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The focus of attention in working memory: evidence from a word updating task.

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Speaking, writing, and memory span in children: output modality affects cognitive performance.

Joachim Grabowski1

  • 1University of Education , Heidelberg , Germany.

International Journal of Psychology : Journal International De Psychologie
|November 3, 2011
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Writing is cognitively more demanding for children than speaking due to developing graphomotoric and orthographic skills. These writing-related cognitive costs persist through primary school, impacting memory span performance compared to oral recall.

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Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Educational Psychology

Background:

  • Children's written language production involves higher cognitive load than speaking.
  • This difference is attributed to less automated graphomotoric and orthographic processes in children.
  • Previous research highlighted these challenges in French-speaking children.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To replicate and extend findings on the cognitive costs of writing in children.
  • To investigate the developmental trajectory of these costs during primary school.
  • To differentiate between graphomotoric and orthographic influences on writing performance.

Main Methods:

  • Replication of French studies with German third-graders and university students.
  • Comparison of memory span performance in oral vs. written recall across different age groups.
  • Experimental manipulation of writing modes (handwriting vs. typing) and use of a "spelling board".

Main Results:

  • French findings were replicated in German children and adults.
  • Cognitive costs of writing decreased with age but remained higher than speaking throughout primary school.
  • Unpracticed writing modes, particularly typing, significantly reduced memory performance in adults, supporting the role of graphomotoric automation.

Conclusions:

  • Writing remains cognitively more demanding than speaking for German children up to the end of primary school.
  • Graphomotoric automation plays a crucial role in reducing the cognitive load of writing.
  • Findings have implications for assessing knowledge and abilities through language production, especially in educational settings.