Relationship between working memory and intellectual functioning in children with mild intellectual disability

Abstract

The research was aimed to determine the relationship between working memory and intelligence in children with mild intellectual disability (MID), ages 10 to 14. The sample encompassed 53 children with MID, 47.2% of girls and 52.8% of boys. Their IQ ranges from 50 to 70 (AS=63.17; SD=6.56). The tasks that assess the Central Executive aspect of the working memory system, namely in verbal and non-verbal modality, have been selected. The obtained results indicate that working memory ('central executor') and intelligence are the constructs that significantly correlate in the range of 0.29 to 0.41, depending upon the working memory modality. It was determined that IQ category explains about 19% of the variability of the verbal and non-verbal working memory results, grouped in the unified model (p<0.05). However, the statistically significant relation was determined by means of the individual variables analysis only between IQ and non-verbal working memory (p<0.01). The statistically significant differences have also been determined in the non-verbal working memory development in the participants belonging to lower and higher IQ categories (p<0.05).