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Updated: Jun 13, 2026
09:05
Assessing Working Memory in Children: The Comprehensive Assessment Battery for Children – Working Memory (CABC-WM)
Published on: June 12, 2017
Working memory capacity predicts listwise directed forgetting in adults and children
Alp Aslan1, Martina Zellner, Karl-Heinz T Bäuml
1Department of Experimental Psychology, Regensburg University, Germany. alp.aslan@psychologie.uni-regensburg.de
Memory (Hove, England)
|April 20, 2010
Summary
Working memory capacity influences directed forgetting in adults and children. Higher working memory capacity correlates with better directed forgetting performance, explaining age-related improvements.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Developmental Psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Listwise directed forgetting involves cues to forget prior material and learn new material, typically causing forgetting of the first list and enhanced memory for the second.
- Working memory capacity is crucial for cognitive control and memory processes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of working memory capacity in listwise directed forgetting among adults and children.
- To determine if working memory capacity explains age-related differences in directed forgetting efficiency.
Main Methods:
- Assessed working memory capacity using complex span tasks.
- Examined directed forgetting performance in young adults (Experiment 1) and children (Experiment 2).
Main Results:
- Working memory capacity positively predicted directed forgetting performance in young adults.
- Replicated findings in children and demonstrated that working memory capacity accounts for age-related increases in directed forgetting efficiency.
Conclusions:
- Working memory capacity is closely linked to directed forgetting performance in both adults and children.
- Results support the role of inhibition in directed forgetting and its connection to working memory capacity.
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