Developmental Continuity in the Capacity of Working Memory from Infancy to Preschool Age

We report here our studies on the developmental continuity of working memory function from infancy to preschool age. At age 10–11 months, 44 children performed a delayed response task (the A-not-B test), which assesses working memory capacity. At age 5–6 years, the same children performed three tests assessing working memory capacity for a sequence of events in the auditory and visual modalities and a control task for short-term visuospatial memory. A relationship between memory for a sequence of events in children of preschool age and their working memory characteristics in infancy was seen using all three evaluation methods, regardless of the means of delivering and reproducing the remembered sequence of stimuli. The results indicate direct continuity in the development of working memory from infancy to preschool age.