Working Memory and School Achievement in the Ninth Form

Abstract

Two experiments explored the relationship between 15‐16‐year‐old ninth‐formers’ working memory (WM) capacity and school achievement. In the first experiment, WM capacity was measured administering complex WM span tests on 107 subjects. These measures correlated highly significantly with performance in four school subjects: mathematics, foreign language, Finnish (native language) and geography. In the second experiment, additional WM tasks were used to measure two WM components: the phonological loop and the central executive component as suggested by Baddeley (1986). The tasks that were assumed to measure the central executive were strongly linked to performance in school subjects. Maximally, they shared 31 % of the variance with school achievement. Partial correlations showed that digit span correlated, independently of the central executive measures, with performance in foreign language. This result suggested that the phonological loop is specifically related to foreign language learning. The relationship between WM and the general intelligence factor g is discussed.