Parenting, Attention and Verbal and Spatial Working Memory in Early Childhood

• In Event: Poster Session 14
  In Poster Session: PS 14 Topic - Attention, Learning, Memory

Abstract

Although studies find that greater parental warmth, sensitivity, and autonomy support predict better executive function (EF) in early childhood, many studies create a composite score of EF (e.g., Daneri et al., 2019); thus, we know less about how parenting is associated with specific abilities, such as verbal and spatial working memory. Meanwhile, studies from adults suggest that attention contributes to working memory performance (e.g., Engle, 2002). Little research, however, has examined how attention is linked to working memory in early development (Garon et al., 2008). Given the rapid development of working memory in early childhood, it is critical to investigate the relationship between attention and working memory in young children to understand how attention contributes to working memory development.

This study examined the two factors, i.e., parenting and attention, that are associated with verbal and spatial working memory in early childhood. A total of 59 children 3 ½ to 4 ½ years of age completed three spatial working memory tasks, one verbal working memory task and one attention task. In Spaceship spatial working memory task (Schutte & Spencer, 2009), children recalled the location of a target, i.e., spaceship, by pointing and touching the target location on a computer touchscreen. Spatial working memory accuracy (absolute errors in millimeter) and memory biases (directional errors in degree) were recoded and analyzed. In the forward and backward Corsi-block tapping tasks (Corsi, 1972), a child responded by tapping the blocks in the same sequence as the blocks light up, i.e., forward tapping, or responded by tapping the blocks in the reverse sequence, i.e., backward tapping. The longest memory spans were recorded. In the Backward word span task (Engle et al., 1999), a child repeated the words an experimenter said in reverse order. The longest word span was used in analyses. The Track-it task assessed selective sustained attention. A child saw a 3 × 3 grid with a target and six distractors. The child had to track the target moving among distractors, and indicate where on the grid the target was located when it disappeared. Percent correct was analyzed in the study. Parents completed the Parental Behavior and Dimension Questionnaire and the Children’s Behavior Questionnaire. Greater attentional shifting predicted greater spatial memory span in the forward Corsi-block tapping task, coefficient = 2.32, SE = 1.00, t = 2.31, p = 0.027; and greater parental democratic discipline predicted greater memory accuracy and greater memory biases away from the center of the monitor, coefficient = -8.98, SE = 2.23, p < 0.001, a more developmentally advanced pattern, in the Spaceship spatial working memory task. This study provided evidence for the association between attention and working memory in early childhood, and that parental democratic discipline is related to working memory in young children.

Authors

• Yinbo Wu, Florida International University
  Presenting Author

• Anne R Schutte, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
  Non-Presenting Author