The Structure of Working Memory and Its Relationship with Intelligence in Japanese Children.

There is a host of research on the structure of working memory (WM) and its relationship with intelligence in adults, but only a few studies have involved children. In this paper, several different WM models were tested on 170 Japanese school children (from 7 years and 5 months to 11 years and 6 months). Results showed that a model distinguishing between modalities (i.

Executive functions, math anxiety and math performance in middle school students.

Previous studies mainly investigated working memory (WM) and math anxiety (MA) leaving almost unexplored other aspects of executive functions (EFs) in middle school period. Filling the gap in the literature, the aims of this study were: (1) to better examine the relationship between MA and math performance, (2) to better examine the relationship between EFs and math performance and (3) to investigate the interplay between EFs and MA on math performances. This study confirmed a significant and negative relationship between MA and math performance, indicates a significant and positive relationship between visuospatial WM and math performance, shifting and math performance and highlight a scarcely investigated indirect influence of MA through the measure of shifting on math performance.

Mathematical achievement: the role of spatial and motor skills in 6-8 year-old children.

Several studies have tried to establish the factors that underlie mathematical ability across development. Among them, spatial and motor abilities might play a relevant role, but no studies jointly contemplate both types of abilities to account for mathematical performance. The present study was designed to observe the roles of spatial and motor skills in mathematical performance.

Using the Walking Corsi test to explain age-related differences between young and older adults' rotation performance.

This study newly assessed visuo-spatial working memory (VSWM) in young and older adults with an extended version of the backward Corsi Blocks Task (CBT): the backward Walking Corsi Test (WalCT). It involves recalling sequences of spatial locations while moving in an indoor space (2.5 × 3m) in which the CBT layout is recreated on the floor.

Does Positive Illusory Bias Affect Self-Concept and Loneliness in Children With Symptoms of ADHD?

Positive illusory bias (PIB) has been amply studied in children with ADHD, but its function is still limited understanding. In a sample of 21 children with symptoms of ADHD, this study investigated whether they were more likely to be rejected by peers and examined PIB, and its influence on self-concept and loneliness, comparing the children with symptoms of ADHD with children who had weak social skills, but no ADHD. The children's and teachers' perception of social difficulties were compared, and self-concept and loneliness were analyzed in the two groups, which were also compared with typically developing (TD) children.

The relationship among geometry, working memory, and intelligence in children.

Although geometry is one of the main areas of mathematical learning, the cognitive processes underlying geometry-related academic achievement have not been studied in detail. This study explored the relationship among working memory (WM), intelligence (g factor), and geometry in 176 typically developing children attending school in their fourth and fifth grades. Structural equation modeling showed that approximately 40% of the variance in academic achievement and in intuitive geometry (which is assumed to be independent of a person's cultural background) was explained by WM and the g factor.

Selective spatial working memory impairment in a group of children with mathematics learning disabilities and poor problem-solving skills.

This study examines visual and spatial working memory skills in 35 third to fifth graders with both mathematics learning disabilities (MLD) and poor problem-solving skills and 35 of their peers with typical development (TD) on tasks involving both low and high attentional control. Results revealed that children with MLD, relative to TD children, failed spatial working memory tasks that had either low or high attentional demands but did not fail the visual tasks. In addition, children with MLD made more intrusion errors in the spatial working memory tasks requiring high attentional control than did their TD peers.

Spatial working memory and arithmetic deficits in children with nonverbal learning difficulties.

Visuospatial working memory and its involvement in arithmetic were examined in two groups of 7- to 11-year-olds: one comprising children described by teachers as displaying symptoms of nonverbal learning difficulties (N = 21), the other a control group without learning disabilities (N = 21). The two groups were matched for verbal abilities, age, gender, and sociocultural level. The children were presented with a visuospatial working memory battery of recognition tests involving visual, spatial-sequential and spatial-simultaneous processes, and two arithmetic tasks (number ordering and written calculations).

Sequence and space: The critical role of a backward spatial span in the working memory deficit of visuospatial learning disabled children.

The clinical use of backward spatial short-term memory tasks, and in particular of the Corsi backward task, it has increased and it has generated a series of theoretical hypotheses. For example, it has been argued that (in its comparison with the forward version) it has the same implications as the backward digit span and/or it requires the use of amodal central executive components of working memory. This research tested the hypotheses that the backward spatial span does not involve the controlled use of the same type of sequential spatial processing involved in the forward version, that its impairment is modality specific, and that children with specific visuospatial learning disabilities (VSLD) have lower performance in backward than in forward Corsi Blocks test, compared to a control group.