Evaluation of Visuospatial Short-term and Working Memory from the First to Second Year of Life: A Novel Task

ABSTRACT

The prototypical tasks for assessing visuospatial memory in infancy are based on the search for a hidden object in two locations. Fewer studies include more locations, delayed responses nor changes in the object’s position. Our aim was to assess the visuospatial short-term and working memory in 12, 15, 18 and 22-month-old children (N = 65). Assessment included our experimental task, a working memory task and a cognitive developmental scale. Short-term and working memory abilities increased markedly at 22 months compared to younger ages and the performance of the children in our experimental task is related to other tasks previously used.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Vicente García Menéndez for his technical assistance. This study was funded by Project Grants of SECRETARÍA DE ESTADO DE INVESTIGACIÓN, DESARROLLO E INNOVACIÓN Del Gobierno de España PSI2017-90806-REDT and PSI2017-83893-R and Programa “Severo Ochoa” de Ayudas Predoctorales de la CONSEJERÍA DE CULTURA Y DEPORTE del Principado de Asturias PA-17-PF-BP16090 to CF-B.

Declaration of interest statement

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Project Grants of SECRETARÍA DE ESTADO DE INVESTIGACIÓN, DESARROLLO E INNOVACIÓN Del Gobierno de España (PSI2017-90806-REDT, PSI2017- 83893-R) Programa “Severo Ochoa” de Ayudas Predoctorales de la CONSEJERÍA DE CULTURA Y DEPORTE del Principado de Asturias (PA-17-PF-BP16090).