What is Working Memory?

Working Memory or “Short-Term Working Memory” skills are another common area assessed during your child’s comprehensive psychoeducational or neurodevelopmental evaluation. If you’re interested in learning about other cognitive areas assessed during a comprehensive evaluation, including your child’s fluid reasoning, verbal comprehension, processing speed, and visual spatial skills, you can read more by checking out our blogs! Working Memory is not the “I remember my first day of school",” type of memory. Our typical concept of “memory” tends to be long-term, such as remembering your child’s first steps or your grandmother’s cookie recipe by heart. Working Memory is a different type of memory that is a part of our short-term memory. In fact, it can sometimes be interchangeable with short-term memory, even though they are not quite the same. Working Memory is a part of short-term memory that allows our brain to hold onto/work with small bits of information for a brief period of time. Think of it as our “Post-it” or “sticky note” brain. It is a brief holding tank that helps us hold new information briefly so we can either work with it or connect it with other important information. It is your child’s mental sketchpad.

As adults, we can all relate to forgetting a shopping item, drawing a blank on a new co-workers name after they just shared it, or repeating a phone number in your head before saving it in your contacts. Unlike long term memories that are stored in infinite amounts and retrieved from our brain often when we are not even trying, Working Memory is relatively short (usually up to about 30 seconds). If long term memory is our brain’s infinite collection of important or salient “files in our file cabinets,” short-term working memory is our brain’s “sticky note”. Working Memory is one of our brains executive functions, and there is no single brain area responsible for it. Instead, there are many parts of the brain that are important to both good working memory skills and what helps us either briefly “work with and move on” or “repeat and store” the information we keep on those mental sticky notes. While research shows that working memory capacity an be anywhere from 7 + or- 2 bits of information, this can range based on development, brain strengths and weaknesses, as well as the size/capacity/salience of the information.

Working memory skills are essential for children and adolescents in all aspects of their functioning, particularly in school. Students use their working memory all day long. Working memory is necessary when they have to recall steps of a math problem, follow multi-step instructions, recall/sequence words when reading, condense ideas in writing, or even when they are required to remember what a teacher is sharing in the beginning of a sentence in order to start independent work a few seconds later. Sticky note brain is important with “take out your text book, turn to page 128, and answer questions 1-6” types of instructions, as well as the "go upstairs, grab your baseball glove, water bottle, and don’t forget your bat,” types of daily requests. The thing is, we don’t store many of these requests into long-term memory, as they are not important for us in the long term. Therefore, we either work with that information immediately and/or our brain loses it after we’ve moved on to another thought. This is why you can effortlessly remember lyrics from a song in middle school (you rehearsed this so much it is stored in long term memory yet forget half of the information your crammed for your work meeting this morning (worked with it just long enough to use it and now it’s irrelevant. While Working Memory is strongly related to success and outcomes with lots of daily functions, it can be particularly influential in a child or teen’s reading and math outcomes.

Here are a few ways to understand your child’s Working Memory performance scores, as well as the implications it may have on their functioning in home, school, and in the community.

What is the Working Memory Index on the WPPSI-IV, WISC-V, or WAIS-IV?

• The Working Memory Index on the Wechsler Preschool & Primary Scale of Intelligence- Fourth Edition (WPPSI-V) , Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children- Fifth Edition (WISC-V), or Wechsler Adult Intelligent Scale-Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV) provides a snapshot of your child’s ability to register, briefly hold, and work with auditory and visual information. More specifically, it is your child’s ability to attend to and briefly use mental skills for either pictures (visual) or words/numbers (auditory) through a variety of tasks. Consider it assessing your child’s accuracy and capacity to briefly attend to, hold, and follow instructions on information they perceive in their environment. On these measures, your child’s accuracy, rather than speed, is important. While they are not always timed on these tasks (like some fluid reasoning, visual spatial, or processing speed tasks) accuracy is important. A stimulus (picture, number, instruction, word problem) is presented briefly and your child’s performance is measured across visual (e.g., such as following a sequence of long-division in math) and auditory (e.g., recalling multi-step instructions from their teacher or parents) tasks.

What are Working Memory Skills?

• In general, auditory and visual working memory is your brain’s mental “sketch pad” or “sticky note” and is an essential component of your executive functioning part of the brain. You can think of it as your child’s ability to attend to and briefly follow sequences or instructions. While Fluid Reasoning taps into your child’s ability to efficiently problem solve information by analyzing visual or language-based patterns, Working Memory is much more about how well your child can briefly hold and work with the information you are using to problem solve. Therefore, Working Memory can impact how fluid your thinking/problem solving can be. For example, your child may know exactly how to problem solve using the math problem solving method taught from a teacher, but may make errors because they cannot hold the numbers, sequence them in order, and/or recall the nuanced instruction their teacher mentioned prior to starting. This is why some children may excel in the skill acquisition of subjects in isolation, such as, storing vocabulary, reading words, or completing math calculation, but can struggle when needing to execute these skills together in reading comprehension or math problem solving tasks on a test. There are other factors that can influence your child’s performance on working memory tasks, including executive functioning skills, learning disorders, visual acuity, impulsivity, anxiety, fine motor speed, auditory or language processing weaknesses, as well as other aspects of cognitive functions, including processing speed or visual spatial skills.

How does a psychologist assess Working Memory Skills?

• Psychologists or trained examiners can use a range of tools to assess your child’s Short-Term Working Memory. Best practice typically includes use of a combination of standardized tools. Some of the most common standardized tools used in the field include the Wechsler Intelligence Tests, such as the WPPSI-IV (ages 3-7), WISC-V (ages 6-16), and the WAIS-IV (ages 16-90), as well as the Woodcock Johnson Tests of Cognitive Abilities (WJ-IV Cog), The Delis Kaplan Executive Function System (DKEFS), and Developmental Neuropsychological Assessment (NEPSY-II). There are many factors involved in creating a testing plan, as well as the tools used, which are related to your examiners specialty, training, and the referral question. Working Memory skills can also be examined in more depth through informal measures, school performance, clinical observation of a child in their social or academic environments, during whole group instruction, as well as through use of other academic or neuropsychological instruments. Working Memory tasks require your child to attend to a spoken request and/or a visual sequence and complete some instruction accurately. Some tasks are done simply by listening to the examiner present a series of information, while others may require your child to view images in a booklet or on an iPad. Working Memory tasks on many standardized measures typically assess your child’s ability to register, briefly hold, and work with information. Most measures of Working Memory do begin with untimed demonstration and practice items to ensure that your child understands what is expected prior to information being presented. Comprehensive evaluations will typically compare your child’s performance on Working Memory tasks with academic measures of mathematics, reading comprehension, rapid recall, following instructions, and/or auditory processing.

What do Working Memory scores in the “Average Range” mean?

• If your child performs in the Average range, this demonstrates evidence that they have developmentally typical abilities to attend to, hold, and follow-through on tasks in an efficient and accurate manner. They can sustain focus and capacity enough to perceive, briefly hold, and then execute instructions/sequences just like that of many other kid’s their age. These skills can contribute to their ability to independently execute a wide range of instructions and layered/sequenced academic content in school, particularly during large group instruction, independent work periods, and/or on tests when under pressure to perform. They likely are not called out or asked “did you listen to the instructions” nor seen as only completing parts of what you request. When Working Memory skills are consistent with their other strengths and cognitive skills, these children generally have the capacity to learn efficiently in school and can demonstrate their skills when engaging in both auditory and visual tasks in the moment. They can also store appropriate information into their long-term memory (know what “sticky notes” are important enough to repeat and store) and complete homework efficiently.

What do Working Memory scores above the “Average Range” mean?

• High Working Memory performance scores typically encompass a child who can juggle complex thinking due to being able to integrate more complex bits of information. Their sketch pads look like a complex algorithm. They have a unique ability to both store and control many bits of information at a time. They are likely recognized as being highly intellectual, detailed, and/or independent in terms of following through with complex information. They may also excel in quantitative reasoning or mental math/problem solving. Your child may show preference and enjoyment for these tasks, particularly at an early age. If your child has strong working memory capacity, they likely also have high executive control. This means they may be able to focus or shift their focus to several details at once or they may inhibit interference/hyperfocus while engaged. Often, high working memory thinkers can utilize their other high average skills to hyperfocus and have a strong desire to complete tasks accurately. They can also become rigid if someone attempts to interfere when they are sequencing/working through a sequence in their brain. If stopped prior to full completion, they may become frustrated or need time to transition. Children who are good with competing mental problem solving with high working memory may not like to “show their work,” because their brain is storing and working with lots of information rapidly, making it hard to slow down and explain to others.

What do Working Memory scores below the “Average Range” mean?

• Lower Working Memory skills (particularly in comparison to our other thinking strengths) indicate difficulties with your child’s ability to attend and follow-through. This may encompass a child who may struggle with following through on multi-step instructions and even with full intention/goal to excel, make errors or miss seemingly simple or routine requests. It can be frustrating for themselves and adults as these children may not follow through fully on even routine or seemingly simple tasks. Lower skills in this area can also lead to difficulties with any task that requires “juggling” of bits of information, such as math problem solving, long-division, reading comprehension, sequencing ideas in writing, or science. This can be a child who, without skill building, may struggle to execute higher order or layering tasks (calculation(1x4=4) versus math problem solving on a test, reading vocabulary versus reading a paragraph to comprehend) particularly when details matter or when under pressure to perform. While it does not mean your child cannot listen or activate their skills, your child likely needs support to build their capacity to work with smaller bits of information at a time. Since these skills are important in school settings, they may need additional skill building, support, or accommodations during instructional periods, independent work times, tests, or during big executive functioning heavy transitions (the learning to read to reading to learn shift in third grade, middle school to high school, homework changes, etc.).

• Weak working memory should always be assessed alongside other learning-based weaknesses, particularly if a child struggles with consistently following instructions, errors, mathematics concepts and procedures (e.g., place value, sequence of multi-step division, etc.) or reading. Some neurodevelopmental disorders, such as Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Specific Learning Disabilities, and/or mental health diagnoses such as anxiety or depression can impact working memory. If you suspect your child or adolescent has problems with working memory, it is a great idea to seek a comprehensive evaluation either through your school district or through a private provider. It will help isolate the skills, learn about the capacity/areas to focus, and aid in skill building! Working Memory skills are still developing well into our early twenties, so it is important to learn more about them to effectively build the skill. There can be many factors that influence working memory performance other than pure weaknesses in this area, including testing error, underlying neurodevelopmental weaknesses, health concerns (stroke, pre/post-natal health complications, concussions), difficulty with performing under timed pressure, anxiety, and other cultural implications/factors. Therefore, it is important to talk more in-depth with the examiner.

Have questions or looking to learn more information? Contact Dr. Bobal today!