This longitudinal study explores the associations between children's executive functions at the beginning of preschool and their learning behaviors, namely competence motivation and attentional persistence, at the end of preschool. Participants were 218 Portuguese children (M[subscript age]= 40.4 months, SD= 4.2; 52% boys) and their preschool…

Although it has been proposed that maintenance of verbal information in adults' working memory relies on two strategies, articulatory rehearsal and attentional refreshing, little is known about the interplay of these strategies in children. To examine strategy changes around the age of seven, children were asked to maintain digits during a…

Executive function (EF) describes a complex set of skills, including flexible attention, inhibitory control, and working memory, that coordinate to achieve behavioral regulation. Visuospatial skills (VS) describe the capacity to visually perceive and understand spatial relationships among objects. Emerging research suggests VS skills are…

The relationship between trait anxiety and memory functioning in young children was investigated. Two studies were conducted, using tasks tapping verbal and visual-spatial short-term memory (Study 1) and working memory (Study 2) in preschoolers. On the verbal storage tasks, there was a detrimental effect of anxiety on processing efficiency…

There is a paucity of research examining the relative contribution of the different mechanisms of working memory (short-term storage [STM], processing speed) to children's complex memory span. This study served to replicate and extend the few extant studies that have examined the issue. In this study, the relative contribution of three mechanisms…

Focuses on whether developmental trends observed within groups are different between groups (cultures) in three- to six-year-old children in a battery of tests derived from a theoretical model relating to attention, learning, and memory processes. Subjects were selected from Cambridge, Massachusetts and from two lowland villages in Guatemala.…

Examines subjects' processing in misleading test items. Suggests that the M-power for children, when assessed behaviorally, may increase with age in a discrete manner, and have the potential to generate interval scales of measurement. In addition, suggests that, in light of the results, what statisticians often consider "error of…