Differential Impact of WM Load on Attention in Young Adults Versus Children and Adolescents

TL;DR

This study shows that working memory load affects attention differently in young adults compared to children and adolescents, with effects becoming more adult-like as children age.

Contribution

The study reveals developmental differences in how working memory load interacts with attention processing.

Findings

Adults showed increased Stroop effects when working memory load overlapped with target processing.

Children/adolescents did not show significant changes in Stroop effects under dual-task conditions.

Age correlated with reduced interference effects under working memory loads that share resources with distractor processing.

Abstract

Background: This study aimed to examine how concurrent working memory (WM) loads affect selective attention, and to explore developmental differences between young adults and children/adolescents aged 10 to 14 years. Methods: We employed a modified Stroop task with verbal or spatial WM loads to assess their impact on attention. Results: In adults, we found increased Stroop effects when WM load overlapped with target processing and decreased Stroop effects when WM load overlapped with distractor processing. Conversely, in children/adolescents, WM loads did not significantly impact target or distractor processing, indicating no change in Stroop effects under dual-task conditions. Interestingly, results from the correlational analyses revealed that as participants’ ages increase, the interference effect under the WM load that shares resources with distractor processing in the attention task decreases. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the interaction between attention and WM differs across developmental stages. While adults showed distinctive effects of concurrent WM loads on attention processing depending on the cognitive resources utilized, children/adolescents failed to show the interaction between the two cognitive systems. Furthermore, a significant relationship between age and the effects of WM load on attention was observed, providing insights into the development of the interaction between WM and attention.

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