Measuring Working Memory in Meaningful Ways

• In Event: AERA Poster Session Sunday 9:45 am
  In Poster Session: Social, Cultural, and Emotional Foundations of Student Learning and Motivation

Abstract

Executive Functions (EFs), the cognitive processes deployed to control human behavior, have been linked to important life outcomes (Miyake et al., 2000; Robson et al., 2020). However, traditional EF measures involve cultural expectations and show persistent differences between majority and minoritized populations (Henrich et al., 2010; Gaskins & Alcalá, 2023). In the current study, 28 5-7 year old children from Latine or White, non-Latine populations completed two traditional WM tasks, and one novel, goal-driven and contextualized WM task. Results showed group differences on the traditional tasks, however no cultural group differences on the newly developed task, suggesting that this task was better able to represent all children’s EF skills. Additionally, errors in the novel task were analyzed, which revealed cultural differences.

Authors

• Ella Rose, University of California - Irvine

• Lindsey E. Richland, University of California - Irvine

• Lucía Alcalá, California State University - Fullerton

• Katherine T Rhodes, University of California - Irvine