International Psychiatric and Epidemiologic Program, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2010 Jan 27;5(1):e8914. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0008914.
Using the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) Conant et al. (1999) observed that visual and auditory working memory (WM) span were independent in both younger and older children from DR Congo, but related in older American children and in Lao children. The present study evaluated whether visual and auditory WM span were independent in Ugandan and Senegalese children.
In a linear regression analysis we used visual (Spatial Memory, Hand Movements) and auditory (Number Recall) WM along with education and physical development (weight/height) as predictors. The predicted variable in this analysis was Word Order, which is a verbal memory task that has both visual and auditory memory components.
Both the younger (<8.5 yrs) and older (>8.5 yrs) Ugandan children had auditory memory span (Number Recall) that was strongly predictive of Word Order performance. For both the younger and older groups of Senegalese children, only visual WM span (Spatial Memory) was strongly predictive of Word Order. Number Recall was not significantly predictive of Word Order in either age group.
It is possible that greater literacy from more schooling for the Ugandan age groups mediated their greater degree of interdependence between auditory and verbal WM. Our findings support those of Conant et al., who observed in their cross-cultural comparisons that stronger education seemed to enhance the dominance of the phonological-auditory processing loop for WM.
使用考夫曼儿童评估成套测验（K-ABC），Conant 等人（1999 年）观察到，来自刚果民主共和国的年幼和年长儿童的视觉和听觉工作记忆（WM）广度都是独立的，但在美国年长儿童和老挝儿童中则是相关的。本研究评估了乌干达和塞内加尔儿童的视觉和听觉 WM 广度是否独立。
我们在线性回归分析中使用视觉（空间记忆、手部运动）和听觉（数字回忆）WM 以及教育和身体发育（体重/身高）作为预测变量。在该分析中，预测变量是词序，这是一项既有视觉又有听觉记忆成分的言语记忆任务。
年龄较小（<8.5 岁）和年龄较大（>8.5 岁）的乌干达儿童的听觉记忆广度（数字回忆）对词序表现有很强的预测性。对于塞内加尔儿童的年轻组和年长组，只有视觉 WM 广度（空间记忆）对词序有很强的预测性。在两个年龄组中，数字回忆都不能显著预测词序。
乌干达年龄组由于受更多教育的影响，读写能力更强，这可能导致他们在听觉和言语 WM 之间的相互依存度更高。我们的研究结果支持 Conant 等人的研究结果，他们在跨文化比较中观察到，更强的教育似乎增强了语音听觉处理回路对 WM 的主导地位。
