Academic achievement involves complex processes that are not fully understood. That being said, the connection between working memory and academic achievement is well developed and emphasized in the literature. However considering the complex nature of academic achievement, other processes are likely involved. The current study examined the contributions of recollection, familiarity, working memory, and verbal IQ longitudinally in children at ages 6 and then 9. Recollection, but not familiarity, contributed to measures of both reading and math at age 6, but not 9. Path models suggested that the direct and indirect effects of working and episodic memory to academic achievement change from age 6 to 9. Furthermore, this study examined the contributions of the neural correlates of recollection and working memory to measures of academic achievement at ages 6 and 9. The neural correlates of working memory and recollection did not contribute to academic achievement, but additional research is needed to draw concrete conclusions. Overall, the results suggest that episodic memory should be considered in addition to working memory when examining academic achievement. / Ph. D. / Academic achievement incorporates many different abilities. I examined how different memory systems impact math and reading achievement at ages 6 and 9 years. I specifically examined working memory, recollection, and familiarity. Working memory involves information that is currently within one’s awareness. Recollection is a vivid re-experiencing of an event or events. Familiarity is a general sense that something has been seen or heard previously. The results suggest that working memory and recollection, but not familiarity, primarily impact math and reading achievement. Furthermore, different patterns emerged for the relation between memory and math achievement when compared to reading achievement, but were dependent on the child’s age. The results suggest that older children rely on different memory systems for math when compared to reading, while younger children use the same memory systems for math and reading. We further examined the neural (brain) regions related to memory and academic achievement. Additional research is needed to interpret and expand on the neural results found. Overall, the results provide information on how children learn and develop math and reading skills.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/77879 |
| Date | 31 May 2017 |
| Creators | Blankenship, Tashauna L. |
| Contributors | Psychology, Bell, Martha Ann, Diana, Rachel A., Ulrich, Catherine L., Deater-Deckard, Kirby |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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