Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Individual differences in children's working memory and writing skill

H L Swanson1, V W Berninger

  • 1School of Education, University of California at Riverside 92521, USA.

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
|November 1, 1996
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

A genome scan in multigenerational families with dyslexia: Identification of a novel locus on chromosome 2q that contributes to phonological decoding efficiency.

Molecular psychiatry·2005
Same author

Early intervention for reading disabilities: teaching the alphabet principle in a connectionist framework.

Journal of learning disabilities·2004
Same author

Reading research for students with LD: a meta-analysis of intervention outcomes.

Journal of learning disabilities·2004
Same author

A meta-analysis of single-subject-design intervention research for students with LD.

Journal of learning disabilities·2004
Same author

A comparison of two reading interventions for children with reading disabilities.

Journal of learning disabilities·2004
Same author

Treatment outcomes for students with learning disabilities: how important are internal and external validity?

Journal of learning disabilities·2004
Same journal

Memory for a dinosaur exhibit: retrieval-based practice vs. restudy.

Journal of experimental child psychology·2026
Same journal

The interplay between Theory of Mind inferencing and visual attention in narrative comprehension in autistic preschoolers.

Journal of experimental child psychology·2026
Same journal

Executive function and preschoolers' responses to severe transgressions: implications for early forgiveness.

Journal of experimental child psychology·2026
Same journal

Shared cognitive risk factors underlying rapid automatized naming deficits for the comorbidity of developmental dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: A computational parameter estimation via Bundesen's theory of visual attention.

Journal of experimental child psychology·2026
Same journal

Do young children understand the objectivity of reality?

Journal of experimental child psychology·2026
Same journal

Learning words by ear or by eye: effects of modality on lexical configuration and lexicalization.

Journal of experimental child psychology·2026
See all related articles

Individual differences in children's writing abilities are linked to specific cognitive capacities, not general ones. Working memory (WM) uniquely predicts writing skills beyond reading ability, suggesting distinct cognitive systems for writing and reading comprehension.

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Educational Psychology

Background:

  • Understanding the cognitive underpinnings of writing is crucial for educational interventions.
  • Distinguishing between working memory (WM) and short-term memory (STM) is essential for cognitive research.
  • Previous research suggests a relationship between memory systems and literacy skills, but the specific nature of this relationship requires further elucidation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether individual differences in working memory (WM) and writing are associated with a general or process-specific cognitive system.
  • To determine if WM tasks are independent of phonological short-term memory (STM) in relation to writing and reading performance.
  • To examine if WM predicts writing variance beyond the predictive power of reading ability alone.

Related Experiment Videos

Main Methods:

  • Correlational analysis was employed to examine the relationships between various WM and phonological STM measures and writing and reading assessments.
  • A four-factor model was used to analyze the multivariate data, assessing phonological STM, verbal WM span, executive processing, and visual-spatial WM span.
  • Statistical methods were used to determine unique variance contributions of WM and STM to writing and reading outcomes.

Main Results:

  • A four-factor model best represented the memory data, distinguishing phonological STM, verbal WM span, executive processing, and visual-spatial WM span.
  • Working memory (WM) demonstrated significant correlations with writing measures, particularly text generation.
  • WM uniquely predicted writing variance independent of reading skill; STM predicted transcription and reading recognition, while WM predicted text generation and reading comprehension.

Conclusions:

  • Individual differences in children's writing appear to stem from a specific capacity system.
  • Reading comprehension, in contrast, seems to draw upon a multiple capacity system.
  • Executive processing within WM is a significant predictor of writing performance, highlighting its specific role.