Aspects of digit-span performance: naming time and order memory.
Individual differences in digit span, as in any memory span task, can be attributed to item-identification speed (naming time) and memory for order. The relationship between the two was examined in an experiment with 40 EMR and 40 nonretarded children. Order memory and digit span had significant correlations for both groups. Naming time was found to correlate with span only for EMR subjects; span was a linear function of the number of digits named in 2.89 seconds. For nonretarded subjects no relationship between the two was observed. The results for EMR subjects, although interpretable in terms of limited capacity in working memory, were discussed in the context of the substantial correlation between order memory and naming time.
D002648:Child; D004495:Education of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000523:psychology; D007360:Intelligence; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D011939:Mental Recall; D011930:Reaction Time; D012153:Retention, Psychology; D012691:Serial Learning