Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 22, 2026

Assessing Working Memory in Children: The Comprehensive Assessment Battery for Children – Working Memory (CABC-WM)
Published on: June 12, 2017
The cognitive and behavioral characteristics of children with low working memory
Tracy Packiam Alloway1, Susan Elizabeth Gathercole, Hannah Kirkwood
1Department of Psychology, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, UK. t.p.alloway@stir.ac.uk
Abstract:
This study explored the cognitive and behavioral profiles of children with working memory impairments. In an initial screening of 3,189 five- to eleven-year-olds, 308 were identified as having very low working memory scores. Cognitive skills (IQ, vocabulary, reading, and math), classroom behavior, and self-esteem were assessed. The majority of the children struggled in the learning measures and verbal ability. They also obtained atypically high ratings of cognitive problems/inattentive symptoms and were judged to have short attention spans, high levels of distractibility, problems in monitoring the quality of their work, and difficulties in generating new solutions to problems. These data provide rich new information on the cognitive and behavioral profiles that characterize children with low working memory.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Information Processing Approach
Working Memory
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
Diagnostic Criteria and Symptoms
To diagnose ADHD, symptoms must manifest before age 12 and be evident across multiple settings.
High-Level and Low-Level Awareness
Role of Cerebellum and Prefrontal Cortex in Memory
Language and Cognition

