Cognitive contemporary study: Sebastian and Hernandez-Gil (2012)

Aims

• To study the developmental pattern of working memory over time, including changes from ageing or dementia.
• To analyse the developmental pattern of the phonological loop in children aged 5-17 years. This included looking at the age at which the digit span stopped increasing in adulthood/adolescence.
• To look at the decline of digit span in older people, including those with two types of dementia (Alzheimer's and fronto-temporal). This was done by using previous findings.

Procedure

Part 1: Primary data gathering to test the hypothesis that there is a difference in digit span which increases with age from 5-17 years old.

• Sample: 570 5-17 year olds from the Spanish population, from schools in Madrid. They were all volunteers and no ppts had repeated a school year or had learning difficulties (therefore, sample was controlled). They were split into independent groups separated by age: 5, 6-8, 9-11, 12-14 and 15-17.
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