Working memory—the ability to hold information in your mind, think about it, and use it to guide behavior—develops through childhood and adolescence, and is key for successful performance at school and work. Previous research with young children has documented socioeconomic disparities in performance on tasks of working memory. Now a new longitudinal study has found that differences in working memory that exist at age 10 persist through the end of adolescence. The study also found that parents' education—one common measure of socioeconomic status—is related to children's performance on tasks of working memory, and that neighborhood characteristics—another common measure of socioeconomic status—are not.
The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, West Chester University, and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, appears in the journalChild Development.
"Understanding the development of disparities in working memory has implications for education," according to Daniel A. Hackman, a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Pittsburgh who led the study when he was a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania. "Persistent disparities are a potential source of differences in academic achievement as students age and as the demands of both school work and the social environment increase.
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-04-memory-differs-parents-effects-persist.html
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