I see some students in my class who are daydreaming, looking out the window, just not really paying attention to what I am saying. How can I tell whether they have poor working memory , or are just unmotivated?
Mary, Ohio
Currently, working memory is not identified as a problem in the classroom, despite leading to learning difficulties. There are very clear signs that a student will show in a classroom if they have poor working memory. Some of them include:
- Failing to follow instructions
- Raising their hand to answer a question but forgetting what they wanted to say
- Sitting quietly at their desk but not doing the assignment because they can’t remember what it is
- Difficulty in writing tasks, for example, writing the same letter twice or missing out words
The main difference between an unmotivated student and one with poor working memory is that the student with poor working memory struggles in all areas of learning. They have a hard time coping in the classroom with even simple tasks because their working memory is not ‘big’ enough to keep in all the information. In contrast, the unmotivated student can do well on some days when they try hard. This means that their working memory is good but sometimes they don’t want to put out the effort.
If you are concerned that a student may have poor working memory, click here to find more on testing working memory.
I have a 5th grader that has dyslexia and dysgraphia. He somehow manages to gets As and Bs in most subjects, except for History. He just shuts down and won’t even try.
This behavior is common in students who struggle with remembering information: dates, locations, facts. They feel embarrassed about not knowing and build up a mental block because of past failures. They stop trying.
The key is to draw him back to the topic by creating an interest. Build a bridge between the new information and what he is familiar with in his own life. If you are learning about Ukraine, start with something he can relate to. How is their food similar to his food? How is it different? How about their clothes? When you get to more complex topics, like politics, frame it in a way he can relate to. Ask him to think about what sort of hobbies kids his age would like there. Do they have the same freedom to pursue these hobbies? For example, how about things like Internet access, is this controlled by the state? What about books, would some graphic novels be banned? At every point, connect the new information (Ukraine) with what he knows.
We have all heard the rumors: the first thing to go in pregnancy isn’t our waist, it’s our memory! We know the symptoms: missed appointments, misplaced keys, and forgotten errands. Is ‘pregnancy brain’ to blame?
Working memory refers to our ability to remember and juggle information. There are two reasons why we feel our once-fantastic skills at juggling multiple tasks have now disappeared. Scientific studies have recently confirmed that during pregnancy, a spike in various hormones, including estrogen, leads to working memory decline. Pregnant women in their third trimester are particularly prone to working memory loss.
Another factor that contributes to working memory loss is distraction. Information in working memory is fragile and can be lost quickly. During pregnancy, we are likely to be more distracted than usual in planning for the arrival of our little one and coping with impending changes.
Is there anything I can do to help/support myself?
Be patient: Give your body time after pregnancy and nursing for your hormone levels to adjust. It may take a while but the negative effect of increased hormonal activity on working memory is reversible. In the meantime, some find it helpful to use word associations or mental pictures to help them remember. If that’s too much effort, the easiest thing to do is carry a notebook and pen to write things down.
My job requires me to network with people but I always struggle to remember more 10 people’s names! Help!
It’s not surprising that you have trouble remembering more than 10 people’s names. The average adult can only remember about 5 or 6 bits of information: this means names, numbers, directions, items on your grocery list, and so on. If you want to increase this number, you can use a couple of different strategies.
- Make associations. Match someone’s names with something they are wearing. This will give you a visual cue to trigger your memory. Some people prefer to use rhymes but then they find they forget the rhymes! If you match the person’s name with something visual, you will be more likely to remember it.
- Say it out aloud! Repeating their name after you hear it will reinforce it in your memory. Working memory retains an acoustic trace of information that you can use to reconstruct forgotten items. For example, if you remember that someone’s name begins with ‘T’, you can use the acoustic cue to remember the name.
- Write it down. If all else fails, then carry a little notebook and write down their name with a reminder of what they are wearing or what they look like.
Have you noticed that your daughter is a whiz at remembering lyrics to a song yet can never remember her multiplication tables? Do you find that your son can recite lines from a movie but can’t follow simple instructions? Why is it that your child can spend hours playing a video game but gets frustrated after a short time on their homework?
Working memory is the answer.
Working memory is our brain’s ‘post-it note’. We make mental scribbles of bits of information we need to remember and also work with that information. For example, if you were baking a cake that fed only two people, but you had four people coming to dinner, you need working memory to remember the ingredients and to multiply them in your head so that everyone gets a slice. Without it we would be lost literally, we wouldn’t be able to juggle directions in our head to get to that important meeting at a new location and would forget important phone numbers and contacts. Working memory is just as critical for a variety of activities at school, from complex tasks like reading comprehension and mental math, to simple activities such as navigating around the school and taking the right books for homework.
Do you have a question on working memory? Let me know.
I teach 5 year olds and often give them 3 instructions. I’ve noticed that many of them seem to forget what they need to do and end up wandering around the classroom. Is this a sign of a working memory problem?
The average 5 year old can only remember about 2 pieces of information: this means 2 instructions, 2 words, and so on. When you give them more information to remember, they will likely forget it as it exceeds their working memory ’space’ or their ‘post-it note’.
So, if you are working with 5 year olds, it is best to give them short instructions of no more than 2 things to do at a time. If you still find some children struggling, they may have a working memory problem. To find out more about how to test a child’s working memory, click here.
