| The objectives of this thesis were to (1) evaluate the relationship between performance on standardized measures of working memory (WM) and performance on a real-life measure of WM; and (2) examine the relationship between inattentive behaviour and both standardized and real life measures of WM. A community sample of 140 children aged 7--12 years completed three types of WM measures (standardized auditor verbal and visual-spatial WM, and real-life WM) in a naturalistic setting, while their parents completed questionnaires about their children's inattentive behaviour. Results indicated (1) performance on auditory-verbal WM and visual-spatial memory span tasks predicted performance on a real-life WM task; and (2) parent-reported inattentive behaviour predicted individual differences in visual-spatial and real-life WM, such that higher ratings of inattention were associated with poorer performance on both visual-spatial and real-life WM. It is concluded that WM abilities generalize to some extent across laboratory and real-life contexts, and are related to behavioural symptoms of inattention. |
