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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 13, 2026

Assessing Working Memory in Children: The Comprehensive Assessment Battery for Children – Working Memory (CABC-WM)

Assessing Working Memory in Children: The Comprehensive Assessment Battery for Children – Working Memory (CABC-WM)

Published on: June 12, 2017

Self-ordered pointing as a test of working memory in typically developing children.

Lucy Cragg¹, Kate Nation

¹Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, UK. lucy.cragg@psy.ox.ac.uk

Memory (Hove, England)

|July 7, 2007

Summary

The self-ordered pointing test (SOPT) measures executive working memory in children and adults. Performance improves with age, but verbal skills are not strongly correlated, indicating SOPT

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Neuroscience
Developmental Psychology

Background:

The self-ordered pointing test (SOPT) assesses non-spatial executive working memory.
Normative data for SOPT performance in developmental clinical populations are limited.
Executive working memory is crucial for response generation and monitoring.

Purpose of the Study:

To establish normative data for the SOPT in typically developing children and young adults.
To investigate the impact of age on SOPT performance.
To explore the relationship between SOPT performance and verbal/nonverbal cognitive abilities.

Main Methods:

Two versions of the SOPT were administered: one with familiar objects and one with abstract designs.
Participants included typically developing children (5-11 years) and young adults.
Performance was analyzed in relation to age and cognitive abilities.

Main Results:

SOPT performance significantly improved with age, but children did not reach adult levels.
The object-based SOPT condition was easier than the abstract design condition for all age groups.
SOPT performance showed limited correlation with verbal and nonverbal cognitive abilities.

Conclusions:

The SOPT is a sensitive measure of executive working memory across development.
Verbal processing may contribute to performance on the object-based SOPT.
The SOPT effectively captures executive working memory independent of general cognitive skills.