Low working memory span individuals are more affected by Stroop task lapses and report more task-related mind-wandering¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · reviewr3·q2
Currency · newest study 2014 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person
Subclaims¶
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q2 i? Individuals with low operation span performance are more affected by Stroop conditions when most trials match, and low-span adults report more mind-wandering on tasks they want to attend to. → Cowan Nelson 2014
Evidence¶
Cowan Nelson 2014¶
Cowan Nelson. (2014). Working Memory Underpins Cognitive Development, Learning, and Education. Educational Psychology Review. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4207727/
q2 · i? · review · r3
The review reports Kane and Engle's Stroop experiment, in which mostly matching trials induced lapses from the goal of naming ink color, and "the individuals who are more affected by the Stroop conditions are those with relatively low performance on the operation span test of working memory." Kane et al. (2007) experience-sampling found low-span adults reported more mind-wandering on tasks they wanted to attend to.
"the individuals who are more affected by the Stroop conditions are those with relatively low performance on the operation span test of working memory"
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- Executive-control tasks discriminate old performance groups while speed, attention and memory tests show less consistent or no differences — related
- Children are more accurate and faster on NonStroop than Stroop trials of the Pet Store Stroop task — related
- Interference control declines with increasing age and increasing Stroop task difficulty in speed, consistency and accuracy — related
- Old high performers reach a Stroop performance level comparable to middle-aged or even young adults — related
- Meta-analyses establish that ADHD is associated with poorer performance on tasks measuring inhibition, working memory, planning, and vigilance in children, with overall similar impairment patterns in adults and a strong association with reaction time variability — related
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
low-span-staying-on-task-deficits |
title |
Low working memory span individuals are more affected by Stroop task lapses and report more task-related mind-wandering |
description |
Low working memory span individuals are more affected by Stroop task lapses and report more task-related mind-wandering |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
moderate |
newest_evidence |
2014 |
source_checked |
2026-10-20 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-17 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — cowan-nelson-2014 |
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