Working Memory in Development Essays in Cognitive Psychology Series

Working memory is the system responsible for the temporary maintenance and processing of information involved in most cognitive activities, and its study is essential to the understanding of cognitive development. Working Memory in Development provides an integrative and thorough account of how working memory develops and how this development underpins childhood cognitive development.

Tracing back theories of cognitive development from Piaget's most influential theory to neo-Piagetian approaches and theories pertaining to the information-processing tradition, Camos and Barrouillet show in Part I how the conception of a working memory became critical to understanding cognitive development. Part II provides an overview of the main approaches to working memory and reviews how working memory itself develops across infancy and childhood. In the final Part III, the authors explain their own theory, the Time-Based Resource-Sharing (TBRS) model, and discuss how this accounts for the development of working memory as well providing an adequate frame to understanding the role of working memory in cognitive development.

Working Memory in Development effectively addresses central and debated questions related to working memory and is essential reading for students and researchers in developmental, cognitive, and educational psychology.

Preface i-v

Part 1: The role of working memory in development 1

1. The emergence of working memory in developmental psychology:

From constructivism to cognitivism 4

2. Working memory in neo-Piagetian theories 31

3. Working memory in domain-specific developmental theories 56

Part 2: The development of working memory 82

4. The evolving concept of working memory 85

5. Age-related increases in short-term maintenance 102

6. The development of the executive control 130

7. The sources of working memory development 159

Part 3: Development in the Time-Based Resource-Sharing model 178

8. Sources of development in the TBRS model 180

9. The impact of a developing TBRS working memory

on cognitive development 209

Epilogue: Searching for cognitive development 238

References 242

Valérie Camos is Professor of Developmental Psychology at the Université of Fribourg, Switzerland.

Pierre Barrouillet is Professor of Developmental Psychology at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, and Director of the Archives Jean Piaget.