Health Working Memory
Memories M
Sweet
Educational psychologist Veronica Bidewell suggests a few ways to help children with short term or working memory problems
any of us know the frustrations of having have had a child who never
seems to take in what they have been asked to do. You have just asked them to go upstairs, fetch your blue shoes, tell their sister that tea is on the table and let the dog out before sitting down, only to find that when they wander in, with one shoe in their hand, they have forgotten what you asked them to do, let alone done it! You may even have been one
of them yourself, who as a child developed methods to remember instructions others found simple, perhaps you tied a knot in your handkerchief – I know I did – or marked a cross on your hand for really important reminders. Te most common cause
Be prepared to repeat instructions calmly, slowly and without irritation
of this failure to manage to remember a list of instructions is down to a poor short term or working memory. While it can be infuriating at home, unfortunately it also has some serious consequences for their ability to achieve academically. Research has established that working memory capacity is a very important predictor of academic success and that it is associated with attainment in reading and maths. (Gathercole, various publications). Memory can be broadly defined
as long and short-term. Long-term memory refers to things you
recall from the past such as where you spent last Christmas or indeed where you spent Christmas when you were aged six. Long-term memory whether episodic, eg, a memory for events, or semantic, eg, memory with meaning, such as, how to get from one place to another is thought to be unlimited and can last a life time. Memory capacity may vary
from individual to individual and over a lifetime. At one end of the spectrum we have probably all seen the television shows where some individual is brought on to demonstrate a freak ability to recall 2,000 digits. Remember Hannay’s 39 Steps! At the other end of the spectrum is the complete agony of watching a parent afflicted with Alzheimer’s. In contrast to long-term
memory, we also have short term and working memory. Short- term memory is the term used by psychologists when they are referring to situations in which someone is temporarily memorising information; perhaps remembering the name of someone who has just been introduced to you, or a phone number which you may need to repeat several times to make sure you do not forget it. Working memory is an
extension of this. It is the term which we use when we need to remember information in order to solve a problem, or carry out a complex task, such as a mental arithmetic problem or repeating the alphabet in reverse order. Short term and working
memory can be likened to a mental white board. At any moment we can use this white board to keep hold of the information that we need in the here and now. Children rely on working
memory in the classroom. Teir teacher may say: “Get out your blue text books, turn to page 49. Get out your green exercise books; put a margin on the left and the date on the right. Now start the first comprehension exercise on page 49 and don’t forget before you start, please, can you hand in yesterday’s homework.” Te child with poor working
memory is likely to be thoroughly confused. Once he has given in the homework, he probably cannot remember which page to go to. He might ask or copy a friend. He may be so used to forgetting instructions, that he switches off and waits to be told again. Once the “white board” is
overloaded, we seem to lose all the instructions, not just part of them. Disturbance or disruption can also immediately wipe the facts. Working memory develops with
age and full capacity is achieved in adolescence. Adults can, on average, hold on to seven “bits” of information. Tese may be seven numbers, seven ideas or even seven concepts. By the age of seven, children are starting to use “strategies”, such as repeating things to help themselves.
www.firstelevenmagazine.co.uk
PHOTOS: ISTOCKPHOTO
Don’t forget!
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