How semantic organisation influences primary school children's working memory. Issue 3 (3rd April 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Giofrè, David; Carretti, Barbara; Belacchi, Carmen
• Is Part Of: Journal of cognitive psychology. Volume 29:Issue 3(2017)
• Page Start: 327
• Page End: 336
• Publication Date: 2017-04-03
• Subjects: Working memory -- long-term memory -- semantic -- categorical -- children; Cognitive psychology -- Periodicals; 153.05
• DOI: 10.1080/20445911.2016.1270950
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2044-5911

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The present study focuses on the semantic organisation of material in working memory. We developed a new measure in which students memorised unrelated words from lists. In our study, we manipulated the association between words in the lists. The material was organised so as to elicit a semantic organisation (categorical and thematic). The task was then administered to a group of 6–10-year-old children. The semantic organisation of the material prompted a better recall, which depended on the type of semantic organisation. In the same vein, the number of intrusion errors was influenced by the semantic links between words and was higher when words in the list were associated categorically. These results seemed to depend partly on the participants' age, being evident only in the younger children.