Working memory and its relation to key outcomes in the real world

想象一下，有人告诉你一个电话号码，你必须记住，直到你能写下来几秒钟后。这项任务的成功完成将依赖于“工作记忆”，这是一个为您当前正在完成的任务存储和处理信息的系统。工作记忆是我们的精神记事本;对许多日常活动至关重要，包括决策和遵循指示。虽然大多数人在工作记忆中很难记住大量信息，但大约十分之一的人会遇到特殊的工作记忆困难。现有的研究表明，有这种困难的儿童有可能在学业上表现不佳，并且经常被描述为注意力不集中。然而，我们目前的理解存在关键的局限性。首先，虽然工作记忆力差的儿童被描述为注意力不集中，但尚不清楚这些儿童经常表现出哪些具体行为（例如容易分心，经常犯错）。其次，虽然工作记忆困难似乎会增加儿童时期教育成就差的风险，但尚不清楚是否会产生长期后果。例如，有工作记忆困难的儿童是否有在成年后GCSE成绩不佳和/或就业成绩不佳的风险？我们也缺乏证据来证明工作记忆不良如何影响成年人的行为和愿望。最后，一个重要的问题是，工作记忆差的人往往身份不明，使他们无法获得支持。虽然存在正式的工作记忆评估，但这些评估通常只针对被怀疑工作记忆不佳的人进行。这种方法是有问题的，因为研究表明，从业者（如教师）在识别可能从工作记忆评估中受益的人方面很差。因此，需要进一步的研究来建立识别这些个体的其他方法。现有知识中的这些重要空白使我们无法向政策制定者或从业者（例如教师）提出关于如何识别和支持工作记忆不良个体的建议。幸运的是，有一个独特的数据集可以用来解决我们理解中的这些重要差距：雅芳父母和儿童纵向研究（ALSPAC）。这项研究跟踪了14,000多名参与者从出生到成年的生活。在队列中，工作记忆在儿童期（10岁）和成年期（24岁）进行了评估。还提供了广泛的其他数据，包括问卷答复和教育成果。本项目将使用ALSPAC数据集来检查：1。工作记忆力差的儿童和成人经常表现出哪些注意力不集中/过度活跃的行为？这与工作记忆不好的人相比如何？2.儿童和成年期工作记忆不良是否会增加不良结局的风险？更具体地说，我们将研究童年时期的工作记忆困难是否会增加学习成绩不佳和以后就业结果不佳的风险。我们还将调查成年后工作记忆困难是否会增加就业结果不佳的风险。如果糟糕的工作记忆确实会增加学业和/或就业结果不佳的风险，为什么会这样？工作记忆力差的人是否会表现出更多的注意力不集中/过度活跃的行为，从而增加学业/就业结果不佳的风险？4.学校或成人已经获得的信息（例如先前的学业成绩）是否可以识别出可能从正式工作记忆评估中受益的个人？然后，我们将与应用教育研究中心和布拉德福德研究学校密切合作，影响国家政策和实践，并广泛分享我们的研究结果（例如与教育专业人士，职业治疗师）。

Imagine someone tells you a phone number which you must remember until you can write it down a few seconds later. Successful completion of this task would rely on "working memory", a system which stores and processes information for tasks that you are currently completing. Working memory is our mental notepad; essential for many everyday activities including decision-making and following instructions. Whilst most people struggle to remember a large amount of information in working memory, approximately one in ten individuals experience particular working memory difficulties. Existing research has demonstrated that children with such difficulties are at risk of performing poorly academically and are often described as inattentive. There are, however, key limitations in our current understanding. Firstly, although children with poor working memory have been described as inattentive, it is unclear what specific behaviours these children often show (e.g. being easily distracted, frequently making mistakes). Secondly, although working memory difficulties seem to increase the risk of poor educational achievement in childhood, it is not clear whether there are longer-term consequences. For instance, are children with working memory difficulties at risk of poor GCSE outcomes and/or poor employment outcomes in adulthood? We also lack evidence as to how poor working memory affects the behaviours and aspirations of adults. Finally, an important issue is that individuals with poor working memory often remain unidentified, preventing them from receiving support. Although formal working memory assessments exist, these are often only conducted on individuals who are suspected of having poor working memory. This approach is problematic, as research has demonstrated that practitioners (e.g. teachers) are poor at identifying people who may benefit from working memory assessments. Further research is thus needed to establish other ways of identifying such individuals.These important gaps in existing knowledge prevent us from making recommendations to policymakers or practitioners (e.g. teachers) about how to identify and support individuals with poor working memory. Fortunately, there exists a unique dataset that can be used to address these important gaps in our understanding: the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). This study has followed the lives of over 14,000 participants from birth to adulthood. Within the cohort, working memory was assessed during childhood (10 years of age) and adulthood (24 years of age). A wide range of other data are also available, including questionnaire responses and educational outcomes. This project will use the ALSPAC dataset to examine:1. What inattentive/hyperactive behaviours do children and adults with poor working memory often show? How does this compare to individuals without poor working memory?2. Does poor working memory in childhood and adulthood increase the risk of poor outcomes? More specifically, we will examine whether having working memory difficulties in childhood increase the risk of poor academic achievement and poor employment outcomes later in life. We will also investigate whether having working memory difficulties in adulthood increase the risk of poor employment outcomes.3. If poor working memory does increase the risk of having poor academic and/or employment outcomes, why is this? Do individuals with poor working memory display more inattentive/hyperactive behaviours, which then increases the risk of poor academic/employment outcomes?4. Can information that schools or adults already have access to (e.g. prior academic achievement) identify individuals who may benefit from formal working memory assessments?We will then work closely with the Centre for Applied Education Research and Bradford Research School to influence national policy and practice and share our findings widely (e.g. with educational professionals, occupational therapists).