Individual Differences in Working Memory for Comprehension and Following Directions

Abstract

The extent to which individual differences in working memory capacity were related to differences in comprehension and following direction was studied in first, third, and sixth graders. Working memory was tested by a simple word span and Daneman and Carpenter’s (1980) reading span. A reading comprehension test and a following directions test, including directions heard in a classroom, were also given. The number of words recalled in both the word span and the reading span predicted comprehension for all grades. This relationship showed no age differences. However, the relationship between the span measures and following directions indicated that the role of working memory in following directions may increase with age. As the complexity of directions increased, low-span subjects in each grade had more difficulty performing directions than high-span subjects did. Implications for giving directions to school children are discussed.