How do we maintain information about spatial configurations in mind? Many working memory (WM) models assume that rehearsal processes are used to counteract forgetting in WM. Here, we investigated the contributions of gaze-based and attention-based rehearsal for protecting spatial representations from time-based forgetting. Participants memorized 6…

Recent empirical and theoretical work suggests that visual features such as color and orientation can be stored or retrieved independently in visual working memory (VWM), even in cases when they belong to the same object. Yet it remains unclear whether different feature dimensions have their own capacity limits, or whether they compete for shared…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the cognitive and behavioral profiles of high ability students. Performance on measures of verbal and visuo-spatial working memory and general ability (vocabulary and block design) was compared across the following groups: high, average, and low ability students. The behavioral profile of high ability…

Background: Working memory problems have been targeted as core deficits in individuals with Fragile X syndrome (FXS); however, there have been few studies that have examined working memory in young boys with FXS, and even fewer studies that have studied the working memory performance of young boys with FXS across different degrees of complexity.…

An important question is whether visual attention (the ability to select relevant visual information) and visual working memory (the ability to retain relevant visual information) share the same content representations. Some past research has indicated that they do: Singleton distractors interfered more strongly with a visual search task when they…

Are resources in visual working memory allocated in a continuous or a discrete fashion? On one hand, flexible resource models suggest that capacity is determined by a central resource pool that can be flexibly divided such that items of greater complexity receive a larger share of resources. On the other hand, if capacity in working memory is…

Objective: To determine whether 7- to 12-year-old boys with ADHD, relative to non-ADHD age-mates, exhibit greater difficulty learning and remembering object locations. The second purpose was to examine the functional utility of mnemonic strategies, specifically speech-to-self, used by boys with and without ADHD. Method: Boys with and without ADHD…

Introduction: The cognitive processes that underpin successful mathematical processing in children have been well researched by experimental psychologists, but are not widely understood among teachers of primary mathematics. This is a shame, as an understanding of these cognitive processes could be highly useful to practitioners. This paper…

Background: It is recognized that individuals with Down's syndrome have a specific deficit in verbal short-term memory. On the other hand, non-verbal short-term memory seems to be preserved or even be a strong point for these persons. Nevertheless, the extent and specificity of the deficit must be determined. To do so, we carried out a research…

Differences in storage and rehearsal components of the phonological loop and visuo-spatial sketchpad were investigated in individuals with (n=19) and without (n=21) intellectual disability matched on memory span. Those with intellectual disability had specific difficulty in the rehearsal component of the phonological loop. Groups did not differ in…