Cross-cultural Study of Working Memory in Adolescents

Abstract The aim of our study was to investigate the cross-cultural differences in working memory. The sample included 289 adolescents from Russia and Kyrgyzstan. Working memory was measured using the Spatial Working Memory task from the CANTAB battery. We have not found any significant differences in working memory measures by culture reference. At the same time, Kyrgyz males outperform females in the Spatial Working Memory task. There was no significant age-by-country interaction. In both groups working memory performance increases with age.

[1]  R. Nisbett,et al.  PERSONALITY PROCESSES AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES Attending Holistically Versus Analytically: Comparing the Context Sensitivity of Japanese and Americans , 2004 .

[2]  P. Goldman-Rakic.  Circuitry of Primate Prefrontal Cortex and Regulation of Behavior by Representational Memory , 2011 .

[3]  C. Pantelis,et al.  Normative Data From the Cantab. I: Development of Executive Function Over the Lifespan , 2003, Journal of clinical and experimental neuropsychology.

[4]  Denise C. Park,et al.  Source Memory, Aging and Culture , 2006, Gerontology.

[5]  R. Nisbett,et al.  Categorical Organization in Free Recall across Culture and Age , 2006, Gerontology.

[6]  T. Robbins,et al.  Planning and spatial working memory following frontal lobe lesions in man , 1990, Neuropsychologia.

[7]  M. Ross,et al.  What we remember and what we tell: The effects of culture and self-priming on memory representations and narratives , 2005, Memory.

[8]  P. Rabbitt,et al.  Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB): a factor analytic study of a large sample of normal elderly volunteers. , 1994, Dementia.

[9]  Angela H. Gutchess,et al.  The Influence of Culture on Memory , 2011, HCI.

[10]  M. Conway,et al.  The stories we keep: autobiographical memory in American and Chinese middle-aged adults. , 2004, Journal of personality.

[11]  A. Gutchess,et al.  Cultural influences on memory. , 2009, Progress in brain research.

[12]  Richard C. Atkinson,et al.  Human Memory: A Proposed System and its Control Processes , 1968, Psychology of Learning and Motivation.