Brown-Peterson working memory task with animated goal cue tracking for preschoolers

Design · All designs
Evidence · 4 claims (3 for, 1 mixed) · 1 study (1 causal), q3 · 1 of 1 report an effect size · 4 claims rest on one study

Description

A computerized Brown-Peterson task in which 4- and 5-year-olds memorized series of one to three colored drawings of animals and objects presented visually with their auditory name, then recalled them after a retention interval during which an animated shape moved across the screen. Children tracked the moving shape — an abstract form, an abstract black rectangle cue, or a transparent school-bag cue — either visually or with a finger. Performance was measured by the number of words correctly recalled, with a control condition as baseline for the between-subjects comparison.

Design Implications

Context

Requirements

• E-Prime 2.0.10 on laptops in a quiet room; two 15-minute sessions with a pause for 4-year-olds; training trials before each session; item names recorded by a male voice and drawings selected to exceed 80% correct denomination at 4 years of age

Constraints

• Retention intervals differed between age groups (7,800 ms for 4-year-olds, 7,100 ms for 5-year-olds), so the design does not allow direct age comparisons of working memory capacity

Target Learners

• 4- and 5-year-old preschoolers

Learning Goals

• verbal working memory for picture-item series under a concurrent tracking task

Claims

• Five-year-olds recall more words in a Brown-Peterson task when they finger-track a transparent goal cue during the retention interval [+W]
• Four-year-olds showed no benefit of transparent goal cues in either visual or finger tracking conditions [~W]
• Cue type, tracking mode, and age produced a significant three-way interaction on preschoolers' recall performance [+W]
• In 5-year-olds the transparent-cue benefit appears only with finger tracking, producing a significant Cue × Tracking interaction [+W]

Related Designs

Examples

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Key Sources

• Fitamen, C., Blaye, A. & Camos, V. (2019). Five-year-old children's working memory can be improved when children act on a transparent goal cue. Scientific Reports 9:15342. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-51869-4

Page metadata

Field	Value
type	design
id	brown-peterson-goal-cue-tracking-task-preschoolers
title	Brown-Peterson working memory task with animated goal cue tracking for preschoolers
description	A computerized Brown-Peterson task in which 4- and 5-year-olds memorized series of one to three colored drawings of animals and objects presented visually with their auditory name, then recalled them after a retention...
status	review
generated	by process:settle-candidates on 2026-10-17
trust	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources	1 — fitamen-2019

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