Memory & age: Processing speeds differ between individuals, ppl write & read with different speeds linked with capacity of their STM. Younger children have a shorter digit span (capacity & memory span of STM without rehearsal) than older children. Memory capacity increases with age.
Sebastian & Henendez-Gil found that digit span increases with age from 5 years if age with 2.76 DS to 17 years with 5.91.
Dyslexia is a developmental disorder or can be acquired – it affects a small minority of ppl and arises as a result of brain damage, stroke or another type of trauma. Ppl with dyslexia have issues with reading, speech including manipulating speech & auditory functions in STM & phonological awareness issues.
Can’t tell the difference between left and right, distracted by background sounds, mirror writing & reversal of letters.
Dyslexia with WMM: Focusing on phonological skills can help children as practicing reading & developing vocabulary. Ppl with dyslexia have troubles breaking words into sounds, indicating problem with phonological loop – difficulty with transporting sounds of letters.
Dunning – found that verbal working memory was improved in children who trained the memory, had to determine effect of dementia on role of memory because dyslexia sufferers range from impairments, both auditory & visual.
Smith-Spark – found dyslexic adults had unimpaired spatial working memory but verbal working memory impaired – showing deficit with phonological lip.
Alloway – Children with dyslexia have difficulty processing & remembering speech sounds (poor WMM) & cannot hold speech sound long enough for WMM to bind them to form a word. Studied 46 children aged 6-11 with reading difficulties finding they had STM deficiencies.
MacDougall – Divided 90 children into poor, moderate & good reading ability & sig lower memory spans with slower reading rate. Good readers can articulate words quickly & have more words represented phonologically in STM. Poor readers have words move slowly to STM.
Alzheimer’s develops as we age. Symptoms including confusion, forgetting episodic & semantic memories, loneliness and distress. Effects 1 in 20 ppl.
A neurological disorder occurring when the brain is damaged, it’s progressive & degenerative association with aging.
It selectively impairs certain cog systems; mostly memories of new events & information meaning difficult to make new memories so effects STM & LTM. Impacts central executive functioning of attention & control. Visual processing also impaired.
Extent of impairment associated with depletion of brain matter especially Hippocampus & temporal cortex.
Baddeley: Conducted attentional test with Alzheimer’s patients compared with a control group. Task was to look for letter Z in distracter letters & the other a dual task. Alzheimer’s performed worst on the dual task.