Sebastian Henandez-Gil

• What was the aim of Sebastian & Hernandez Gil's study?

  Investigate development if the phonological loopp in children 5-17 using digit span, and investigate whether Spanish culture shows same developmental trend as English culture
• Where was Hernandez-Gil study done?

  In schools
• How large was the sample in Hernandez Gil?

  570 children from all 13 school years in Spanish education system
• What are the strengths of the Hernandez Gil sample?

  Large population validity- representative of Spanish kids digit span, not skewed by anomalies
• What did none of the children in the Hernandez Gil sample have?

  Hearing disorders + reading/writing disorders
• What was the procedure in Sebastian + Hernandez Gil?

  Participants listened to each sequence of digits (digits read out loud to them), which they had to recall in the correct order

  Sequence increased by one digit per sequence

  Digit span was recorded as maximum digit recalled in correct order without error
• Results of Hernandez Gil (based PURELY on procedure)

  Clear increase in digit span with age- youngest age group had significantly lower digit span than other groups

  5 year olds had low digit span of 3.76

  17 year olds had highest digit span at average of 5.91
• Conclusions of Hernandez-Gil


  Digit span increased from 5-17 years old

  Digit span in Spanish population shorter than English

  Comparing elderly and dementia patients- no significant diff.- poor digit span consequence of age, not dementia
• Generalisability of Hernandez-Gil


  High level of population validity- sample large, consisted of 570 children

  Results capable of being generalised to wider populations
• Reliability of Hernandez-Gil


  Standardised procedures used- e.g. digits were read out loud for all participants- ensured experience of study didn't vary greatly from one pp to another

  Use of standardised procedure helped to control potentially confounding variables- contributed to internal validity
• Application of Hernandez-Gil


  Digit span can be used to explain real- life cognitive skills, e.g, dyslexia + intelligence

  Could give aid to primary skills, how children should be educated
• Validity of Hernandez-Gil


  Artificial test- not good representation of how STM works in everyday life

  Ecologically valid- study done in schools, where students often need to memories content
• Ethics of Hernandez-Gil


  Under 16s- presumptive consent given by parents

  Researchers had to ensure family was informed to stick to ethical guidelines

  No psychological harm inflicted
• Which study is this

  CONTEMPORARY
• Aim 1

  Investigate development of phonological loop in children 5-17 by evaluating verbal digit span

  
  

  (Does capacity in digit span increase with age but then reach limit at 15)
• Aim 2


  To compare to 2010 studies on phonological loop for adults, fvFTD (frontotemporal dementia), AD (Alzheimer's disease) to observe deterioration in dementias
• Method: sample


  570 volunteers

  public/ private preschool, primary, secondary schools in Madrid

  
  

  No other difficulties (hearing)
• Procedure


  -Asked to listen carefully to sequence of 3 digits and recall them in same order

  - Extra digit added each time to increase the length of sequence

  -Each ppts took part individually
• Procedure: what was digit span

  Maximum length at which ppts could recall at least 2/3 series with no errors
• Results: how was data analysed

  By school year and developmental period
• Mean digit span preschool

  3.76
• Mean digit span 15-17

  5.83
• Results on experiment


  -Digit span increases with age

  -5yrs low digit span

  -Increases by 1 digit (4-5) from 9yrs

  - 15-17 yrs had similar digit span
• Results from comparison to adults

  - AD and fvFTD digit span higher than 5yrs

  -no significant difference between healthy elderly and the AD/ fvFTD patients
• Conclusion 1

  -Digit span increases as we get older

  
  

  - However, Anglo-saxon data reaches adult levels by 15, whereas spanish children reach by 17. This may be due to WORD LENGTH EFFECT (cuatro, cinco, siete vs one, two, three)

  
  

  -Greater the word length, longer it takes to rehearse
• Conclusion 2


  Longer it takes to say a word (in sequence) greater chance that stored info will fade before fully recalling

  
  

  Articulatory system doesn't control until 7yrs - no difference in results on English/ Spanish children until around 7/8 which was found
• Conclusion 3


  Capacity of phonological loop more effected by age and less by dementia
• What enhances replicability in Henandez-Gil's digit span task?

  High control
• In the digit span task, digits are read at a rate of one per second
• Word length differences across languages may affect the replicability of the digit span task in cross-cultural studies.
• Which educational area can digit span research inform?

  Verbal memory
• The controlled nature of the digit span task enhances its internal validity
• The digit span task's artificial setting reduces its ecological validity.
• What ethical considerations were addressed in the digit span study?

  Informed consent
• The independent variable in the digit span study was the age group of the participants
• What does the digit span score measure in the study?

  STM capacity
• Steps in the digit span task procedure

  1️⃣ Digits read aloud at 1 per second

  2️⃣ Participants start with 3 sequences of 3 digits

  3️⃣ If 2/3 correct, digit span increases by 2

  4️⃣ Process continues until recall fails
• The mean digit span for 5-year-olds in the study was 3.76.
• What does the study conclude about digit span and age?

  Digit span declines with age
• The phonological loop is affected by age but not by dementia