Digit span running loaded on the focus of attention factor rather than the phonological factor, supporting Cowan's claim that running span performance reflects attentional capacity¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r2 · q3
Currency · newest study 2016 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? In the hybrid model allowing cross-loadings, digit span running was significantly and moderately related to the focus of attention factor but nonsignificantly and less strongly related to the phonological factor. → Gray Shelley 2016

Evidence¶

Gray Shelley 2016¶

Gray Shelley, Green Samuel, Alt Mary, Hogan Tiffany P., Kuo Trudy, Brinkley Shara, Cowan Nelson. (2016). The Structure of Working Memory in Young Children and Its Relation to Intelligence. Journal of Memory and Language. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5157932/

q3 · i? · associational · r2

Local fit analysis of the combined hybrid CFA model in the same 168-child sample. The digit span running task "was significantly and moderately related to the second factor" (focus of attention) but nonsignificantly related to the phonological factor.

"Finally the digit span running task was significantly and moderately related to the second factor, consistent with the Cowan model, but nonsignificantly and less strongly related to the "phonological" factor, which fails to support the Baddeley and Hitch model."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Binding tasks showed no separate episodic buffer faculty, loading instead with visuospatial tasks or the focus of attention — related
• Central executive and focus of attention factors were highly correlated but statistically distinct, warranting separate factors in young children — related
• A common attentional component is needed for feature binding, running digit span, and visual short-term memory tasks, while phonological storage is separate — a broader claim this one bears on
• Cowan's three-factor embedded processes model fit young children's working memory data slightly better than Baddeley and Hitch's three-factor model and decisively better than Baddeley's four-factor episodic buffer model — related
• The focus of attention factor was the only significant predictor of both fluid reasoning and visual processing intelligence when all three working memory factors were entered — related
• Small between-task relative to within-task interference in dual-task studies supports functional separation of phonological and visuospatial working memory, and newer experiments led Cowan's group to add specialized verbal and visual resources to the embedded-processes account — related
• Correlations between performance on different intellectual tasks fail to reach 1.00, indicating specialization of intelligence — related
• The reviewer concludes the advantage of a wide attention span should be made available to young readers through special training in the early grades — related