The Crucial Role of Working Memory in Intellectual Functioning

Cognitive psychology offers an important contribution to the understanding of the mechanisms underlying intelligence. In this paper, we synthesize the research showing that, among the different cognitive mechanisms associated with intelligence, working memory has a particularly high explanatory power, especially when considered in its active component involving not only the maintenance (as in short-term memory) but also the manipulation of information. The paper considers two main implications of this finding for the applied and clinical fields. For a start, we examine how intelligence tests take into consideration working memory. Secondly, we consider the highly debated literature on the effects of working memory training on intellectual performance. Theoretical and applied implications for the relationship between working memory and intelligence are discussed

The relationship between working memory and intelligence in children: Is the scoring procedure important?

Different procedures have been proposed for scoring working memory (WM) tasks. The Absolute Credit Score (ACS) only considers performance in perfectly recalled trials, while the Partial Credit Score (PCS) considers imperfectly recalled ones too. Research indicates that different relationships between WM and general intelligence (the g-factor) may emerge using the ACS or the PCS. We reanalyzed the ACS and PCS obtained in a sample of 176 children in the 4th and 5th grades, and found that the PCS strengthened the relationship between WM and intelligence, and the relationships between visuospatial short-term memory (STM-VS), active WM and intelligence. When the number of items to be remembered (set size) was considered, however, the PCS only strengthened the relationship between STM-VS, active WM and intelligence in the case of larger set sizes. Practical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed

Low visuospatial abilities and symptoms of depression

Nonverbal learning disabilities (NLD) seem to be associated to depression and emotional distress. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between low visuospatial performance (highly related to NLD) and the depressive symptoms in middle and high school children. Two visuospatial questionnaires (SVS and QDS) and the CDI were administered to 202 children (95 males and 107 females) ranging from 6 th to 8 th grade. The results showed a significant, although not particularly high, relationship between low visuospatial ability and the presence of depressive symptoms. In particular, participants with low visuospatial abilities seemed to have more depressive symptoms

A reduced form of the CPM (A + AB): A useful tool for the assessment of children under six years of age

The progressive matrices of Raven (CPM) is a very useful test for clinicians. The CPM has three series (A, AB and B), with twelve items for each. In the present study, we showed that the B series is inappropriate for children below six years old. Therefore, we calculated norms for children between 3 and 6 years old in a reduced form of CPM (A + AB). Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. © 2015, Societa Editrice il Mulino. All rights reserved

How semantic organisation influences primary school children’s working memory

The present study focuses on the semantic organisation of material in working memory. We developed a new measure in which students memorised unrelated words from lists. In our study, we manipulated the association between words in the lists. The material was organised so as to elicit a semantic organisation (categorical and thematic). The task was then administered to a group of 6–10-year-old children. The semantic organisation of the material prompted a better recall, which depended on the type of semantic organisation. In the same vein, the number of intrusion errors was influenced by the semantic links between words and was higher when words in the list were associated categorically. These results seemed to depend partly on the participants’ age, being evident only in the younger children. © 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Grou

The relationship between intelligence, working memory, academic self-esteem, and academic achievement

Academic achievement is crucial for life and long-term outcomes. The aim of the present study is to examine the joint role of cognitive (intelligence and working memory) and non-cognitive (academic self-esteem) factors in predicting academic achievement (mathematics and reading literacy) in a sample of Italian sixth and eighth graders. The results showed that within the cognitive factors considered, intelligence was the best predictor of achievement. As regards to non-cognitive factors, academic self-esteem was effective at predicting achievement after controlling for cognitive measures. Academic self-esteem was also found to have an indirect effect, mediated by intelligence, on academic achievement. Both theoretical and practical implications of the present results are discussed

Pros and Cons of Using Intelligence Batteries for the Study of Clinical Populations: A Response to Beaujean (2017)

In his commentary to our study (Toffalini, Giofr\ue8, & Cornoldi, 2017), Beaujean (2017) raised some important issues. In particular, he suggested that the reliability of the WISC-IV indexes may be inadequate for clinical interpretation, that abnormal differences should be discussed rather than statistical significance, and that evidence of the treatment utility of WISC-IV indexes is limited. We agree with Beaujean that using cognitive strengths and weaknesses in isolation for individual clinical decisions is dangerous. However, investigation of groups is somewhat different; comparing group performances under different subtests or conditions, without definitive conclusions, can enhance clinical psychological research

Separating math from anxiety: The role of inhibitory mechanisms.

Deficits in executive functions have been hypothesized and documented for children with severe mathematics anxiety (MA) or developmental dyscalculia, but the role of inhibition-related processes has not been specifically explored. The main aim of the present study was to shed further light on the specificity of these profiles in children in terms of working memory (WM) and the inhibitory functions involved. Four groups of children between 8 and 10 years old were selected: one group with developmental dyscalculia (DD) and no MA, one with severe MA and developmental dyscalculia (MA-DD), one with severe MA and no DD (MA), and one with typical development (TD). All children were presented with tasks measuring two inhibition-related functions, that is, proactive interference and prepotent response, and a WM task. The results showed that children with severe MA (but no DD) were specifically impaired in the proactive interference task, while children with DD (with or without MA) failed in the WM task. Our findings point to the importance of distinguishing the cognitive processes underlying these profiles