Return to Working Memory factor page.
Numerous measures exist to gain a full picture of a student's learning strengths and challenges. Following are examples of measures used to assess this Learner Factor. These measures should be administered and interpreted by experienced professionals.
Reading or Listening Span (e.g., Daneman & Carpenter, 1980): Measures verbal Working Memory by asking students to remember verbal information while concurrently performing other cognitive tasks, for example, reading a series of individually presented sentences and recalling the final word from each, in order.
Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS) (Wechsler, 2009): This test has measures of auditory and visual Short-term Memory and Working Memory for adults 16-90 years old.
Arthur Jr, W., Keiser, N. L., Hagen, E., & Traylor, Z. (2018). Unproctored internet-based device-type effects on test scores: The role of working memory. Intelligence, 67, 67-75.
Ashcraft, M. H., & Krause, J. A. (2007). Working memory, math performance, and math anxiety. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 14(2), 243-248.
Attout, L., Salmon, E., & Majerus, S. (2015). Working memory for serial order is dysfunctional in adults with a history of developmental dyscalculia: Evidence from behavioral and neuroimaging data. Developmental neuropsychology, 40(4), 230-247.
Baddeley, A. (2000). The episodic buffer: A new component of working memory?. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 4(11), 417-423.
Benedek, M., Jauk, E., Sommer, M., Arendasy, M., & Neubauer, A. C. (2014). Intelligence, creativity, and cognitive control: The common and differential involvement of executive functions in intelligence and creativity. Intelligence, 46(1), 73-83.
Borella, E., Ghisletta, P., & De Ribaupierre, A. (2011). Age differences in text processing: The role of working memory, inhibition, and processing speed. Journals of Gerontology. Series B, Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 66(3), 311-320.
Burin, D. I., Irrazabal, N., Ricle, I. I., Saux, G., & Barreyro, J. P. (2018). Self-reported internet skills, previous knowledge and working memory in text comprehension in E-learning. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 15(1), 1-16.
Chiappe, P., Hasher, L., & Siegel, L. S. (2000). Working memory, inhibitory control, and reading disability. Memory and Cognition, 28(1), 8-17.
Clapp, W. C., Rubens, M. T., Sabharwal, J., & Gazzaley, A. (2011). Deficit in switching between functional brain networks underlies the impact of multitasking on working memory in older adults. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(17), 7212-7217.
Daneman, M., Carpenter, P.A. (1980). Individual differences in working memory and reading. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 19(4), 450-466.
Dryden, A., Allen, H. A., Henshaw, H., & Heinrich, A. (2017). The association between cognitive performance and speech-in-noise perception for adult listeners: A systematic literature review and meta-analysis. Trends in Hearing, 21, 1-21.
Evans, G. W., & Schamberg, M. A. (2009). Childhood poverty, chronic stress, and adult working memory. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(16), 6545-6549.
Gazzaley, A., & Nobre, A. C. (2012). Top-down modulation: bridging selective attention and working memory. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 16(2), 129-135.
Gregg, N., & Nelson, J. (2018). Empirical studies on the writing abilities of adolescents and adults with learning difficulties. In Miller, B., McArdle, P., & Connelly, V. (Eds.) Writing development in struggling learners: Understanding the needs of writers across the lifecourse (pp. 73-95). Koninklijke Brill.
Hambrick, D. Z., & Engle, R. W. (2002). Effects of domain knowledge, working memory capacity, and age on cognitive performance: An investigation of the knowledge-is-power hypothesis. Cognitive Psychology, 44(4), 339-387.
Hahn, E. A., & Lachman, M. E. (2015). Everyday experiences of memory problems and control: The adaptive role of selective optimization with compensation in the context of memory decline. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 22(1), 25-41.
Hoskyn, M., & Swanson, H. L. (2003). The relationship between working memory and writing in younger and older adults. Reading and Writing, 16(8), 759-784.
Houben, K., Wiers, R. W., & Jansen, A. (2011). Getting a grip on drinking behavior: Training working memory to reduce alcohol abuse. Psychological Science, 22(7), 968-975.
Jaroslawska, A. J., & Rhodes, S. (2019). Adult age differences in the effects of processing on storage in working memory: A meta-analysis. Psychology and Aging, 34(4), 512.
Jost, K., Bryck, R. L., Vogel, E. K., & Mayr, U. (2011). Are old adults just like low working memory young adults? Filtering efficiency and age differences in visual working memory. Cerebral Cortex, 21(5), 1147-1154.
Keenan, T. D., Agron, E., Mares, J. A., Clemons, T. E., van Asten, F., Swaroop, A., & Chew, E. Y. (2020). Adherence to a mediterranean diet and cognitive function in the age‐related eye disease studies 1 & 2. Alzheimer's & Dementia.
Kofler, M. J., Singh, L. J., Soto, E. F., Chan, E. S. M., Miller, C. E., Harmon, S. L., & Spiegel, J. A. (2020). Working memory and short-term memory deficits in ADHD: A bifactor modeling approach. Neuropsychology, 34(6), 686-698.
Konig, Cornelius, J., Buhner, M., & Murling, G. (2005). Working memory, fluid intelligence, and attention are predictors of multitasking performance, but polychronocity and extraversion are not. Human Performance, 18(3), 243-266.
Lim, J. & Dinges, D. F. (2010). A meta-analysis of the impact of short-term sleep depri-vation on cognitive variables. Psychological Bulletin, 136(3), 375-389.
Linck, J. A., Osthus, P., Koeth, J. T., & Bunting, M. F. (2014). Working memory and second language comprehension and production: A meta-analysis. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 21(4), 861-883.
Majer, M., Nater, U. M., Lin, J. M. S., Capuron, L., & Reeves, W. C. (2010). Association of childhood trauma with cognitive function in healthy adults: a pilot study. BMC Neurology, 10(1), 61.
Martin, R. C., & Slevc, L. R. (2014). Language production and working memory. In The Oxford handbook of language production (pp. 1-33).
Moran, T. P. (2016). Anxiety and working memory capacity: A meta-analysis and narrative review. Psychological Bulletin, 142(8), 831-864.
Ng, E. H. N., Rudner, M., Lunner, T., Pedersen, M. S., & Ronnberg, J. (2013). Effects of noise and working memory capacity on memory processing of speech for hearing-aid users. International Journal of Audiology, 52(7), 433-441.
Olive, T., Kellogg, R. T., & Piolat, A. (2008). Verbal, visual, and spatial working memory demands during text composition. Applied Psycholinguistics, 29(4), 669-687.
Park, D. C., Lautenschlager, G., Hedden, T., Davidson, N. S., Smith, A. D., & Smith, P. K. (2002). Models of visuospatial and verbal memory across the adult life span. Psychology and Aging, 17(2), 299-320.
Park, D. C., Smith, A. D., Lautenschlager, G., Earles, J. L., Frieske, D., Zwahr, M., & Gaines, C. L. (1996). Mediators of long-term memory performance across the life span. Psychology and Aging, 11(4), 621.
Salillas, E., Grana, A., El-Yagoubi, R., & Semenza, C. (2009). Numbers in the blind's "eye". PloS One, 4(7), e6357.
Salthouse, T. (2012). Consequences of age-related cognitive declines. Annual Review of Psychology, 63, 201-226.
Sanchez, C. A., & Wiley, J. (2009). To scroll or not to scroll: Scrolling, working memory capacity, and comprehending complex texts. Human Factors, 51(5), 730-738.
Scheibe, S., & Blanchard-Fields, F. (2009). Effects of regulating emotions on cognitive performance: what is costly for young adults is not so costly for older adults. Psychology and Aging, 24(1), 217-223.
Schmader, T., Johns, M., & Forbes, C. (2008). An integrated process model of stereotype threat effects on performance. Psychological Review, 115(2), 336-356.
Shackman, A. J., Sarinopoulos, I., Maxwell, J. S., Pizzagalli, D. A., Lavric, A., & Davidson, R. J. (2006). Anxiety selectively disrupts visuospatial working memory. Emotion, 6(1), 40-61.
Skagerlund, K., Lind, T., Stromback, C., Tinghog, G., & Vastfjall, D. (2019). Financial literacy and the role of numeracy-How individuals' attitude and affinity with numbers influence financial literacy. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 74, 18-25.
Smith-Spark, J. H., & Gordon, R. (2022). Automaticity and executive abilities in developmental dyslexia: A theoretical review. Brain Sciences, 12(4), 446.
Sung, J. E. (2015). Age-related changes in sentence production abilities and their relation to working- memory capacity: Evidence from a verb- final language. PLoS ONE, 10(4), 1-12.
Swanson, H. L. (1999). What develops in working memory? A life span perspective. Developmental Psychology, 35(4), 986-1000.
Tighe, E. L., & Schatschneider, C. (2016). Examining the relationships of component reading skills to reading comprehension in struggling adult readers: A meta-analysis. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 49(4), 395-409.
Uncapher, M. R., K. Thieu, M., & Wagner, A. D. (2016). Media multitasking and memory: Differences in working memory and long-term memory. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 23(2), 483-490.
Wechsler, D. (2009). Wechsler Memory Scale—Fourth Edition (WMS-IV) technical and interpretive manual. San Antonio, TX: Pearson.
Wilson, R.S., Boyle, P.A., Yu, L., Barnes, L.L., Schneider, J.A. & Bennett, D.A. (2013). Life-span cognitive activity, neuropathologic burden, and cognitive aging. Neurology, 81(4), 314-321.
Wolf, R. C., Sambataro, F., Lohr, C., Steinbrink, C., Martin, C., & Vasic, N. (2010). Functional brain network abnormalities during verbal working memory performance in adolescents and young adults with dyslexia. Neuropsychologia, 48(1), 309-318.
Wong, P. C., Jin, J. X., Gunasekera, G. M., Abel, R., Lee, E. R., & Dhar, S. (2009). Aging and cortical mechanisms of speech perception in noise. Neuropsychologia, 47(3), 693-703.
Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Already a user? LOG IN
