The Impact of SES on Working Memory in Naturalistic Versus Structured Settings

工作记忆（WM）与计划、决策、调节行为和情绪有关。这一过程在儿童早期经历了重要的发展，并受到家庭社会经济地位（SES）的影响。反过来，WM塑造了孩子在学校的进步，并被证明在社会经济地位和学业成就之间起到中介作用。传统的实验室评估可能无法捕捉到WM行为的复杂性以及WM最优运行的条件；因此，限制了以证据为基础的教育建议的机会。为了解决文献中的这一空白，研究小组将使用并行的计算机化和自然游戏为基础的设置来测量SES对3.5至6岁儿童WM发展的影响。研究人员将使用一个基于规则的WM任务，在这个任务中，孩子们被指示根据一个（如颜色）或两个（如形状和颜色）视觉特征维度来匹配一扇门和一所房子（或鸟喙）。在日常生活中，WM不是孤立的，而是与成功的动力相辅相成的。因此，为了在计算机化和基于游戏的测试环境中提高WM评估的生态效度和结构效度，研究人员设计了三个条件来评估参与动机机制如何影响WM绩效。选择条件与标准条件相同，但孩子们选择他们想玩的房子；奖励条件与标准条件相同，除了孩子们在正确的测试后获得一个贴纸。奖励+选择条件结合了奖励和选择操作。该研究的一个核心组成部分包括确定SES对WM的影响是否在计算机化和基于游戏的环境中是恒定的，或者影响是否随着WM任务在生态和结构效度上的增加而减弱。为了解决这个问题，研究人员将收集儿童生活经历的数据，这些数据可能反映了计算机化和基于游戏的测试环境。在计算机化和标准评估中，SES对WM表现的影响可以通过家庭内外的正式指导机会（艺术或音乐课程）以及数字设备的使用和技能来调节。研究人员还将收集有关儿童生活经历的数据，这些数据可能支持WM的发展，但与SES无关。例如，假装游戏参与的个体差异可能与基于游戏的环境中的WM表现有关，而独立于SES。这些预测将使用结构方程模型进行检验。研究结果将为不同SES水平的幼儿的最佳WM表现提供新的见解。研究结果还将对制定幼儿课程产生影响，使不同SES水平的儿童受益。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Working memory (WM) is relevant to planning, decision-making, and regulating behavior and emotions. This process undergoes important development during early childhood, and is shaped by family socioeconomic status (SES). WM, in turn, shapes children's progress in school, and has been shown to mediate the association between SES and academic achievement. Traditional laboratory assessments may fail to capture the complexity of WM behavior and conditions under which WM operates most optimally; thereby, limiting opportunity for evidence-based recommendations for education. In order to address this gap in the literature, the research team will measure the impact of SES on WM development in children 3.5 to 6 years old using parallel computerized and naturalistic play-based settings. The researchers will use a rule-based WM task, where children are instructed to match a door to a house (or a beak to a bird) based on either one (e.g, color) or two (e.g. shape and color) visual feature dimensions. In daily life, WM does not function in isolation, but is paired with motivation to succeed. Thus, in order to increase the ecological and construct validity of WM assessment in both computerized and play-based testing settings, researchers included three conditions designed to assess how engaging motivational mechanisms impacts WM performance. The Choice condition is identical to the Standard condition, but children choose the houses that they want to play with; the Reward condition is identical to the Standard except the children earn a sticker after correct trials. The Reward+Choice condition combines the Reward and Choice manipulations. A central component of the study involves determining whether the impact of SES on WM is constant across computerized and play-based settings, or whether the impact diminishes as WM tasks increase in ecological and construct validity. To address this issue, the researchers will collect data on experiences in children's lives that may mirror the computerized and play-based testing environments. SES impact on WM performance in computerized and standard assessments may be mediated by formal instruction opportunities in and outside the home (art or music classes) as well as digital device use and skill. The researchers will also collect data on experiences in children's lives that may support WM development but be independent of SES. For example, individual differences in pretend play engagement may be related to WM performance in play-based settings, independent of SES. These predictions will be tested using structural equation modeling. Findings will provide novel insights regarding optimal WM performance in young children across various levels of SES. Findings will also have implications for shaping early childhood curricula in ways that will benefit children across various levels of SES.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.