You may already know that working memory is important to academic success. But did you know that working memory is one of the most important skills that predict learning outcomes. Working memory is even more important than IQ. Let’s take a step back. Before we get to working memory in the classroom, let’s look at how environmental factors, such as financial background, can impact working memory
Think of a classroom in rural Brazil. There is so much working against these kids. Less than 15% will finish elementary school. Most leave without learning to read. Schools can’t afford to pay their teachers much and those teachers that do stick around don’t always have the skills and training to do their job. But could these students have the same ability and potential of their richer urban peers? My colleagues decided to test this theory*. They compared rural low-income kids with those from wealthy urban areas in Brazil in IQ and working memory tests. You would expect that the rural kids struggled behind their urban peers. Indeed, that was the case with the vocabulary test used to measure IQ. The urban students excelled in matching words with the correct definitions. They far superseded their rural counterparts in their knowledge, because they had more experience using the words on the test.
But here is the surprising finding: they were no better than the rural students on the working memory tests. It boils down to one thing-opportunity. The urban children had more opportunity to learn-at home, their parents have the skill and time to teach them, at school they receive more attention from teachers. They have had a rich base of knowledge cultivated over the years. But the exciting news is that students from deprived backgrounds have the same ability to succeed. Their working memory skills are no different from their urban peers. It is not an issue of IQ. It is a matter of giving these students the same opportunity to unlock their working memory potential.
Excerpt from IMPROVING WORKING MEMORY
*Engel et al (2008). Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research
Is technology impairing our working memory? From our ever-increasing reliance on word processing to help us improve grammar, Blackberries to remind us of appointments, speed-dial so we don’t have to remember phone numbers and a universe of information available at the click of a mouse. What is the trade-off: what we do give up when we rely on new technology? Are the likes of Facebook and YouTube reducing our ability to engage in everyday life? In fact, the opposite may be true; technology can dramatically improve our working memory.
Facebook one of the most popular social networking sites with more than 300 million active users. Apart from the novelty of connecting with people you haven’t seen since you were 5 years old (for better or for worse!), it can also promote a sense of social connectedness. Those who are cut off from others often become isolated and may miss out on many benefits within education and employment. Studies on elderly populations found that those who spent more time meeting up with friends or talking on the phone experience less memory loss than their peers who were more isolated.
Technology is advancing quickly and more and more students use social networking sites. But what impact does this have on education? Can virtual social connections boost working memory? I looked at these questions in a recent study. A group of high-schoolers filled in a questionnaire about how long they spent using social networking sites, such as Facebook. I also measured their IQ, working memory, and academic attainment. I found that those who used Facebook more regularly (1x a day) had better working memory scores, as well as higher spelling and vocabulary. The sense of belonging and social connectedness that we feel when using social networking sites such as Facebook, releases a feel-good hormone, which bolsters our working memory. Good news for schools who are integrating social networking sites into their programs.
TRY IT FOR YOURSELF
Students with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) can display amazing abilities well beyond their age, yet struggle in simple, everyday tasks. A teacher told me of a 13 year boy who loved going to the principal’s office to work on math and science exams for 17 year olds, but could not dress himself. A fascinating aspect of this polarity is the “special abilities” displayed by some autistic individuals. These abilities far exceed expectations based on their IQ, and in some cases, their special ability exceeds the level reached by experts in the same field. Special abilities are generally found in the domains of music, memorization of lists, three-dimensional drawing, reading (hyperlexia), and calendar and mental calculation.
Of interest is whether their working memory reflects their extraordinary skills. It seems that the memory profile of an autistic savant is much like an individual with ASD without special abilities. If a memory test uses material that is related to their area of expertise, then savants outperform individuals with ASD without special abilities. For example, a savant calculator has a much higher score than ASD non-experts in number-based working memory tasks. Both ASD groups perform similarly in other working memory tasks. When compared with experts, we see a similar pattern. Both savants and experts show superior memory skills compared to their peers with the same IQ level when tested using material from their area of expertise. Studies that have compared memory skills for music in savant musicians with typical musicians reveal that they demonstrate the same sensitivity and awareness of musical dimensions such as rhythm and pitch. Their similar performance in a music memory test suggests that autistic savant musicians and typical musicians use the working memory in a comparable way.
Autistic savants have built up a huge knowledge base that can be used to increase working memory performance in the area of their expertise. In some cases, their expertise and training in one area can also enhance their scores in another area. For example, calendar calculators and savant calculators can achieve phenomenal scores in memory tests using nonsense words. They are able to apply their training in remembering one type of abstract material (dates and numbers) to related things. One explanation is that dates, numbers, and nonsense words are all abstract material and we use similar mechanisms to remember information that is not connected to semantic memory. The bottom line is that autistic savants have superior memory in the area of their expertise, and in some cases in related areas. This enhanced memory performance far exceeds what is expected of their IQ levels. We see that working memory is very different from IQ.
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