Working Memory & Cognitive Development

This book is a crucial addition to the exciting and dynamic research taking place in the field of memory development and cognition. It is unique in emphasising the quality of mental processing rather than limiting its subject to current thinking on the restriction of memory resources when studying the relationship between changes in children's complex memory skills and the development of cognition.

Towse in particular explores the importance of the working memory span task in understanding what memory is and does in the wider sense. By examining recent research done on these tests and integrating and re-analysing the data, he argues that prevalent notions of general resources in cognition and memory are not substantiated by critical evidence. The proposal of a new theoretical framework (SMART) based on original principles and focussing on the quality of the cognition rather than the architecture of the memory system, provides a viable alternative to the more traditional approaches in this area, and offers new predictions for research.

This book will be useful and informative to a range of readers. By distilling important new research, integrating research papers and presenting these in an accessible way, it will be useful for advanced undergraduate and graduate-level audiences in cognitive psychology and memory development. By deriving new theoretical conclusions and arguments the essay will be of interest also to active researchers in the area.