title: Developmental pattern of digit span in Spanish population.
abstract: This study examined in a Spanish population the developmental pattern of digit span, as an index of one of the components of Baddeley's working memory--the phonological loop. A verbal digit span was administered to 570 participants ranging from 5 to 17 years old. The results indicated that the digit memory span increases until age 17 as opposed to Anglo-Saxon data--where it is established that this span reaches a peak by age 15. Additionally, these results were compared to the performance in the same task of healthy elderly, Alzheimer disease patients, and Frontotemporal dementia patients, examined in a previous study. The analysis shows that the phonological loop is affected by age and not so much by dementias.
authors.affiliation: Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28223 Madrid, Spain. mvsebastian@psi.ucm.es
authors.forename: María Victoria
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Sebastián
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hernández-Gil
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000523:psychology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D057180:Frontotemporal Dementia / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D002666:Psychology, Child; D012153:Retention, Psychology / Q000502:physiology; D013030:Spain