John N. Towse
Graham J. Hitch
Zoe Hamilton
Kirsty Peacock
Una Hutton
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, in press.
Working memory span assesses the maximum number of items that can be remembered
in the face of concurrent processing. Models of working memory differ on
several dimensions, yet many rely exclusively on this span procedure for
their evidence. Three experiments consider an alternative paradigm that attempts
to capture the endurance limits for remembering a fixed number of items during
concurrent processing. Eight-year-old children performed two versions of
this working memory period measure – operation period and reading period.
Period scores show healthy test-retest reliability and external validity
for scholastic attainment, comparing well with span scores in these respects.
In addition, period is highly correlated with span and shows similar effects
of varying the order in which stimuli are presented. We conclude that the
durability of representations is an important factor in both span and period.