Aging's Effect on Working Memory-Modality Comparison

Abstract

Research exploring the impact of development and aging on working memory (WM) has primarily concentrated on visual and verbal domains, with limited attention paid to the tactile modality. The current study sought to evaluate WM encompassing storage and manipulation across these three modalities, spanning from childhood to old age. The study included 134 participants, divided into four age groups: 7-8, 11-12, 25-35, and 60-69. Each participant completed the Visuospatial Span, Digit Span, and Tactual Span, with forward and backward recall. The findings demonstrated a consistent trend in both forward and backward stages. Performance improved until young adulthood, progressively diminishing with advancing age. In the forward stage, the Tactual Span performance was worse than that of the Digit and Visuospatial Span for all participants. In the backward stage, the Visuospatial Span outperformed the Digit and Tactual Span across all age groups. Furthermore, the Tactual Span backward recall exhibited significantly poorer performance than the other modalities, primarily in the youngest and oldest age groups. In conclusion, age impacts WM differently across modalities, with tactile storage capacity being the most vulnerable. Additionally, tactile manipulation skills develop later in childhood but deteriorate sooner in adulthood, indicating a distinct component within tactile WM.

Keywords: Digit Span; Tactual Span; Visuospatial Span; aging; development; working memory.

Figure 1

Means and standard deviations of the four age groups’ longest sequence score in the forward stage. ** p < 0.001.

Figure 2

Means and standard deviations of the span tasks’ longest sequence score in the forward stage by modality. ** p < 0.001.

Figure 3

Means of the span tasks’ longest sequence scores and standard deviations in the forward stage of the four age groups.

Figure 4

Means and standard deviations of the four age groups’ longest sequence score in the backward stage, ** p < 0.001.

Figure 5

Means and standard deviations of the span tasks’ longest sequence score in the backward stage by modality, ** p < 0.001.

Figure 6

Means of the span tasks’ longest sequence scores and their standard deviations in the backward stage of the four age groups.