10 years old, young adult (age) and old adult (age). Our pattern of results shows a major transition in object sequence manipulation performance between ages 8 and 10 years. If related to young adults results, both 10-year-old children and old adults differed in accuracy and RT (specificare cosa significa) in both maintenance and manipulation conditions. In particular, young adults and old adults differ in RTs in the manipulation condition. Our results also suggest that a change in response strategy from 6 to 8 years of age, to prioritize accuracy may be present. Our findings appear consistent with recent neuroscientific findings, and lead to novel predictions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, “Sapienza” University of Rome, 78, Via dei Marsi, 00185, Rome, Italy

    Francesca Federico

  2. Department of Psychology, “Sapienza” University of Rome, Rome, Italy

    Franco Delogu & Antonino Raffone

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  1. Francesca Federico
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  2. Franco Delogu
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  3. Antonino Raffone
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Correspondence to Francesca Federico.

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Federico, F., Delogu, F. & Raffone, A. Maintenance and manipulation of object sequences in working memory: a lifespan study. Neurol Sci 35, 1883–1887 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-014-1851-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-014-1851-0

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