Do actions speak louder than words? Examining children’s ability to follow instructions

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Waterman, Amanda H., Atkinson, Amy L., Aslam, Sadia S., Holmes, Joni ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6821-2793, Jaroslawska, Agnieszka and Allen, Richard J. (2017) Do actions speak louder than words? Examining children’s ability to follow instructions. Memory and Cognition, 45. 877–890. ISSN 1532-5946

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Abstract

The ability to encode, retain, and implement instructions within working memory is central to many behaviours, including classroom activities which underpin learning. The three experiments presented here explored how action—planned, enacted, and observed—impacted 6- to 10-year-old’s ability to follow instructions. Experiment 1 (N = 81) found enacted recall was superior to verbal recall, but self-enactment at encoding had a negative effect on enacted recall and verbal recall. In contrast, observation of other-enactment (demonstration) at encoding facilitated both types of recall (Experiment 2a: N = 81). Further, reducing task demands through a reduced set of possible actions (Experiment 2b; N = 64) led to a positive effect of self-enactment at encoding for later recall (both verbal and enacted). Expecting to enact at recall may lead to the creation of an imaginal spatial-motoric plan at encoding that boosts later recall. However, children’s ability to use the additional spatial-motoric codes generated via self-enactment at encoding depends on the demands the task places on central executive resources. Demonstration at encoding appears to reduce executive demands and enable use of these additional forms of coding.

Item Type: Article
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Psychology
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Developmental Science
Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Cognition, Action and Perception
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Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 21 Oct 2021 01:26
Last Modified: 25 Sep 2024 15:54
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/81845
DOI: 10.3758/s13421-017-0702-7

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