Working Memory in Navigational and Reaching Spaces in Typically Developing Children at Increasing School Stages

Area of Science:

• Cognitive development
• Neuroscience
• Developmental psychology

Background:

• Previous studies on motor-disabled children showed no age effect on topographic working memory (TWM), but linked poorer TWM to reduced environmental exploration.
• Typically developing (TD) children show increased environmental exploration with age, suggesting age-related TWM effects.

Purpose of the Study:

• Investigate age-related TWM in TD children.
• Determine if working memory (WM) in reaching space differs from navigational space.
• Hypothesize that WM in both spaces improves with age and environmental autonomy.

Main Methods:

• 120 children aged 5-16 years participated.
• Corsi Block-Tapping test (CBT) assessed reaching space WM.
• Walking Corsi test (WalCT) assessed navigational space WM.

Main Results:

• Both WalCT and CBT spans significantly increased across school stages, except CBT between middle (MS) and upper stages (US).
• CBT spans were higher than WalCT spans in pre-school, lower, and MS.
• CBT span increase until MS suggests effective spatial orientation strategies.

Conclusions:

• Improved navigation control may enhance attention to wayfinding and traffic behavior.
• The US group's WalCT performance matched young adults, indicating spatial orientation gains from environmental movement.
• Findings are relevant for children with motor disabilities, suggesting environmental exploration benefits TWM.