Working memory capacity and self‐cues: Consistent benefits in children and adults

Λεπτομέρειες βιβλιογραφικής εγγραφής
Τίτλος: Working memory capacity and self‐cues: Consistent benefits in children and adults
Συγγραφείς: Zahra Ahmed, Janet F. McLean, Kevin Allan, Sheila J. Cunningham
Συνεισφορές: University of Aberdeen.Psychology
Πηγή: Br J Psychol
Στοιχεία εκδότη: Wiley, 2025.
Έτος έκδοσης: 2025
Θεματικοί όροι: binding, BF Psychology, Supplementary Data, capacity, self-prioritization, self-cues, BF, working memory, Article
Περιγραφή: From attentional prioritization to enhanced memory, self‐cues trigger a variety of effects within human cognition. Recent work suggests that self‐reference may also enhance working memory, possibly via attentional prioritization. However, there is no direct evidence that self‐cues enhance working memory capacity, or that such boosts covary with individuals' attentional function. Here, we provide the first direct evidence of enhanced working memory capacity for self‐referential cues, independent of attentional processing. We adapted a verbal working memory complex span to create a ‘Self’ condition (featuring the participant's own name), ‘Other’ condition (featuring a non‐self‐name), and Control condition (with no name), in 7–9‐year‐old children (Exp.1, N = 71) and adults (Exp.2, N = 52). In both experiments, the Self condition elicited significantly higher spans than the other conditions (Exp 1: p ηp2 = .32; Exp 2: p ηp2 = .25), but this increase in capacity was unrelated to measures of attentional processing or backward digit span. Moreover, equivalent boosts were observed in children and adults, despite adults' significantly higher underlying capacity. We propose a chunking interpretation based on enhanced binding of self‐associated items, directly benefiting individual's working memory capacity regardless of their current attentional competence or ‘baseline’ capacity.
Τύπος εγγράφου: Article
Other literature type
Περιγραφή αρχείου: application/pdf
Γλώσσα: English
ISSN: 2044-8295
0007-1269
DOI: 10.1111/bjop.12778
Σύνδεσμος πρόσβασης: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39950510
Rights: CC BY
Αριθμός Καταχώρησης: edsair.doi.dedup.....be406b508da06c2eff9e85babd6d38c6
Βάση Δεδομένων: OpenAIRE
Περιγραφή
ISSN:20448295
00071269
DOI:10.1111/bjop.12778