Life-Span Development of Visual Working Memory: When Is Feature Binding Difficult?

• Published in: Developmental psychology Vol. 42; no. 6; pp. 1089 - 1102
• Main Authors: Cowan, Nelson, Naveh-Benjamin, Moshe, Kilb, Angela, Saults, J. Scott
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Psychological Association 01.11.2006
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Aging - physiology; Analysis of Variance; Attention - physiology; Child; Children; Color; Discrimination Learning - physiology; Female; Geometric Concepts; Human Development; Humans; Life Expectancy; Male; Memory; Memory, Short-Term - physiology; Older Adults; Photic Stimulation - methods; Reaction Time - physiology; Spatial Ability; Visual Discrimination; Visual Perception; Visual Perception - physiology
• ISSN: 0012-1649
• DOI: 10.1037/0012-1649.42.6.1089

We asked whether the ability to keep in working memory the binding between a visual object and its spatial location changes with development across the life span more than memory for item information. Paired arrays of colored squares were identical or differed in the color of one square, and in the latter case, the changed color was unique on that trial (item change) or was duplicated elsewhere in the array (color-location binding change). Children (8-10 and 11-12 years old) and older adults (65-85 years old) showed deficits relative to young adults. These were only partly simulated by dividing attention in young adults. The older adults had an additional deficiency, specifically in binding information, which was evident only when item- and binding-change trials were mixed together. In that situation, the older adults often overlooked the more subtle, binding-type changes. Some working memory processes related to binding undergo life-span development in an inverted-U shape, whereas other, bias- and salience-related processes that influence the use of binding information seem to develop monotonically.