Age and Gender Differences in Working Memory and Fluid Intelligence of Children and Adolescents

Abstract

Working memory (WM) is a fundamental construct in the study of cognition. It is the cognitive ability that actively stores and manipulates information over a short period of time (Baddeley, 1986).Wm is a basic cognitive construct that is required in the functioning of cognitive processing, which is considered to be the most crucial factor in carrying out any intellectual task, and is involved particularly in intelligence. Intelligence, especially the fluid intelligence (Gf), is one such aspect which is required to carry out any cognitive processes. This fluid intelligence largely depends on WM, particularly in children and adolescents. This study aims at exploring the relationship between WM and Gf along with gender and age difference among children and adolescents. The study comprises of 80 participants with 40 in each of the two groups. The data is collected through purposive sampling method from Karnataka Public School, a CBSE school from Bengaluru, Karnataka. Weschlers Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-IV) is used to assess WM and Gf of both children and adolescents. The statistical techniques used to analyse the data are t-test, pearson’s product-moment correlation, and hierarchical regression. A strong positive relationship between working memory and fluid intelligence is obtained. It is also revealed that adolescents perform better than children in both fluid intelligence and working memory tasks. The gender differences are also found to be significant in both the tasks such that females outperform males in working memory tasks and reverse is in the case of fluid intelligence tasks.

Keywords: working memory, fluid intelligence, age, gender, children, and adolescents