Chapter 4 Developmental and individual differences in short-term memory

Abstract

Abstract George Miller's (1956) seminal formulation that there are “seven plus or minus two” slots in short-term memory (STM) left plenty of room for the possibility of individual differences. Nonetheless, STM researchers since then have focused primarily on similarities among individuals, not differences. Recently, however, studies of developmental and individual differences in STM have yielded practical applications and theoretical advances. We note that the differences between individuals stem from a combination of (a) passive, automatic factors and (b) factors that depend on active, strategic processing. This chapter focuses on some of our new research on developmental and individual differences in STM for acoustic and verbal stimuli, and its relation to the work of other investigators. Our recent findings illustrate the usefulness of developmental data for a general theory of STM, and suggest that important refinements of the traditional working memory model (Baddeley, 1986) are now in order. Directions for future research are considered also.