Verbal-to-spatial associations in working memory may index a core capacity for abstract information limited in the amount concurrently retained. However, what look like associative, abstract representations could instead reflect verbal and spatial codes held separately and then used in parallel. We investigated this issue in two experiments on memory for associations between names and spatial locations, with or without a 1-to-1 correspondence between the two. Participants (children 9-10 and 12-13 years old and college students) saw series of names presented at spatial locations occupied by house icons and indicated the location at which a probe name had appeared. Only adults benefited from 1-to-1 correspondence between names and locations, and this benefit was eliminated by articulatory suppression. We maintain that the 1-to-1 benefit stems from verbal and spatial codes used in parallel. Without rehearsal, performance appears to index working memory for abstract, cross-modal information. Correlations with other tasks suggest that it is an excellent measure of working memory capacity.

中文翻译：

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语言空间联想工作记忆的发展

工作记忆中的语言到空间的关联可以索引抽象信息的核心能力，同时保留的数量有限。然而，看起来像联想的、抽象的表示可以反映单独保存然后并行使用的语言和空间代码。我们在两个关于名称和空间位置之间关联的记忆实验中研究了这个问题，两者之间有或没有 1 对 1 的对应关系。参与者（9-10 岁和 12-13 岁的儿童和大学生）在房子图标占据的空间位置看到一系列名称，并指出探针名称出现的位置。只有成年人受益于姓名和地点之间的一对一对应关系，而这种好处被发音抑制消除了。我们认为一对一的好处源于并行使用的语言和空间代码。如果没有排练，表演似乎可以为抽象的、跨模态的信息索引工作记忆。与其他任务的相关性表明，它是衡量工作记忆容量的极好方法。