Background/Purpose A review of mental imagery research suggests that these processes are fundamental to human information processing, including motor planning. The present study examined a subprocess of visual imagery that has received minimal attention with children - visual imagery maintenance; the ability to hold images in short term (working) memory.
Method Children, aged 7-to 11 years and adults, performed two tasks: Line Direction and Grid Task. With the Line task, participants were instructed to visualize (imagine) and reproduce by drawing on a sheet of paper a visual pattern consisting of a series of approximate 1-inch lines given verbally by the examiner. Nine patterns were presented in three levels; 3 per level. The Grid task, via computer screen, consisted of shaded squares in a grid that were replaced after a 5 s delay with 2 X's. The task was to determine whether the squares marked with the X corresponded to the shaded squares in the previous grid (yes or no). Two grid levels were presented in 20 trials; 10 per level. Tasks were presented in counterbalanced order with order of level beginning with the lowest.
Analysis/Results Analysis of variance results for both tasks indicated that children's ability to use this subprocess, although operational, was substantially below adult levels. In most cases 7-year-olds displayed greater difficulty than their 9- and 11-year-old counterparts, which were not significantly different.
Conclusions Our results suggest that whereas young children are capable of using visual imagery maintenance, at least one age-related constraint is short-term (working) memory ability.
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