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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Feb 22, 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

Working memory predicts children's analogical reasoning.

Nina K Simms¹, Rebecca R Frausel², Lindsey E Richland²

¹Spatial Intelligence and Learning Center, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology

|September 20, 2017

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Children's analogical reasoning, crucial for development, is significantly supported by working memory. This study highlights how working memory capacity predicts performance in analogical tasks among children aged 5-11.

Keywords:

Analogical development Analogical reasoning Executive functions Inhibitory control Relational complexity Working memory

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Developmental Psychology
Neuroscience

Background:

Analogical reasoning is key for cognitive and language development.
Its development during childhood is substantial but mechanisms are debated.
Executive functions (EF) are proposed cognitive resources influencing development.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the role of executive function (EF) in children's analogical reasoning development.
To determine if specific EF aspects relate to analogical development at individual difference levels.

Main Methods:

Assessed 5- to 11-year-old children's executive functions: working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility.
Utilized the National Institutes of Health Toolbox Cognition battery for assessments.
Measured performance on an analogical mapping task.

Main Results:

Individual differences in working memory significantly predicted performance on the analogical mapping task.
This relationship remained significant even after controlling for age.
Inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility did not show the same predictive power.

Conclusions:

Working memory is a fundamental cognitive capacity supporting analogical reasoning development in children.
Findings suggest a strong interrelationship between working memory and analogical reasoning.
Future theories of reasoning development should incorporate executive functions, particularly working memory.