How are pupils’ working memory skills linked to their mathematical abilities?

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How did the researchers define working memory and how was it tested?

The researchers defined working memory as the system within the brain that is responsible for manipulating and storing information over brief periods of time. This study used a model of working memory that had three core components. Each of these was assessed using measures from the Working Memory Test Battery for Children (Pickering and Gathercole, 2001).

Component of working memory Suggested link to mathematical ability Test

The first component is responsible for storing and manipulating verbal information. Researchers suggest that this was important for the acquisition of number facts in early childhood. Pupils listened to nonsense words and were asked to recall the sequence of words in the same order they had heard them.

The second component is responsible for storing and manipulating visual and spatial information. Researchers have suggested that this is used as a ‘mental blackboard’ upon which material is encoded, retained and manipulated during mathematical calculations. Pupils were presented with two dimensional mazes for three seconds with a route in red travelling from the middle to the outside. Pupils traced the route with their finger and immediately after they had traced it they were asked to recall it by drawing it on a blank copy of the maze.

The third component is a central unit which co-ordinates the functions of the first two components. Its other functions include planning, switching attention between items, and processing information. Researchers suggest that this plays a role in children’s arithmetical reasoning and that it supports the retrieval of arithmetic facts from long term memory. Pupils listened to short sentences (between one and two seconds long) some of which were false. Immediately after a sentence was presented pupils had to judge whether it was true or false. Once all the sentences within a trial had been presented the pupils were asked to recall the final word of each sentence in the exact order that they heard them.